Four suicides last week at Fort Hood

[Enrique]

Source: Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/30/AR2010093006496.html

Fort Hood's leaders have tried nearly everything to stop the suicides. There are support groups and hotlines, counseling sessions and Reiki healing therapies, and strict assessment guidelines for commanders.

But the soldiers keep killing themselves. This past weekend, four more were dead at the Texas post, all of them decorated veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, three of them officers, two of them fathers
of young children.

All four appear to have shot themselves, according to preliminary reports gathered for the Army's Suicide Prevention Task Force. Their deaths, which did not appear to be related, came within a few days of a visit from the Army's vice chief of staff, who reiterated his urgent plea for hurting soldiers to seek help.

"Every one of these is tragic," said Maj. Gen. William Grimsley, who commands Fort Hood, the nation's largest Army post. "It's personally and professionally frustrating as a leader."

(...)


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/30/AR2010093006496.html

[bulloney]

1. Were they about to be deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan again or just return from service there?

[Roland99]

2. Lowered recruitment standards + multiple tours of duty + brutal condition = tragedy

[JDPriestly]

3. This is very, very sad.

How do the suicide statistics during these wars compare with those in other wars.

I know someone who was interned during WWII and survived the Holocaust and then, as an older person, committed suicide. There are so many horrible experiences that people who suffer such things cannot communicate even if they try and a lot of depression is the result of that.

It is important to encourage people to talk about their experiences and to listen QUIETLY with empathy and without judgment. Just listening and showing understanding without judgment are very important.

[Downwinder]

4. I've seen statements that more troops suicided after Viet Nam

than were killed there.