Recruiters Committing Suicide - Behind the Scenes

I am not surprised that there are so many suicides among Army Recruiters. The problem is not isolated with the Houston Recruiting Battalion; it is Army and Army Reserve-wide. While there are investigations taking place among the Army Recruiting Battalions, please speak with some of the Army Reserve Retention/Recruiting NCOs too. I can tell you from personal experience that when you are working as a 79V (Retention and Transition NCO) you have the same work schedule and mission expectation as a 79R (Recruiter). All jobs have "stress" but the main problem is that the recruiting leadership treats the 79Vs and 79Rs as "dogfaces;" "less than human."

The day starts at 500am and ends as late as 7-8pm depending on the needs of the Army and the scheduled meetings with candidates. You work every day of the week and do your best to "make mission." The leaders tell you that if you make mission, you can have a day off. But, in reality, after making mission, you're told you have to help "your buddy" make theirs so there went the day off! In the meantime, your family goes merrily along without you. Working without time off creates a stress-cooker, but it does not end there.

Leadership for 79 series soldiers place undue pressure so much so that it causes you to "crack" in one way or other. Most of the "low-production" counseling takes place in a very humiliating manner and makes you defend your work ethic, and answer for why you are not at 100% of making mission. When meeting with the "team" of fellow recruiters, there were many times when those soldiers making mission were allowed to sit at the meeting, while those who were lacking in their numbers had to stand at "parade-rest" in the back of the room for the length of the meeting that went from 1 to 2 hours long. Not having any rest and being humiliated adds to the pressure of this job, but it does not end there.

For those of us who have families (or try to have families) the Retention and Transition (and Recruiter) position takes over your life. In fact, it is because of the "70 hours work week" as stated tonight on CBSNEWS.COM that takes us away from our household and takes its toll on spousal relationships as well as your children. So, now there is no rest, pressure beyond imagination and a loss of connection with the family, but it does not end there.

For those who want "out" of this pressure-cooker experience, the requests are denied; making this a "life-sentence;" until reaching 20 years military service or turning 60 years old if serving with an "indefinite reenlistment" contract. This means that you are stuck in this position that is ruining your life, you're family's life and there is no escape. So, in essence, a Recruiter and a Retention/Transition NCO's military career ends up being more of a sacrifice than was expected or prepared to handle. Is it no wonder that the only way out of this "life-sentence" for some is suicide?

This is the real reality to this "job" that very few people know. In fact, for many years the Army skirted the issue of the way they treated those responsible for recruiting soldiers and have been allowed to get away with it. Maybe now someone would be willing to listen to those of us who lived this nightmare job, endured the pressure and humiliation, loss of relationships and loss of family connections, and somehow survived enough to be a voice "crying in the wilderness" to make changes so the working conditions for a 79V and 79R soldier becomes more human. Only then will the recruiters make it through without the thoughts and acts of suicide. It is not the fact that these soldiers served in a combat zone before recruiting that puts them "over the edge" it is all the other pressures and loss of a personal life that does it. Please won't someone do something to stop these suicides from happening? Please.