Cornyn Calls For Hearings On Army Recruiter Suicides

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Forum Spin Doctor
Houston Chronicle (chron.com)
January 22, 2009
By Lindsay Wise, Houston Chronicle
U.S. Sen John Cornyn today formally requested congressional hearings to examine a recent rash of suicides among Houston-based Army recruiters, saying he believes the deaths demonstrate the enormous strain recruiters endure to sustain the country's all-volunteer force.
The Texas Republican made the request in a letter sent today to Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate armed services committee, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the committee's ranking member.
"I strongly believe that this alarming trend, which is further evidence of the strain on our current force, necessitates the attention of Congress," Cornyn wrote.
McCain has read the letter and is open to the possibility of hearings, said his spokeswoman, Leah C. Geach.
"Senator McCain is very concerned about any increase in the numbers of suicides in the Armed Forces, and believes it's imperative that every preventative measure be taken to end these tragedies," Geach said.
Levin's spokesman declined to comment, saying the chairman had not seen the letter this afternoon.
Four recruiters from the Houston Recruiting Battalion killed themselves between January 2005 and September 2008. All four were reassigned to recruiting duty after returning from tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. Recruiting has long been considered one of the military's most stressful jobs, especially at a time when America is fighting two wars.
An Army investigation, requested by Cornyn in October, found that poor leadership, job-related stress, personal matters and medical problems were all factors in the recruiters' deaths.
As a result of the findings released Wednesday, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren ordered a rare one-day stand-down for all Army recruiters on Feb. 13 in order to focus on leadership training, suicide prevention and recruiter wellness. The Army also will assess working conditions throughout its recruiting battalions and review recruiter screening and selection processes, Army-wide suicide prevention training, and access to mental health care for recruiters, many of whom are stationed in rural areas far from military bases.
In a conference call today from Washington D.C., Cornyn said he was particularly troubled by the investigation's conclusion that the Houston battalion's leadership created an intimidating and threatening environment for recruiters, verbally abusing the soldiers and humiliating them if they failed to meet monthly quotas.
Commanders also violated Army regulations by assigning excessive recruiting goals to individual soldiers in order to meet the battalion's overall numbers, he said.
The recruiting goals for each of the Army's 38 battalions vary on a monthly basis, depending on the Army's needs. In Houston, for example, the 266-member battalion might have a goal of putting a total of 400 troops in boots in one month, but leaders still required each recruiter to sign at least two new soldiers during that time period, no matter what.
"The recruiters were going after two contracts a month when they really should have been going after say, 1.6 on average," said Brig. Gen. Dell Turner, who conducted the investigation. "It had the effect of increasing the workload on each recruiter," he said.
"Corners might have been cut -- and they were -- given the exigencies of meeting recruiting goals," Cornyn said.
.He said he could not release details about ongoing disciplinary actions, "but I have been assured that those persons responsible are under review and that this is not limited to NCOs (non-commissioned officers), this actually goes up the command chain to include (commissioned) officers."
Hearings can examine if the problems in Houston extend beyond that battalion, the senator said.
"I have received a tremendous outpouring of letters and calls pertaining to these issues from both Texas constituents and others," Cornyn wrote in his letter to Levin and McCain. "These individuals, many of them current or past recruiters, have informed me that these problems are not limited to the Houston Recruiting Battalion, or even the Army, and may in fact be widespread across our Armed Forces."
Veterans rights activist Paul Sullivan called on the Army today to release a copy of its report to the public and echoed Cornyn's request for hearings.
"He should invite families of soldiers who completed suicide as well as suicide experts so senators and the public can fully understand the scope of the suicide crisis," said Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense.
 
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