Dept of Army Suicide
and Immigration:
General Freakley
finds himself unmanned
Ed Note: See comments below to follow the horrible story of escalating veteran suicides into 2011.
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From the Times:
“The American Army finds itself in a lot of different countries where cultural awareness is critical,” said Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, the top recruitment officer for the Army.
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END QUOTE
General Freakley went on to unveil a new citizenship program that fast-tracks foreigners who speak particular languages. Green Card to Passport in six months.
Seem to recall some Caeser doing something like this.
Guess they must be running out of peeps — oh. Oh my.
Still, a bit odd. Army Recruitment handing out passports. Thought the State Department did that. And Immigration the whole naturalization thing …
And I seem to recall Secretary of State Clinton making a particular point, during her first address from Foggy Bottom, of reclaiming turf and powers lost across recent years to the Pentag–
Hey! You can’t –! Where are my Switzers?! Stop that! General Freakley, who’s in charge here?! You can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!!!
Dr Strangelove, I presume?
Who’s the gadfly?
Further developments.
ed says:
Unfortunately it seems the militarism and megalomania of Bush-Cheney will prosper in the Obamarama.
March 16th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
ed says:
The Army’s suicide problem seems to be getting worse.
Army and Agency Will Study Rising Suicide Rate Among Soldiers
By Lizette Alvarez, October 29, 2008
Conceding it needed outside help in figuring out why the suicide rate among service members was rising, the Army announced plans on Wednesday to collaborate with the National Institute of Mental Health in an ambitious five-year project to identify the causes and risk factors of suicide.
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ARMY REPORTS ALARMING SPIKE IN SUICIDES
by Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press, 02/05/2009
WASHINGTON – The Army is investigating an unexplained and stunning spike in suicides in January. The count is likely to surpass the number of combat deaths reported last month by all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the fight against terrorism.
“In January, we lost more soldiers to suicide than to al-Qaida,” said Paul Rieckhoff, director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He urged “bold and immediate action” by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
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ARMY’S VICE CHIEF TACKLES SUICIDES
Chiarelli visits Fort Campbell as part of 8-day fact-finding tour
By ANN WALLACE, The Leaf-Chronicle, March 27, 2009
Suicides among active-duty U.S. Army personnel have steadily increased during the last four years, and locally, 10 suspected soldier suicides since the first of the year are currently under investigation at Fort Campbell.
ARMY CITES PROGRESS AGAINST SUICIDES
By Sarah M. Rivette, Times Staff Writer, Wed April 1, 2009
FORT DRUM — After eight days and six Army installations, Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff, said he has a clearer picture of the “very complicated issue” of suicides in the Army.
“We are definitely tuned to the problem,” he said Tuesday afternoon at a press conference at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield. “We’ve got to step up to see what we can do and come up with innovative ways to see what additional resources we can provide.”
In 2008, a record high number of soldiers took their own lives. The Army recorded 143 suicides, a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers. That number exceeds the civilian rate of 19 people per 100,000 recorded in 2006 and the Marine Corps rate of 19 per 100,000 in 2008.
The number of suicides has steadily increased since 2006.
April 11th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
ed says:
Fast forward to August 2009 and the Times has a front-page feature story re high suicide rates among Iraq veterans.
Horrible and horribly sad.
Our all-volunteer army is an army of the poor. It’s horrible to imagine and then hear on TV the pride in the parents’ voices as they bless their sons’ decisions to Serve.
Too much Forrest Gump. We went to Iraq to Serve Israel. We went to Afghanistan to Serve Unocal.
Our state governors should refuse to release national guard troops to the feds. It would lead to a supreme court decision. The discourse if nothing else would be instructive.
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:31 am
ed says:
Army announces plan to combat spiking suicides:
Mental Stress Training. MST.
Not to be confused with EST. Or …?
From the Times:
The training, the first of its kind in the military, is meant to improve performance in combat and head off the mental health problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide, that plague about one-fifth of troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
… the methods seek to defuse or expose common habits of thinking and flawed beliefs that can lead to anger and frustration — for example, the tendency to assume the worst.
(“My wife didn’t answer the phone; she must be with someone else.”)
Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army’s chief of staff, said the $117 million program was an effort to transform a military culture that has generally considered talk of emotions to be so much hand-holding, a sign of weakness.
“I’m still not sure that our culture is ready to accept this,” General Casey said. “That’s what I worry about most.”
… at an early training session here last week, General Casey asked a group of sergeants what they thought of the new training. Did it seem too touchy-feely?
“I believe so, sir,” said one, standing to address the general.
He said a formal class would be a hard sell to a young private “who all he wants to do is hang out with his buddies and drink beer.”
END QUOTE
Combined with the recent story about GI Jane getting combat duty …
And the shocking (what did I know) report that the US now supplies two-thirds of the world’s weapons …
America the beautiful? Land of the free and home of the brave?
The working class has been lobotomized. Very dangerous for all of us. Armies destroy countries, often their own, and lobotomies are pretty much a prerequisite.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
ed says:
Amy Goodman at Democracy Now follows up on Army suicides:
October 28th, 2009 at 10:53 am
ed says:
Another chapter in Army insanity …
An Army psychiatrist, distraught over pending deployment to Iraq, goes on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas, killing at least twelve …
The Times quickly reports that Dr Hasan — who is now said to be alive and stable despite having been shot several times — was “mortified” by prospect of going to Iraq, having counseled so many broken veterans.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Ed says:
January 2010. More deaths by suicide (24) than in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/03/01/military-suicides/
March 9th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Ed says:
April 2010 — and The Army Times reports that 950 soldiers attempt suicide each month.
Obama’s Secretary of Education is the asshole who turned five public schools in Chicago into military academies. For the underprivileged. Educate the poor? More efficient to turn them into cannon fodder instead?
The society — leadership and body — has bought the Likud Lobby vision of international affairs: perpetual war. Obama is doing nothing to turn off what Bush-Cheney set in motion.
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:44 pm
ed says:
People complaining the Army isn’t handing out enough Medal of Honors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/magazine/30medals-t.html?ref=magazine
May 30th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Lola! says:
You are brilliant – an Army of the poor, indeed! LTG Benjamin Freakley (USAAC) and MG Donald M Campbell, Jr (USAREC) are the CG’s over Army Recruiting. Google army recruiter suicides. It is outrageous! LTG Benjamin Freakley authorizes $500,000.00 per NASCAR race with an Army sticker on a car, while Army Recruiters commit suicide, devastating their families, friends and co-workers! He has paid for 15 races this year, and 23 last year? Why do we allow him to burn through this taxpayer money, and how do we measure his effectiveness in this regard? This money needs to be paid to the deceased Recruiter’s families as reparations, for having to endure unbearable pressure in a Recruiting Station. 70% of Recruiters are combat vets. Maybe they need to be at the VA following up on PTSD symptoms – did they have PTSD when they started at USAREC or did they come down with it just by working there? God bless U S Army Recruiters – especially detailed Recruiters!
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:00 pm
ed says:
hello lola
thanks for the data
September 11th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
ed says:
Gates re need to do something as Perpetual War saps resources on all fronts. Piece cites suicide rate among others …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9288832
What does Gates have in mind? Apparently he didn’t quite say.
September 29th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
ed says:
Another follow up at Democracy Now
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/18/wars_hidden_death_toll_after_service
October 19th, 2010 at 7:34 am
ed says:
More of the same — except here now the Pentagon seems unwilling to call it suicide.
Rather: Death by “injuries sustained in a noncombat related incident.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/world/asia/02suicide.html?hp
January 2nd, 2011 at 1:18 pm
ed says:
Pentagon says 2010 saw a dip in Regular Army suicides after five years of record increases.
But 2010 also saw suicides among “citizen soldiers” — National Guard, Reservists, etc — DOUBLE.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/19/AR2011011902969.html
January 19th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
ed says:
Congress.org worries aloud:
For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.congress.org/news/2011/01/24/more_troops_lost_to_suicide
January 24th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
ed says:
A funny thing happened on the way to the Military Industrial investment conference
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/business/12nocera.html
THAT is the War Room. No fighting. Room for everybody at the trough.
February 12th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Lola2 says:
USAREC had a change of command ceremony on Feb 17, 2011, and brought back a former USAREC DG as the new CG. More of the same or…….?
February 20th, 2011 at 11:41 pm
Lola2 says:
The suicides continue at USAREC. It’s just a revolving door for promotions for their Generals under TRADOC, (the umbrella command). 4 star GEN Martin Dempey, TRADOC, moved to become Joint Chief; LT GEN Benjamin Freakley continues to enjoy his 3 star status at U S Army Accessions Command (USAAC) and continue his honcho-ing of his very important program “NASCAR”; the former USAREC Dep CG and CG, got his ticket punched and promoted to III Corp and Fort Hood, TX; and the newest CG for USAREC and newly promoted to his 2 star is MG David L Mann, the former Deputy CG of USAREC. USAREC is made up of 6 Brigades and 46 Battalions. In one BN alone, for the month of Feb 2011, they had 13 cases of Recruiter suicide ideation/attempts. Don’t they get it? When you have four back to back combat tours, odds are you are going to hate being harassed to death by NCO’s and CSM’s and the Officers. May I remind everyone – it only takes a C average to be accepted in the Officer Corps. We are not dealing with MENSA members here. So why do they think we should treat them like geniuses? Look at this suicide mess – they refuse all accountability. Bless the hearts and souls of our Army.
April 8th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Lola2 says:
Bravo! On April 20, 2011, the Army announced that Lt Gen Benjamin “NASCAR” Freakley, CG of U S Army Accessions Command (USAAC),the command over U S Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) – he would be retiring and the Army is deactivating his “Kingdom”/Command, effective end of FY 2012. Next piece of business should be putting the combat vets/Army Recruiters back in their tactical MOS’s and converting all 7,500 Recruiter postions to unemployed American civilians, with backgronds in marketing, and sales! Win-win. The Army gains 7,500 soldiers back and the unemployed taxpayers get a job! Happy Easter/holiday to all!
April 23rd, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Lola2 says:
Praise the Lord or your lord whatever the case may be. Go to Stars and Stripes! Since last Thursday they have been running two in depth stories about suicides at Army that were provoked! By the chain of command! Are you shocked? Are you going to pass out from this incredulous bit of information that we have been shouting from the roof tops for some time now? Thank you, Stars and Stripes, thank you. Commanding General and former Deputy Commanding General MG David L Mann, recently promoted to his second star – what a shock! Let’s see your DoD-SER – time to quit harassing and bullying current and former USAREC employees who speak up!
June 14th, 2011 at 1:39 am
Lola2 says:
Another point, do we think it makes sense to confirm GEN Martin Dempsey, for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs? He just came out of TRADOC and was over USAAC and USAREC. When you go into the Stars and Stripes articles and read the comments from all the bullies who think military suicides are justifiable and just the price of doing business you may very well conclude that they learned this philosophy from TRADOC – “Doctrine” Command. Do not ocnfirm GEN Martin Dempsaey for Chairman – there are another 400 active duty Army Generals to move up. Pick another one.
June 16th, 2011 at 5:27 pm