posted
So I found out a couple of nights ago that one of my friends was in critical condition due to him jumping off of the 3rd floor of the AF dormitory. A mutual friend gave me a more complete version of the events today. Note: The stupids are directed at the decisions of the command staff, and not the victim.
Our job is pretty stressful to begin with, and that combined with the redundant and controlling atmosphere of military life leads to some emotional imbalance and serious alcoholism. The people that are qualified to get my job are generally slightly unbalanced to begin with; weird schedules and job-related stress are what push people over the edge.
My friend is a hard-core drunk, I've never seen him sober out of uniform. For some reason he got sick of his current condition and bought a plane ticket attempting to go AWOL. He was drunk at the airport and when they asked to see his ID, realizing the only one he had was the military one, and also realizing that exhibiting a military ID while attempting to go AWOL was a bad idea, he refused to give it to them. They had no choice but to detain him and call the unit.
After all this happened, his clearance was pulled, making it impossible to do his job, so our unit did what they always do to those that screw up and end up clearanceless: they set him to work in the Orderly Room.
Now the Orderly Room is where the Commander, First Sergeant, and the Personnel and Finance people work. It's where the rejected go to lose their souls. The people there are, on the whole, catty and rude, and because our squadron is gigantic, people are always coming in asking questions the new people don't have the answers to. Two of the sergeants he was put at the disposal of I am familiar with, and are almost unbelievably slow, people he would hate if he weren't in such an obviously fragile state.
So he hates it, as everyone should have suspected, and calls another of our friends already working there to tell him that he would not be coming in to work anymore. Once again, predictability reigns, and people are dispatched to the dorms to collect him. He sees them coming, decides this crap isn't worth it any more, and takes a nose dive off the third floor balcony.
I'd put that last part all on him, if I weren't familiar with the First Sergeant's "you are all replaceable" philosophy. Actual words from the First Shirt himself. As soon as my friend got into trouble I can see the Shirt drawing up the papers for ejection, and putting my friend into the holding pattern from hell was pergatory.
I am convinced my friend was driven to attempt suicide through the unfeelingness of a command staff that is trained to not let this kind of thing happen. Especially in a high suicide attempt rate place like this. Stupid Stupid Stupid.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
So remind me again, just why is this guy in the military in the first place? Talk about reflecting well on America's armed forces.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Patriotism mostly. Doing something more with his life than obsessing over video games and gaining weight in front of his computer. Just because it didn't work for him doesn't make his sacrifices any less viable.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Hmm. What exactly do you do, airman? I was considering joining the Air Force in a few years, but perhaps not ...
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Not "why did he join" but rather "why did they let him in", was the question I intended to ask.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
... addicted to video games... check... gaining weight in front of computer... check...
oh dear... well the ball is already rolling and I'm in desparate need of money meh.
posted
Doc, the AF isn't by any means bad if you're prepared for it. They do a lot of great things for us, and when things like this happen, a really bright light shines down on us from up high, and things usually change. If you continue with your consideration, please check with someone who's familiar with the system before or right after you speak with a recruiter.
KoM, while they probably should, there's no psychological profile done on people entering the armed services. It's a job, and people snap. He did. My point was how badly the obvious warning signs were dealt with.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
There isn't? There should be. And maybe constant support as it's so stressful. Is there a lot of support for stressed soldiers and would they use it?
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
We've got an in-house psychologist/psychiatrist, a Dr. Somebody, but I'm not sure what his through-traffic is like.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Your name is Airman Four! Of course! I can't believe I didn't realize that sooner. For some reason, I always read it as ariamanfour and assumed it was just something I didn't get. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Originally posted by twinky: Your name is Airman Four! Of course! I can't believe I didn't realize that sooner. For some reason, I always read it as ariamanfour and assumed it was just something I didn't get.
I confess, I was the same way . I always read it as 'aimanfour', until I typed it a few minutes ago and realized I was missing an 'r'. oops. Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Ack! Yep, stuff happens like that anywhere. Kinda suprising with the AF. Usually you guys have it easiest. It's the best branch to join if you want to attend college while in. Navy is second. Army the worste. It is kinda sad that the command did not recognize this sooner, but then maybe I'm just used to now being at a training command where we involve ourselves more with our students' well being. We don't hang out with them, but we pretty much know about everything they do. We do this for their benefit. We have the highest rate of could've been suicides of the four sites. I know that doesn't sound good, but you have to consider that we caught these signs before they attempted to kill themselves. Then we got them some medical attention. These people are still alive thanks to the looking after of the staff here at the site.
The first thing that should've tipped anyone in the command off on what was happening was that he is a consistent DRUNK. He was an alchohol abuser. That alone should have been enough to get him help of some kind. I would not remove his clearance for it. After all, I have worked next to a few recovered alchoholics in my 7 years in. They won't go near the drink these days. Even if they do, it is only one beer and in the presence of others. Basically because they know that they can't screw it up again. They will lose just about everything if they did.
Anyway, I have rambled on enough for now. I have to go.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
We work in a joint environment, so whatever drove him off of the edge wasn't necessarily the AF's fault. I'm not sure if it's like this everywhere, but the people here are HEAVY drinkers (order of drunkenness is USMC, USAF, USA, USN) so it's easy for one consistent drunk to go unnoticed. He was an alcoholic in tech school too, but then he didn't do anything this loud.
The reason they yanked his clearance was the AWOL attempt. Would you want a guy with demonstrated severe dissatisfaction near sensitive stuff? That was an understandable call on their part, but putting him in rejectland was over the top.
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. I always read it as 'aimanfour', until I typed it a few minutes ago and realized I was missing an 'r'. ![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
oops. 
