Being an NSF can be miserable and tireseome at times but the
Army is not responsible for this death.
Since passing out from SISPEC and being posted to the Infantry,
I've heard the words "girlfriend pregnant... emotional problems..."
every now and then. It doesn't exactly happen every day but
situations like these happen often enough that it actually seems
like a "normal" occurrence. Add on the AWOL cases, Police Arrests,
Fighting cases, Drug cases, Thefts etc... and you realise that
there's an entire segment of enlistees in the Army that were
already screwed-up before the Army even got hold of them.
For those of us who have to command these people directly, it's
hard dealing with them. The fact that their lives are in such a
mess is usually due in part to the fact that they don't THINK
before they act. We try to support and sympathise but we also need
to make them wake up and take responsibility for their mistakes.
Some choose to run from their mistakes (AWOL or the final escape;
death) while others gloat in their misery and get depressed.
In cases where pregnancy and babies are involved, it sometimes
really bothers me that some of these guys, as young as 16-17 yrs,
who seem intent of failing at everything from school, jobs, family,
Army... can seem to succeed so easily when it comes to bringing
another human being into this world... and then proceed to
medthodically destroy that new life with smoke, drugs and large
quantities of alcohol.
