By RICH MATTHEWS
Associated Press Writer
An Army recruiting battalion in which four soldiers committed suicide has been placed under new leadership, a brigadier general assigned to investigate the deaths said Friday.
Brig. Gen. Frank Turner said the deaths of four members of the Houston Recruiting Battalion were the result of a number of factors, but that some of the command's practices were outside Army regulation.
"Some of the leadership practices occurring here in Houston by a couple of individuals - not all but a couple - were clearly outside the acceptable practices of leadership inside the Army," Turner said.
He said the new leadership would be reviewed by June.
Some soldiers and their family members had complained that recruiters, already subject to long hours and pressure to meet quotas, were threatened and humiliated when they failed in trying to fill an all-volunteer Army at war while isolated from other soldiers and support systems.
The recruiting command held a special training last week.
The four soldiers, all combat veterans, committed suicide between 2005 and 2008. There have been 16 suicides among recruiters since 2003.
The deaths came amid an increase in the Army's suicide rates during each of the last four years.
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