This is very sad. These young men fight for their country and the military doesnt help the soldiers with mental stress and when the young men commit suicide, the military again hides the truth from the families. Shame.. Shame.. our military personal should treat the young men and their families better than this.

We're not as free as we think we are.

Unless you have served in the military you have absolutely, positively no idea how screwed up the military can be. First of all the IDEA you ARE FREE in the military is wrong. Get that out of your head. You are property, owned by the United States and you follow the UCMJ, not the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, sorry folks. The military's main goal is to protect its own A** at all cost. No one person is more important than the military. Civilian can never, ever understand that. You think like civilians, sorry. What these families go through is terrible. The stress young men and women are put through is also terrible, especially during war. Something civilians have to remember. When I was in Boot Camp in the Marine Corps my Drill Instructor told us you will find SYMPATHY right between SH*T and SYPHYLLIS in the Dictionary. You have to be tough mentally and physically to be in the service and unfortunately some people are not. That is too bad. I feel very sorry for these families. No parent should have to bury a child.

Civilians see ads talking about how honor is a big part of the military. Whatsuphey seems to indicate that at some level in the chain of command, that quality is thrown away. Based on the various news reports I have read over many years, I am inclined to believe him.

Parents, do your kids a favor, DON'T LET THEM JOIN! 18 year old kids fall for the "protect our freedoms, serve your country" bull crap. They don't know any better. They have not been around long enough to know how many lies thier country, gov't, military spew to them. If you actually take the tiem to look into things on your own you would be amazed at how wrong and evil so called good things can be. It's all a show. If you join the military you are contributing to the US continued conquest and conquer over all of the world's people and its resources for the gain of a select few companies. We are not under attack, we do not need to be waging war all across the globe. If you tell yourself otherwise you are falling for the lies of being patriotic and "serve your masters, I mean country". It is admirable yes, but it isn't what you think it is. It just isn't. Smarten up.

I don't disagree that the military could be more cooperative in helping families cope with the loss of a loved one via suicide. I also have experience in losing friends to suicide. Three times it has happened, once while I was in the military. In each of those experiences, the family was looking for someone to blame. I am not surprised at all that the military would stonewall. Not saying its right, but I'm not surprised. Oh, and Parksoy, in your first two sentences you defeated the premise of your first sentence, good job? 18 year olds aren't kids, and parents have no power to deny an 18 yr old adult their desire to join the military.

Situations involving volunteer/mercenary military forces tend to be more problematic.

Voluntarily choosing the death business may have adverse effects on one's mental health- which may have been questionable in the first place.

This does not surprise me. I am a retired Army and there were times when I tried to explain what I did day-to-day to my parents. That being said, I know it is difficult for any parent to have to bury a child. And the thing is, while Parent A might want full knowledge, Parent B doesn't want to know anything nor wants anyone else to know anything. I have been retired fifteen years and when I talk to some of my former Army friends I find out how/why something happened from years ago. Also the military is very fluid --very much like a neighborhood but always some is leaving and other coming in. Often times even the participants do not see a clear picture. As to not allowing your child to join the military, what else would you not wish your son/daughter to not do? My own son joined the Army, I would rather he went in the Air Force... But it gave him life experiences other never get, and ones he would have never gotten in small town Wisconsin.

It is very sad and scary to see what OSHA penning in the US. The military covers tier rear, but equally scary is all the federal agencies which invoke national security to deny information to citizens and even other law enforcement agencies. It's not 1984, but we are getting close.