“ i think we are in the care of fort hood 's senior
with the drawdown of us forces in iraq accelerating , service members are finally beginning to receive a respite from frequent back - to - back tours of duty since 2003 — particularly for army and marine corps units .
on wednesday , fort hood commanders announced that they were conducting an exhaustive review to identify soldiers who are at risk for suicide as this massive army post reels from a record number of them — including the four suspected suicides over the past weekend .
that would put fort hood on a pace to shatter its annual record for suicides since the beginning of the iraq and afghanistan wars .
since the beginning of the year , there have been 14 suicides and six suspected suicides of fort hood soldiers .
mullen remains particularly concerned about suicide rates , which have gone up in every branch of the military since 2004 and have hit record highs in the army , which has borne the brunt of repeated deployments .
fort hood officials said they would also conduct a review of the post 's privately owned weapons registration and visit soldiers living off post in hopes of stemming the alarming rise in suicides .
for bases such as lewis - mcchord , an army and air force installation in washington state , that means an influx of soldiers and aviators .
on saturday , a 24 - year - old accounting specialist who returned from iraq and afghanistan died of a gunshot wound in temple .