In the Army, we have a lot of mandatory classes that we have to attend annually. Some are good classes that pertain to, well, you know, killing the enemy. Some just leave me scratching my head: Sexual Harassment Training, and the ever-necessary "CO2" class. That's not Carbon Dioxide, mind you, that's "Consideration Of Others" training. You know, because apparently, in the military, we can't go around and endlessly blambast one another for being stupid. I don't think that memo got full distribution.

One of the more important classes that we get every year is a class on suicide prevention. Suicide is one of the biggest killers of soldiers, especially in the last five years. In peacetime alone, the stress of performing to high standards can be enough to drive many people to the brink. However, the highest risk group in the military for suicide is young, single soldiers. In addition to the usual stress of military life, there is a distressing lack of concern for young single soldiers in most Family Readiness Groups, often abysmal living conditions, and very little productive fun things for tyounger soldiers to do. Well, save drink. (See Army Substance Abuse Program) . Recipe for disaster? You bet.

Allow me to switch gears for a second here. Not many people among my military friends are aware that I do, indeed, serve as a moderator on one of, if not the, largest college message board in the country. It's an interesting job, and I'm glad to help out my friend (who made the web site from scratch in MS Notepad), but it certainly has some moments that leave me scratching my head about the state of humanity. One of the interesting things is that this message board combines the worst of both worlds at times: on the Internet, one can hide behind the veil of anonymity and degrade one another until one's heart is content. However, the community of internet users on this message board all come from the same university, so many of them know each other. So now, take all of a person's personal drama, expose it on the Internet, and let all the jackals make fun of it until their heart's content. Kind of sad in a way, but I won't lie...it's endlessly fun to watch sometimes. From girls having naked pictures posted of them...complete with full name and all (one time, even a Biology Professor), to people getting arrested and asking for donations for bail, the real life drama never ends.

So when a TWW User commits suicide, the whole community gets involved...for better or for worse. Such was the case with Frank Chen of NC State University. (More below the cut)

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