I'm calling Bull Bush on this one. I spent 6 years in SF,and never heard of even ONE suicide.
Hell,I never even heard of ONE deserter or AWOL.
People work their asses off and spend months in training in order be assigned to an SF unit,so they DO know what they are getting into,and they ALL volunteer for these assignments because that is where they want to be,and that is what they want to be doing.
Hell,I personally knew two senior NCO's back in the late 60's who had wooden legs,and they refused medical discharges.
Roy Benevidez,a man I am insanely proud to have called a friend even before he was awarded a Medal of Honor broke his back on a parachute jump while still in the 82nd Abn Division,and refused a medical retirement discharge. People who were in the hospital bay he was in said he used to get out of bed at night and crawl to the nearest wall and try to stand up and walk again. Damned if he didn't manage it,and not only got back on active duty as a parachutist,but volunteered for SF training,and made it through SF training group and became an A-Team member. He was wounded and medievaced during his first tour in VN,but once he healed,he volunteered to go back and got a slot working with "Special Operations".
If you want to read about someone special,read his Medal of Honor citation. He LITERALLY jumped out of a helicopter in Laos BY HIMSELF while carrying nothing but a Bowie Knife and a medic's bag,and ran through intense NVA gunfire to get to the 6 man recon team that was surrounded with everyone too wounded to move,and then ran from man to man to reload their guns for them.
BTW,when he got to the team he had already been wounded once,and was carrying the AK-47 that he was shot with. He got it after killing the NVA that shot him with his Bowie Knife. He used that Bowie knife again after managing to load everyone onto an extraction helicopter,and an NVA came running up to the chopper carrying a satchel charge. Roy was out of ammo by them,so he drew his Bowie knife once again and killed the attacking NVA with it before collapsing due to loss of blood. The doorgunner jumped out of the slick and loaded him onto the chopper,and the last time that Bowie knife was seen was by the door gunner as the slick lifted off,and it was sticking up out of the NVA's chest.
When they got back to the launch site in VN,the on-site doctor took a look at Roy and declared him DOA,and then started to zip him up in the body bag. Roy spit a mouthful of blood in the doc's face to let him know he was still alive.
All this,and believe it or not,but Roy was one of the nicest and most polite men you could ever hope to meet,even though he looked so scary I have never understood how his daughter even managed to get a boyfriend. That expression would change in an instant when he spotted someone he knew and liked,and his whole face would light up when he smiled.
And THAT,my friends was just the opening bell.
