The family of the recruit who died last week while attending Marine Corps boot camp in Parris Island is speaking out with how he died.
20-year-old recruit, Raheel Siddiqui reportedly ran and jumped over a wall, falling three stories to his death, just 11 days into boot camp, according to the Beaufort Gazette.
The family sat down with a Detroit TV news station and said their son threatened to commit suicide on the first day of boot camp if he were not allowed to leave. Later, they say he met with a psychologist and changed his mind, recommitted to the training, as reported in the Gazette.
Just 10 days later, Siddiqui would take his own life. The family reported that Raheel passed out during a drill and eventually the DI got him to wake up. Suddenly he “ran out the back hatch of the squad bay and jumped over the ladderwell wall… falling 3 stories before landing on the ground” in their interview with the TV news.
Capt. Gregory Carroll, a Marine spokesman, stated that NCIS is currently investigating and it could take up to three weeks for reports to surface. “The parents are allowed, obviously they can comment and talk about, any documents they have received during this difficult time,” Carroll said. “Whatever helps with the process is completely understandable. But it’s still an investigation, and the final details are still being reviewed by NCIS.”
The family stands behind Siddiqui saying that he knew what he was getting into — that they were skeptical he would take his own life.
The Detroit TV station aired the report on the incident Monday, but it was taken down after the family requested its removal — however the TV station stands by their report as being accurate.
Included in that report was a casualty report provided to the family showing that Siddiqui had met with a clinical psychologist on Parris Island, where the recruit “told Senior Drill Instructor that ‘this recruit wants to quit and this recruit will commit suicide.’ ”
“Later that day he changed his mind,” the TV station reported, “telling a psychologist he threatened suicide because it ‘was the only way to quit,’ but now he was ‘110 percent motivated to train,’ ” and deemed low-risk by the psychiatrist.
Siddiqui graduated in the top-10 students in his high-school class and volunteered in the school’s counseling office. He was hopeful to get assigned to work with Marine Corps aircraft.
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He is not the first, and won’t be the last. SEMPER FI
To the author of this article: you do realize that a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist are two completely different things, right? A psychologist is NOT a psychiatrist.
The article never mentioned “Psychiatrist.” You might want to reread the article all over again.
Exactly. I think what Katie is saying, is that the author should have used psychiatrist instead of psychologist.
2nd to last paragraph.
I think she was just making sure the author knew the difference between psychiatrists & psychologists. Katie loves trivia, it’s kind of her thing.
Last topic was about poor marksmanship in the military & somehow good ol’ Katie shows up reminding us that James A. Garfield was a lefty & Napoleon’s favorite dish was chicken marengo.
Yep and he would be seeing a psychologist NOT a psychiatrist as the latter do not see patients now days for counseling. They only assess reports and prescribe medications. FYI
Shame on the recruiters and MEPS for not spotting this before the kid left. I remember my recruiter telling me the fastest way out of that hellhole was graduation. The ones who refuse to train end up being down there longer, something this poor kid was probably never told.
^^msgt parker a savage, but he’s right. RAH
To that master srg’s insensitive comment!!! You clearly don’t know how many people lives are horribly effected when someone decides their so hopeless that taking their own precious life is the only solution!! It’s a no brainer that unfortunately the hell holes you-the military , put our brave women and men through will cause many more to die! An incredible sacrifice -no matter the level!!! So have some tact and respect for this poor guy and his family! Keep your insensitive , dumb comments to yourself when they show such little regard for our fellow brothers and sisters lives!!!!!
You should be ashamed of yourself!!! This is the kind of people this branch promotes! ?! Point blank sad!!!!!
Before you comment I think you should understand what each marine goes through and why they go through that kind of training. I agree with stephanie, without the brave men and women of the Marines you wouldn’t have the right to even leave a comment or enjoy your life. So you should be appreciative of what each and everyone in the marine does. They protect your rights and freedom while sacrificing theirs.
Sophia- You’re right it’s terrible any time someone takes their own life. Don’t slander the MARINES for this young man’s horrible decision. If it were not for the armed services you would not have the freedoms you do today! This young man obviously had mental issues way before he joined. I have several Marines in my family and my son graduates from boot camp April 8th, 2016. So YOU ma’am keep your “kind of people” comments to yourself! PROUD MARINE MOM!!!
My son graduated Jan 29th 2016. The 1st letter home was hard to read he said he felt like he stepped into the pit of hell. After graduation he told us things that were done to him that as a mom I considered it abuse, but not him he said after it was all said and done he realized they saw things in him that needed to be tore down to make him a man. He did say you could not pay him a million dollars to go thru it again but has nothing but the upmost respect for his Instructors. So I to am a proud mom of a Marine
no one to blame but him for taking his life. Non-hacker knew what he was getting in to.
The amount of people in every cycle that cries depression and suicide is enough that it’s understandable when DIs are skeptical. Many shitbag recruiters tell their kids that they can feign depression to get out, so a lot of them do. It’s very hard to weed those recruits out from legitimate depression cases. In my platoon, we had 7 guys claim they were depressed. Only one was deemed legitimate. HE was sent home and the other six made it through just fine. And because of this understandable oversight, a Col. and a SgtMajor are being fired. Because it was their fault, right?
Depression and suicide are sad things and a serious issue, but that kid decided from the second he got off the bus that he fucked up. Just like everyone else. Everyone had it just as bad as him and he made the conscious decision to let a minuscule three months of his life dictate his will to live. His fault, not the Marines.
The SDI (Senior Drill Instructor) and the Kill Hats (Green Belts) went by the protocol as did the Series Commander and put him in for a psych evaluation. Now if the Psychologist convinced him or was pressured to put him back into a recruit cycle we have another issue. PLUS if he threatened suicide THE FIRST DAY. He had an issue WAY before the Marine Corps. DI’s have a clear cut mission and if you put a recruit in front of them they have a sworn obligation to uphold and execute the mission of building Marines. If they come up against a challenge outside of their scope of influence they will use protocol to correct or remove the recruit and if the result is from a DI that has went too far then that Drill Instructor will be “Sat Down” or removed from that recruit training cycle or platoon. You can bet you ass bad Fit Reps and page 11 entrys are flying left and right and careers are ending and every level due to Social Media and exposure.
I have never been in the Marine Corps, but from everyone I have ever known who has gone through USMC basic, they said you wanted to die every day you woke up. It was hell, and then more hell.
Someone’s career will be ruined over this, if not more than one. Sad all the way around.
I was a DI at Parris Island in the mid 80’s.. Actually a Senior DI as well. It is sad to know that a recruit took his own life….But I will say that it is very important to keep the level of stress as high as possible at all times. Some kids that come to boot camp really get she’ll shocked that first couple of weeks. This kid seems to have been a great student as well as a great person. He may have been better suited for attending college and entering an officer program. The officer programs are also stressful, but it is a different level and type of stress. He probably would have done well. RIP
[…] Siddiqui, placed in Kissoon’s 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, suffers a fatal, 40-foot fall at the depot. […]
If a kid threatens suicide he should be sent home immediately….
This training IS MEANT to be HARD, it s life and death in the FMC (fleet marine corps), folks. As tragic as this loss of life was, better it o it be his than for him to snake his way through and we lose a bunch of hard Marines.
Suicide is a painful death. One feels there is no other way to escape the emotional pain, and death is a welcomed sight. I’ve studied suicide behavior and these are often thoughts of those who had unsuccessful Suicide attempts. The problem starts long before that fatal incident. This young man, In my opinion, had issues of self worth long before Parris Island Recruit Training. He, like a lot of others, thought it would be difficult, but not impossible. On his first day it was like shell shock. He probably have never felt so useless. Being an “A” student, or captain of a sports team does not necessarily translate into boot camp success. He was not mentally prepared for the Marine Corps DI. His job is to make you into a basically trained marine. What you learn in Bootcamp could carry you throughout life, self discipline, self confidence, and your knowing that you belong to a special band of brothers, who never quit, and will fight to the death defending our country. It’s sad that several career marines will now have their records permanently scared because of a person with a mental health issue, and never should have been allowed to join the Marines. Getting through boot camp requires mental toughness, not simply physical strength. Mental toughness helps overcome difficulties, and strengthens discipline, but you must have something that the Drill Instructor can build on. The Marines Corps will make you a better person if you are willing to endure the hardship of Recruit Training, most make it through, and some do not. Because of politics, I believe the death of this recruit will be the career death of a few good “MARINES.” I was a DI in the 70’s, we had the same issues then. The Marine Corps builds men into “Marines,” but we need something to start with. “SEMPER FI”
I was on that hell hole of an island for five months (I had a knee injury) I hated life but I made it through, this poor soul wasn’t ready to take the pressure and stress, I knew someone just like him, he never made it to training phase, they booted him for some reason or another, my prayers go out to his family, but the Cpl. is right if he would’ve made it, it could’ve been worse for him and whatever platoon he ended up being stationed
What a p*ssy. This world’s a tough s.o.b. and you better be tougher. Kill
I noticed in the above article that the family requested the article be removed. I bet the request originated from their liar-for-hire. One can ruin a potential lawsuit if plaintiffs are seen agreeing with defendant.
T.B. What a thing to say ! Have you not one ounce of compassion for the young man and his family? I hope nothing tragic ever happens to you and yours. You probably won’t experience tragedy because you are not a p*ssy!
I know him he went to middle school with me raheel was a good person,i was in the gym just started my tread mill exercise and saw his photo i was shocked i couldn’t believe what i was seeing. The report was saying they where calling him a terrorist running him threw a dryer calling him all these names and he was NOT these racist white son of a bit*chs pushed him over the edge.
[…] Recruit Raheel Siddiqui died March 18 after sustaining injuries from a near 40-foot fall at the depot, five days after telling drill instructors he wanted to kill himself. Siddiqui, an American Muslim of Pakistani descent and a Taylor, Mich. native, was allegedly hazed and called a “terrorist” during his time on the island. […]
i saw many things at PISC, example, DI breaking recruits arms. DI threaten recruits with death if they said anything. DI forcing recruits to do things that they knew would cause un-reversible damage to joints and nerve endings. DI pushing recruits down stairs , and so on. this was just 20 years ago. …. MCRD PISC needs to be heavily investigated and something done. In my platoon alone we had 14 suicide attempts and 3 succeeded in such….
non hacker