That is a feeling that just sits in the pit of your stomach.
I always just got a few good recruits at the start of the game, and kept them the whole way through. I would be sick if I had lost them, then saved over it. This is why a save to a backup file once about every 5 normal saves. That way if I do screw something up totally, it might suck having to redo a few hours at most, but its not all lost. I learned this lesson the hard way before myself.