HERE’S a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.
That is the opening paragraph of a
powerful and important column in this morning's
New York Times by Nicholas Kristof.
I am actually surprised that it was not featured in the Pundit Roundup.
It is a critical issue:
An American soldier dies every day and a half, on average, in Iraq or Afghanistan. Veterans kill themselves at a rate of one every 80 minutes.
There are many of us here who are veterans, including me, although my service was strictly stateside.
I have former students who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq and who are confronting the issues that are driving these suicides.
Whether you supported or opposed either Iraq or Afghanistan does not matter. What matters is our responsibility as a nation to those who went to those conflicts, who did serve. Consider:
mock suicide.
One reason for veteran suicides (and crimes, which get far more attention) may be post-traumatic stress disorder, along with a related condition, traumatic brain injury. Ryan suffered a concussion in an explosion in Iraq, and Michael finally had traumatic brain injury diagnosed two months ago.
Estimates of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury vary widely, but a ballpark figure is that the problems afflict at least one in five veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq. One study found that by their third or fourth tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, more than one-quarter of soldiers had such mental health problems.
The Veterans Administration is doing more under this president than under his predecessor - it does have a hotline. But there is so much more that needs to be done.
The title of the piece refers to one particular veteran. You can read his story by reading the column.
Consider the words of that young man's mother, Cheryl Debow, who will also talk about how three of his friends have also committed suicide:
We refurbish tanks after time in combat, but don’t much help men and women exorcise the demons of war. Presidents commit troops to distant battlefields, but don’t commit enough dollars to veterans’ services afterward. We enlist soldiers to protect us, but when they come home we don’t protect them.
“Things need to change,” DeBow said, and her voice broke as she added: “These are guys who went through so much. If anybody deserves help, it’s them.”
the demons of war - pay attention to that phrase. It reminds us what we ask, the price our men and women pay by serving in combat.
If anybody deserves help, it’s them.
And if we do not provide it, whatever the cost, then it is the nation's shame.
We should never have asked them to incur these costs, certainly not in Iraq.
But we did.
We have an obligation.
It is time we honored it.
Peace.