Iraq, Afghan Vets at Risk of Suicide

Source: ap via wpost

Iraq, Afghan Vets at Risk of Suicide

By KIMBERLY HEFLING
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 31, 2007; 1:47 PM

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of troops have come home from war, left the military and committed suicide.

That is the finding of preliminary Veterans Affairs Department research obtained by The Associated Press that provides the first quantitative look at the suicide toll on today's combat veterans. The ongoing research reveals that at least 283 combat veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the end of 2005 took their own lives.



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The numbers, while not dramatically different from society as a whole, are reminiscent of the increased suicide risk among returning soldiers in the Vietnam era.

Today's homefront suicide tally is running at least double the number of troop suicides in the war zones as thousands of men and women return with disabling injuries and mental health disorders that put them at higher risk.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103100305.html?tid=informbox

Anybody supporting THOSE troops?

and their families because no one else is going to do it.