69 U.S. soldiers committed suicide because of Iraq (Dallas Morning News)

Unseen wounds prove just as deadly to troops
Suicides renew focus in military on alleviating toll of combat stress
By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News

Not all the wounds received in Iraq are visible. Not all the combat deaths occur on the battlefield. For Capt. Michael Pelkey, the war followed him home. After a year in the Persian Gulf region, Capt. Pelkey returned to Fort Sill, Okla., in July 2003. He quickly immersed himself in a new job and began getting reacquainted with his wife and infant son.

Then came the terrifying nightmares of the death and destruction he had seen in Iraq – and the inexplicable anxiety he felt in the safety of home. He grew forgetful. He began sleeping with a loaded 9 mm handgun. On Nov. 5, 2004, a week after an off-post therapist determined that he had post-traumatic stress syndrome, Capt. Pelkey shot himself in the chest and died...

Since combat operations began in Iraq in March 2003, 45 soldiers have killed themselves in Iraq, and an additional two dozen committed suicide after returning home, the Army has confirmed...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/120405dntexwarwounds.28f2aa6.html

not material. As a measure, it only tells us a small part of the death and destruction which results from this mistake.

But, suicides can be prevented. If Rummie had listened to experts before his invasion, this would not have happened.

after WWII, it took several weeks for men to be shipped back to the states. Even with rudimentary psychology in the 40s, the shared pain, terror, and PTSD was a huge problem, but, the length of travel actually did a lot of good to solve, or at least, lessen the hurt. Sharing experiences, moral support and a general de-briefing by one another helped prevent the worst psychiatric damage.

Viet nam was totally different. They returned by plane, only to be ignored by family, friends and the government. Today, more Nam vets live below the poverty line than any other sector of America.

Obviously we are not doing the job for our boys and girls, yet again.

<Just one-fourth to less than half of those with post-traumatic stress disorder sought help, according to the Army study. And some 65 percent of those questioned said they worry that if they asked for help, it would make them look weak or affect their military careers.>

soldier who was suffering from combat fatigue--called him a coward. Definitely a dramatic event, but I'll bet the mentality is still there so that soldiers are still afraid to seek help or even tell another soldier of their problems.

It's hard enough in the private sector to get guys to admit they need to speak with someone when they just can't seem to cope, hell no one in my family has every seen a counselor aside from me, and I know I'm not the only one that needed it.

They just turned to the bottle.....

it should be mandated that returning troops get therapy

War is a horrible thing, and modern war is even more horrific. The ability to kill on a wholesale level and the eradication of the distinction of civilians and combatants leaves a horrible toll on the participants. Advances in medicine that allow those who would have died in the past to survive with grotesque deformities and physical challenges skew the numbers to the point that the death toll isn't so scary, but those people live, and they'll be back to say their piece.

Those who enlisted into our military before the current administration's bloodthirsty desire for world conquest are somewhat innocent victims. Those who did so after are either fools or extremely guilty.

Those who evoke the calls for duty and cultural honor weren't the ones who served in the past. Shame on them. Shame also on the McCains of the world who should know better.

Ignorance is the byproduct of capitalism, and those who stare the true ugliness of the world in the face are generally those who are least equipped to deal with it, both financially and emotionally. The backlash from this war will only grow, and the MANY wounded will become a difficult issue for the corporatists who want to continue on.

Oil is the primary concern. Corporate power drives us all. The need for some to sustain Israel, even when Israel doesn't necessarily want such things done for them is the PNAC's lord and master.

Learning from the past, the overlords of world domination have kept the war in a box; we won't see the dead and disfigured until it's impossible to be contained. The flip side of modern medicine is that even though the numbers of dead will be kept down, the survivors will rise up at some point. Sadly, though, that point is still a bit remote.

As we focus only on deaths, we miss the disruption that swirls about such ugliness: families torn apart, those mourning for loved-ones, those suddenly becoming caretakers for the shattered, family financial lives torn apart, cultural shunning by those who don't want to address the reality; this will cause even more coldness in our social lives, and we'll all be the poorer for it.

May they rest in peace, and may their loved ones find some too.

The repercussions of the last five years will be profound and long-lived. America is someday going to have to look in the mirror and there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

I wish peace and courage for all those who must bear the brunt of our folly.

patch them up so we can send them back. they have front line shrinks, not so they can help the soldiers, but so they can kill more before they break.

http://www.house.gov/defazio/102005VARelease.shtml

WASHINGTON, DC— A bipartisan group of 54 House members joined U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) to urge their colleagues to stop the Veterans Administration (VA) from unfairly cutting a veteran’s post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compensation.

This is as much of an outrage as the Pentagon's decision to not count those casualties that were injured or killed in accidents, drownings, etc., in Iraq.