It is so heartbreaking to learn the stories of returning vets from Iraq who don't feel able to cope with the pain they feel, and end their lives. The wrenching loss, pain and emptiness their families feel is enormous, and often they wish to "get the message out" that PTSD is affecting vets in far more powerful ways, and sooner, than anyone has realized. Their veterans paid the ultimate price, but their families don't want others to have to. As more veterans return from this war, we will unfortunately see more of the same thing -- calls for help which go unanswered, tragic choices made by hurting people, and the pain their families feel, mobilizing into action to spare others the same fate. It's said that the one thing Vietnam veterans wish to convey to America today is to not have to let another generation of veterans suffer on homecoming they way that they did. Please be sensitive to the needs of all veterans and their families, and see what you can do, what we can do as a society, to ease their enormous pain.
A few memorial websites of grieving families who've lost their Iraq veterans to suicide are here and here. "All gave some, some gave all."
