Veterans don't leave all danger behind on the battlefield.
Once soldiers return home, many suffer mental anguish through PTSD and other disorders that can lead to suicide. The Huffington Post is examining the increase in veteran suicides through its Invisible Casualties series.
"The majority of people who were [medically evacuated] from Afghanistan and Iraq were not [evacuated] for physical wounds but for mental wounds," said David Wood, HuffPost's senior military correspondent. "This includes PTSD and traumatic brain injury and various forms of anxiety disorders and a whole range of psychological reactions to being at war."
While post-war challenges are unique for every soldier, suicide rates are especially high for veterans over 50. Warriors who served in Vietnam often have a unique and difficult way of processing that contentious conflict, according to Tom Berger of the Vietnam Veterans of America.
"The way that our veterans deal with the memories and the trauma and the traumatic experience of [the Vietnam war] ... I believe it's different at the subconscious level, and there's some other factors -- effective states, if you will, in psychological jargon -- unique to Vietnam veterans," Berger said.
See the full conversation about the invisible casualties of war at HuffPost Live HERE.
Related
Before You Go
