The War Comes Home: PTSD; Addiction; Homelessness and Suicide all Coming to a Neighborhood Near You!

There have been many stories about the vast majority of Americans being insulated from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that only a small percentage of Americans-the families of those fighting overseas-are shouldering the brunt of these wars. We predict that In the next couple of years this will all change as the war comes marching into US communities from coast to coast. How? If history is indeed the great predictor, then we will soon find that the nightmare of war will show up at our doorsteps, not in the form of Al Queda, but in us dealing with the demons of our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters who have spent multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CBS News dropped a bombshell last week when they reported on a 5 month investigation that found more veterans have killed themselves in one year than have been killed in battle in Iraq. 100 returning soldiers a week, 5,000 a year are committing suicide, that is more soldiers that have died in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

Let that sink in.

All the car bombings, shootings and violence in Iraq and Afghanistan added up, have killed fewer Americans than have veterans that have killed themselves. Suicide is the most extreme form of collateral consequences from our war in Iraq, but it is only the tip of the iceberg.

What is it like to be shot at during war and know that any day may be your last? How do you deal with the pain of having friends killed in your arms? What does killing other human beings do to your emotional stability? It's not hard to imagine how such experiences could lead to post-traumatic stress syndrome, which in turn often leads to self-medication, drug addiction, homelessness and even suicide.

Consider how many of us, the weight of our lives upon us, turn to and become dependant on cigarettes, marijuana and alcohol. Millions of Americans struggle with dependency on prescription drugs alone! And many of our issues may be pretty marginal when compared with those of people coming back after 15 months away from their families - people who have experienced the horrors and uncertainties of war and who may be emotionally or physically impaired. Earlier this month, The New York Times ran a story headlined "Surge Seen in Number of Homeless Veterans." The same day, the Los Angeles Times published a story about a new report by the Alliance to End Homelessness that says one of four homeless are veterans. And these aren't the only pieces of troubling news items we're hearing.

The stories of substance abuse are also coming in. The military publication "Stars and Stripes" has reported that alcohol and other drug-use problems are common throughout the forces in Iraq. "Some of the young soldiers just can't handle the stress and turn to alcohol or drugs to self-medicate," said military defense lawyer Capt. Chris Krafchek. The Army's surgeon general was quoted in an Associated Press story that a survey of troops returning from Iraq found that 30 percent had developed mental health problems three to four months after coming home.

What's going to happen to all of these people who are suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts? Many will end up using drugs, just as many civilians do. So on top of all their other problems, many of the vets will have to worry about getting caught with drugs, being arrested or ending up homeless. U.S. prisons are already filled with nonviolent drug offenders, many serving mandatory sentences of 15 years to life for the possession of small amounts of drugs. Service members incarcerated and separated from their families because of drug addictions resulting from their service in Iraq or Afghanistan will be tragic. Veterans ending up homeless is shameful. And suicides the most extreme collateral damage of these wars.

It's easy to buy a bumper sticker and demand that everybody "Support Our Troops." But if we're going to walk the talk, we better be ready to offer compassion and treatment - not just a jail cell, the street or a morgue when it comes to helping our brothers and sisters heal from the damages of war.

Comments

[TRYKER]

When our troops come home from fighting for our Constitution and Bill of Rights and find that we at home have trashed that precious document and given away those rights, they will be so proud!
WTF were they fighting for, if we just dismantle all their hard work with our cavalier tossing of all they fought for?
When they come home to this fascist mess we concocted with elected official representatives yet, they are bound to be suicidal or homicidal and who can blame them?
Its a disgrace what we've done to their country while they're over there getting their brains blown half out.
Support our troops, what a crock!
Was it your son or daughter that has been trained and ordered to TORTURE, that is coming home all twisted and radically changed, who'll never be the same?
Let us never forget that Bush Cheney REPUBLICANS did this to our children, our country, and those millions of innocent Iraqis.
..against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC.

[godlessclif]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/09/06/arts/07romance-600.jpg

[Rule Of Law]

Having a bit of trouble with your server. I hope this does not post twice...

As this country rushes toward recession, or perhaps even a Depression or a right wing coup, it is vitally important for all of us to reach out to anyone in the Armed Forces and befriend them.

When treated like toilet paper in a war zone and worse on coming home, they need us to remind them that they were not, do not, and will not fight to protect and defend the Bush Regime! That they should only fight to protect the Constitution that is the last hope of salvation that any of us possess.

If Bush should declare martial law, suspend elections, or set Blackwater free in our cities during some "state of National Emergency," Our military will have to choose for whom they really fight...

Let's make it as plain and painless as possible for them to feel good about their sacrifices for The Country, not temporary leaders; to understand that we will not abandon them, and for them to realize that our enemies can be both external and internal, and that being on the right side means being for America, the Constitution, and the People!

If there is a healing to come from this horrid war and the inhuman use of our best young people, it will come when our military and the citizenry stand together. That together we will work to restore a country where we are all truly free, and where those who serve it are treated with dignity, honor, and whatever help it is that they deserve for their sacrifices.

[Dap]

This should be of *NO* surprise...

When their Commander-In-Chief is a Sociopath.

[ThomasDoubting]

Use them once and throw them away, there is a new generation coming along. That is the attitude of the regime running this country. With all these suicides that are occurring among the recent vets, there will be less young men and women begging on the streets. Thirty years ago, as Viet Nam vets were returning, our government, under Reagan, shut down mental health facilities across the country. This is when I first observed homelessness, involving men, women, children, and entire families. In this bare knuckles capitalism of the last several years, there is nowhere to go for help. In the nineties the Clintons, with help of their Republican friends eliminated the so called welfare system. There is a class war going on, tax cuts for the filthy rich, and prison, the military, or the streets, for the poor. Tell me again, how does this war benefit me?

[ljsfolly]

What is wrong with our military comes back to the bush and companies lies to start the war but they also lay at the feet of the pentagon for letting go of what has to be the basic right of all americans to be protected by our military. The multiple pronged sword that is killing our sons and daughters as well as all of those set without emotional support and preperation into a battle they could not understand. How many among us knows so much more or any more than when the war in Iraq started about the culture and religions of the region? The idea of sending troops where it is not just the hidden enemy they must fight because they all look the same and speak lanuages not understood but the culture is so markedly different than anything they have known is scary. It's like sending troops to fight aliens off ufos. The vietnam war should have shown this from before. Built on lies just creates a harder war. We as citizens have been kept removed from this war by bush who declared that we not see caskets coming home. That made it too personal and it should have been shown. Like the twin towers before that we have been kept in a sanitized enviornment told what we only needed to be told. Embed we learned was those guys/women who chose to cover the war as if it was a tv show not reality. We have been let down by the bush crowd but let us not let down those who also paid for the let down in mental and physical ways beyond any we have known with excemption of the vietnam viets.