NightBlogger

For every solder killed or physically wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan, some 10 others come home psychically scarred. The Pentagon has diagnosed roughly 40,000 troops with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since 2003, and tens of thousands of others are dealing with it on their own or ultimately will be diagnosed.

With the war taking such a heavy psychological toll, some inside the military are starting to ask if men and women who become mentally injured in the service of their country deserve the Purple Heart. To some traditionalists, the idea is absurd on its face, but it is not a theoretical debate —the Pentagon is now weighing a change in policy that would make PTSD, in a term only the military could invent, a “qualifying wound” for the medal. More

Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan reports on the increasing number of US veterans that are committing suicide and how one family in particular are dealing with their son’s decision to take his own life. New reports suggest that veterans of US wars are committing suicide at a stunning rate.

A growing number of those are recent veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of US troops are returning from the war zones with ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’ and in the most extreme cases the mental scars leads to the ultimate anguish for their family