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| |  | | | Earlier this week, Kelly Dougherty, Executive Director of Iraq Veterans Against the War, sent out a Veterans Day message. "While it is fitting that our nation reserves a special day to honor the sacrifice and commitment of our warriors," she wrote, "it also serves to highlight how we, as a country, have fallen short of caring for our veterans, reintegrating them back into our communities, and demanding that our military be used responsibly and only as a last resort." Over 1.7 million men and women of the U.S. military have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many of them now struggle to cope with physical and emotional injuries, with family relationships strained because of prolonged separation, and with finding employment during an economic recession. Driving this home is a sobering article this week by AlterNet author Penny Coleman, who reports on the staggering suicide rates among returning soldiers, numbers that would shake the American people awake if they were more widely reported. "Every year we lose about a rifle platoon worth of Marines to suicide," a Navy chaplain recently told a gathering of recruits, according to Coleman. "There is no tomorrow. Tomorrow will be too late. Intervene now. Don't waste time. Are you up for that challenge?" Read more writing by and about veterans in AlterNet's War on Iraq section. And thanks for reading. Liliana Segura Editor, War on Iraq Special Coverage | |  | | The New Gulf War Syndrome
By Nora Eisenberg, The Guardian
Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are in danger from toxic chemicals, yet most don't know what they've been exposed to or where to get help. Read more » | | | PEEK and Video: The hottest buzz and videos on the web | | | | |
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