The scars you can't see and the deaths that happen at home

As we enter into the 8th year of war with Iraq and have already passed the 9th year mark with the war with Afghanistan, the costs of these wars are adding up. There is the economic cost, which has reached the trillion dollar mark at an estimated cost of 2.5 to 4.6 trillion dollars [1]. Yet, the human cost to our troops has been skyrocketing as well, and not just those dying in combat but those who have taken their own lives when they returned home.

We constantly hear the mantra of the psychological effects of fighting in the wars, and that they are taking an extreme toll on the troops. But this mantra brings the horrors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), military sexual trauma, and traumatic brain injury to just numbers. The facts as just numbers don’t show the real pain to service members and their families. They only reduce that pain to a rating system just like the Veterans Affairs hospitals.

To understand the real pain is to hear the stories of the suicides and the attempted suicides of our service members.

Jeffrey Lucey is one of the thousands of service members who took their own lives after fighting in the war on Iraq. LCPL Lucey served with the USMC during the initial invasion of Iraq, and he returned home a different person. Although his visible scars were limited his hidden scars ran deep, and after being home for four months he hung himself in his parents' cellar on June 22, 2004.

For Jeffrey, the true cost of the war on Iraq was not taken in the sands of the desert but taken right here at home. Jeffrey’s parents turned their grief into action and now are active members of Military Families Speak Out, a group working to the end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to make sure our service members are taken care of when they return home. His death is another notch in the human life lost during these wars.

Another service member, who asked to remain anonymous, told the story of dealing with his own personal trauma as such. "Everywhere I went I worried, I was constantly checking out every person to make sure I knew... My anxiety was through the roof at all times. Everything brought me back".

Eventually the stress got to much for this service member and they attempted to take their own life. Their method of choice was a liter of vodka and a handful of precosets. When they attempted to get treatment from the Winn Army Community Hospital, they felt no help, and they were left out to the pasture by the system that was supposed to finally serve them.

Thankfully, the suicide attempted failed, but there are thousands who don't fail. It's estimated that for every soldier killed in action, another two kill themselves at home.

Yet, our worst offensive to our service members is the repeated deployment of those who suffer from trauma. One-third of all service members will experiences some level of trauma in their deployments overseas, and most will be sent back on a second, third or even fourth deployment. We are refusing to give those who we supposedly hold up on the highest pedestal, the right to heal. The right to treat their trauma may it be from MST, PTSD, or TBI, should be the right of every service member, instead we send them through the cycle again and again.

As the generals sit around and tell you how wonderfully the wars are going, think of who is doing the hard labor for these generals. Who is bearing the greatest risk? Military suicides are caused by fighting these wars, and until we stop fighting in these wars suicides rates will keep going up.

Our soldiers and veterans are not only dying out of country they are dying in our own country. We must work to get them all home so those who need help can get it. The scars of war are always deep, but they are not always visible.

[1] http://www.cfr.org/afghanistan/iraq-afghanistan-us-economy/p15404

Robby Diesu is a member of Civilian-Solider Alliance, a group of civilians who work with active-duty service members and veterans on Operation Recovery. The goal of Operation Recovery is to stop the deployment of traumatized troops.