Saturday, December 27, 2008

Beneath A Brave Soldier's Suicide

Military Struggles With Response To PTSD

Dec. 26, 2008 CBS Evening News: Beneath A Brave Solider's Suicide, Cracks In the Mental Health System

The Pentagon says 1 in 5 service members who come home from Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress.

Some find their experiences too much to bear. There were 115 military suicides last year, and 93 through just August of this year.

The biggest obstacle to getting those numbers down may be the military culture itself, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier.

First Sergeant Jeff McKinney was a model soldier, a newlywed, and a new father.

Now, his family says, he's a casualty of war. Two wars really: the war in Iraq, where he served honorably, and the war within the military over how to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.




"He needed help and nobody helped him," Chrissy McKinney said. "And that's the reason why he died."


Resources: One Freedom
Creating reintegration solutions for our military service members, families and communities.

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