Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes keeps pictures of the dead in his pockets.
They're the faces of young soldiers whose eyes stare out resolutely from photocopied pages worn and creased by the ritual of unfolding them, smoothing them flat and refolding them.
They're the faces of men who, haunted by problems at home or memories of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — the dead children, the fallen comrades and the lingering smell of burnt flesh — pressed guns to their heads and pulled the triggers or tied ropes with military precision and hanged themselves.
The pictures remind Rhodes of how close he came to joining them and how, sometimes when the sadness presses in dark and suffocating, he still mentally pens suicide notes.....>>>>>
And from just one of the occupation battlefields:
Iraq Mends a System to Treat Trauma
Mohammed Ziara, 11, is taking part in therapy sessions at the Sara Center for Trauma in Basra, Iraq's first multidisciplinary clinic for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Iraq’s mental health care system was once advanced for the region, but by 2006 fewer than 100 psychiatrists remained in a population of about 30 million, and almost no psychologists. Patients were isolated in understaffed institutions, apart from their families and communities.
But now the government has embarked on an ambitious program to rebuild its ruined mental health care system in a country experiencing more than its share of traumas and stress.....>>>>>
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