Insidious disease of war is behind many military suicides

By Al Martinez

Recent reports from Iraq and Afghanistan bring to mind a sad case from Korea.
May 5, 2008


I awoke last night at 4 a.m. thinking about Gonzalez. It was a conscious memory, not a dream. I could see his round, dark face and the loping, off-balance gait he had acquired humping over the mountains of Korea.

Four a.m. is a creepy time, as still as death and as black as the inside of hell. Cinelli is out of town for a week, leaving me to bumble around the house alone and deal with all of the dark things that creep around the bed.

As I lay there, I let the memories of Gonzalez re-enter my head. He was about 5 foot 10 and stocky; not overweight exactly, just broad. His laugh was loud but empty and faded quickly down the hillsides, like a last ray of light swallowed by darkness. It was a laugh without purpose and often without reason.

I know why Gonzalez was on my mind. For the past several days I've been reading about the high rate of suicide among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An Associated Press story says that an average of 18 military veterans from all wars kill themselves each day.

Read the rest at the link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-...