CONTACT, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week crisis hotline

Other battles wait at home
Monday, December 03, 2007
BY GREG VELLNER
Special to the Times
Home sweet home isn't a reality for some returning U.S. soldiers, say local experts working to reverse "an emerging issue" of suicide among troops.

"The real tragedy is when young people survive over there in the military and come home and have major difficulties re-entering civilian life or during the time between deployments," says Eleanor Letcher, executive director of CONTACT of Mercer County. "It's at that point that some of them are taking their own lives."


According to the Veterans Affairs Department, there were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the end of 2005. The Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops, the highest in 26 years of record-keeping. In October, two recently returned Marines one from New Jersey, the other from Bucks County committed suicide.

In response, CONTACT, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week crisis hotline, is establishing an outreach program specifically for returning veterans and their families. The "It's About Hope" program is a first in 31 years for CONTACT and could be one of the first in the state.
click post title for the rest