Oregon soldiers engage new enemy: Depression

Oregon soldiers engage new enemy: Depression
For many, post-war life can be more deadly than combat as suicide rate among male
By Peter Korn

The West Linn Tidings, Aug 28, 2008


Nobody seems surprised. Not the physicians and therapists who treat returning veterans. Not the veterans themselves.

When told of recent data that appears to show that Oregon troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to die of suicide than in combat, they nod their heads, as if saying they’ve known all along.

And they have.

Joseph Holness, 48, of Gresham, served in the Iraq war and knows too well the hard reality of the war’s aftermath. A soldier he served with in the Air Force Reserves – a friend – shot himself in the head after his return.

“People just don’t know,” Holness says. “It can be hard coming home.”

He says he’s lucky he has a supportive family to help him deal with the anger and stress, but he wonders sometimes, “Could I have been one of those statistics?”

According to the VA, in July 2008 there were 250 calls a day to the suicide hot line. And veterans have made more than 22,000 calls since the hot line started in July 2007. Portland VA officials say 864 calls to the suicide hot line have come from Oregon veterans in the last year.

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