The Army recently released statistics on suicides and combat trauma for 2011, and the good news is that the number of suicides was down 9% from 2010, 278 versus 305. The bad news is that the Army Suicide Rate is still more than 200% higher than it was in 2006. For soldiers who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan, the rate of 38 suicides per 100,000 troops is twice the rate for the same demographic in the civilian population. 
Equally disturbing are the statistics on combat trauma. Since 2003, nearly 500,000 cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have been diagnosed, and the 2010 rate was 15 times higher than 2003. PTSD often manifests in domestic or child abuse - domestic abuse cases were up 50% in 2010, and child abuse cases increased by 62%.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI often results from improvised explosive device (IED) detonations, and TBI diagnoses have increased five-fold since 2000. IEDs also cause other complex wounds such as amputation or internal organ damage, requiring extensive rehabilitation before a soldier can return to duty or be separated from the service. In 2010, over 8,300 soldiers had been convalescing for 1 to 3 years, placing a heavy burden on their loved ones as they adjust to their "new normal."
Churches can do much to alleviate the suffering of these wounded warriors by identifying the behavioral changes stemming from PTSD, providing a safe haven for the healing of these spiritual wounds, and reaching out to military families afflicted by these traumatic effects of their service.
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