MORE THAN 60,000 IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN VETS DIAGNOSED WITH PTSD

It is known as the "silent killer."

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is afflicting over 60,000 veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Veterans Administration is not equipped to handle the mounting numbers of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with severe cases of depression.

More Than 60,000 Iraq, Afghanistan Vets Diagnosed with PTSD
Jason Leopold

Op Ed News

Mar 06, 2008- Jonathan Schulze was awarded two Purple Hearts in 2005 after a lengthy tour of duty in Iraq.

But the Marine veteran couldn't escape the war inside his head.

Drugs and alcohol temporarily numbed his pain. Yet the guilt he carried around with him having been one of a handful of soldiers in his unit to survive combat was impossible to run away from.

Schulze was suicidal.

On January 11, 2007, he sought treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. His parents drove him to the VA hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Schulze told the VA staff that he "felt suicidal," his mother, Marianne Schulze, recalled.

The hospital didn't admit him. Instead, he was told to call back the following day. He did. He was given a number: 26. The VA staff told him he'd have to wait at least two weeks to be admitted. Apparently, there were other veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who were also suffering from PTSD. It's unknown whether they met the same fate.

On January 16, 2007, Schulze placed a photo of his one-year-old daughter beside him. He wrapped an electrical cord around his neck and hung himself in the basement of a friend's house in New Prague, Minnesota.

He was 25 years old.