Suicide By Veterans Remains A Daunting Problem As VA Struggles To Improve Care

As with many suicides, nobody saw this one coming.  Back from his service in Afghanistan, Matthew Melanson was part of a tightly knit group of students at Tunxis Community College...Like many returning soldiers and sailors, Melanson suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. His suicide and the suicides of many veterans like him have alarmed the military and officials at U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs facilities all over the country, who are in a long-standing struggle with the problem.

Although there's evidence some progress has been made, the situation remains daunting, and suicide remains a risk to those who have survived the perils of the battlefield.  The latest national count by the Department of Veterans Affairs showed that 22 veterans take their lives every day. That's a suicide every 65 minutes.

Some people, including Linda Schwartz, outgoing head of Connecticut's Department of Veterans' Affairs, say the problem is probably a lot greater than reported. "There's nothing realistic" about suicide statistics, she said, because "a veteran's death often does not get reported as a suicide."...