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"This series uses the experiences of several troops suffering from PTSD to delve into the biology of the disorder; substance abuse among victims; the stress that the disorder places on spouses and children; treatment options and availability; the specter of suicide among PTSD sufferers; what current research may mean for the future, and many other issues."

Pfc. Jordan May, a 26-year-old gunner, fell into a deep sleep that night and never woke up. In the six years since the war in Iraq began, it's been standard practice to honor troops who die overseas as patriots. But for the families of May and other Fort Hood soldiers who died on post or close to home, there typically are no news reports and no flags lowered to half-staff. The hidden demons that follow troops home - mental stress, depression and traumatic brain injury, to name a few - don't always go away. When left unresolved, they can lead to divorce, drug or alcohol abuse and suicide. And as the March 19 anniversary of the start of the war draws near, there are more questions than answers in the stateside deaths of May and 13 other Fort Hood troops in the past eight months. The Army typically releases general details of how a soldier has died in Iraq, usually from small-arms fire, an explosive, an accident or an unspecified noncombat incident. But when a soldier dies at Fort Hood, friends and relatives often can only speculate about any role the war might have played.

Scientific American has a knock-out article that questions whether the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder is a coherent psychological concept or whether it is actually making the situation worse for soldiers with post-combat mental health problems.

The men crewed .50-calibers through Iraq neighborhoods, survived roadside bomb blasts, attended memorial services for buddies. Now they were being asked to cut cattle, on foot, in front of one another and a handful of real cowboys. It's safe to say there wasn't exactly a rush to start. But within a few minutes, the 15 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan-almost all of them self-described city boys whose experience with livestock extends only to the dinner plate-had learned a thing or two about patience and teamwork, and for a few minutes of laughter and sweat, they could forget about the war that still haunts them. "It's like we're back in the field now," said Jeremy Williams, a 26-year-old who lives in a small town near Huntsville and served three tours in Iraq with the Marines. The veterans came from throughout the United States to spend four days at the stylish Wildcatter Ranch, invited by the Wounded Warrior Project and the owners of the ranch to help restore their spirits. Some of the men have physical injuries, but each of them is struggling to deal with combat stress and their return to civilian society. The men went canoeing and rode horses. They got massages and shot skeet. They stayed in luxurious rooms and they visited an elementary school, where the children gave them Graham Steers ball caps. "I have never seen anything like this before," said Harvey Stubbs Jr., 32, a Chicago-area native who was medically retired from the Army because of his injuries. "The outpouring of love ... has been amazing. A lot of people give lip service to supporting the troops, but these people have opened their hearts to us in ways I can't believe."

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Army Reserve's Chattanooga-based 591st Transportation Detachment prepares to implement the new Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program.\n\nAll branches of the service have some form of the program, according to Lt. Col. Robin Smith Sr., chief well-being officer for the Army Reserve. The Yellow Ribbon program was launched "to prepare soldiers and their families for mobilization, sustain the families during mobilization and to help with reintegration with their families, communities and employers upon redeployment," he said.\n\nThe program began as part of a requirement outlined in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2008 and became even more important as the steep suicide rates were recorded in recent months

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Legislation introduced recently by Rep. John Hall, D-Dover Plains, would lift the burden of proof from veterans who served in combat zones and have a diagnosis of PTSD, allowing them to receive disability benefits without having to prove that a specific incident caused the disorder. In the Iraq and Afghanistan wars alone, more than 100,000 veterans have been found to have PTSD, but only 42,000 have been granted service-connected disability for their condition, said Hall, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. The disability claims backlog at the VA tops 800,000. A large percentage of that number are Vietnam veterans seeking compensation for PTSD, Hall said.

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Statistics for OEF / OEF AFGHANISTAN * A recent study showed that 18 percent of 45,880 veterans were diagnosed with psychological disorders, including 183 with PTSD. IRAQ * According to a 2005 VA study of 168,528 Iraqi veterans, 20 percent were diagnosed with psychological disorders, including 1,641 with PTSD. * In an earlier VA study this year, almost 12,500 of nearly 245,000 veterans visited VA counseling centers for readjustment problems and symptoms of PTSD. * The Marines and Army were nearly four times more likely to report PTSD than Navy or Air Force because of their greater exposure to combat situations. * Enlisted men were twice as likely as officers to report PTSD. "

"Ilona Meagher, the author of "Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops," maintains a detailed online list of resources for veterans seeking help with PTSD. In the past, she has featured the warrior poets. "Everybody coping with PTSD needs an outlet, some way to express themselves," she said during a telephone interview from Chicago. "This is one powerful way to not only to help the veterans cope, but to make the public at large aware of this serious problem.""

"Excerpt: Every month, Ilona Meagher, author of Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops, posts a collection of "combat clips"-essentially a stack of statistics reported in the mainstream media but buried by the daily barrage of news and chatter. The stats, collected at her blog, PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, cover a lot of ground, from suicides to face transplants, but I wanted to pull out some numbers relating to women in the military... Full story: http://www.utne.com/War-and-Peace/Women-in-the-US-Military-6216.aspx -- Tanya L. Roth PhD Candidate, Department of History Washington University in St. Louis "

"Every month, Ilona Meagher, author of Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops, posts a collection of "combat clips"-essentially a stack of statistics reported in the mainstream media but buried by the daily barrage of news and chatter. The stats, collected at her blog, PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, cover a lot of ground, from suicides to face transplants, but I wanted to pull out some numbers relating to women in the military:"

"In the shimmering fantasy realm of the hit movie "Avatar," a paraplegic Marine leaves his wheelchair behind and finds his feet in a new virtual world thanks to "the link," a sophisticated chamber that connects his brain to a surrogate alien, via computer. This type of interface is a classic tool in gee-whiz science fiction. But the hard science behind it is even more wow-inducing. Researchers are already using brain-computer interfaces to aid the disabled, treat diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and provide therapy for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Work is under way on devices that may eventually let you communicate with friends telepathically, give you superhuman hearing and vision or even let you download data directly into your brain, a la "The Matrix." Researchers are practically giddy over the prospects. "We don't know what the limits are yet," says Melody Moore Jackson, director of Georgia Tech University's BrainLab. "

William Osborn

Researchers are now starting to understand the physiological origins of this cognitive "fog of war", finding that the severity of soldiers' symptoms correlates with the levels of various hormones and neurotransmitters. This work has revealed why some soldiers manage to keep their head amid the chaos while others are clouded in confusion, and it has even suggested drugs and supplements which could one day help all troops to think more clearly under fire. Such intervention might also reduce the number of lives - like Wells's - that have been shattered by post-traumatic stress disorder, since it seems soldiers who experience the greatest cognitive disturbance during combat are most likely to suffer subsequently from PTSD. Although war leaves its mark on almost every combatant (see "Battle lines drawn in the brain"), drugs that clear the mental fog during battle might significantly reduce the severity of the symptoms that linger long after the soldiers have returned home. "If we understand the physiology, that gives us clues as to where and how we might intervene," suggests Charles "Andy" Morgan, a psychiatrist at Yale University and the US Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD in West Haven, Connecticut.

On this day, they are laboring at one of many small wetlands created by developers to compensate for marshland filled in for housing. Most of these spots are overgrown with blackberries and other invasive species, and the restoration work is tough labor that often leaves scratched-up arms. "It's been like a breath of fresh air," said Jeremy Grisham, the leader of the crew. "When I first got back, I couldn't find work and gained so much weight. When I started getting outside, it was the first time I felt good about things." Grisham was a Navy medic who took part in the initial U.S. invasion of Iraq. One of his most harrowing tasks was helping civilians suffering from burns and wounds. As Grisham was medically retired in 2005, he was diagnosed with a disabling case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Grisham is now in his second year in the conservation corps, taking classes and field work at Green River Community College, which offers a two-year degree in natural-resources management. He is one of about 70 Washington veterans who have been able to attend Green River and four other community colleges around the state with the help of the conservation corps, which pays $1,000 per month in living expenses.