As a veterans’ advocate, I fought to assist our veterans for 30 years.  Now, I pen some of their tragic stories.  Stories that need to be told; stories that many do not want to hear.

Jeff was just an ordinary kid from small-town America. He grew up loving his parents, his high school sweetheart, and back-yard ball games.

Even his decision to enlist in the Marine Reserves -- two years before the 2001 terrorist attacks -- was run-of-the-mill.

"He just wanted to prove he could cut it," said his mother.

But when Jeff returned to his parents' home in July 2003 after six months in Iraq as a truck driver, he had changed.

He started drinking too much. He became withdrawn, depressed and distant.

In June, after what his parents describe as months of mental and emotional torment, the young depressed lance corporal went down to the basement of their family home and hung himself.

He was 23 years old.

Just a few feet from where his father forlornly found him with a garden hose wrapped around his neck, Jeff had arranged a semicircle of family photos on the floor. The note he left said he could no longer deal with his terrible emotional pain.

As of late October, 31 troops serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom had killed themselves while in Iraq. Figures for suicides soon after coming home from duty in Iraq or Afghanistan are less clear, but the Marines count at least 12.

"Military people are heavily vetted for any psychological problems before they enter the service," said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. "They're screened very well when they come in, and they're supposed to be screened very well when they leave. So when a Marine takes the ultimate step of checking out by taking his own life, it should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. These are the guys who aren't supposed to do that."

Military officials say the mental health of all troops is a major concern.

"We're always on the lookout for symptoms of anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and any symptoms that might predispose someone to PTSD," said Dr. Thomas Burke, program director for the Defense Department's mental health policy. In the field, he added, troops are told that help is available.

Dr. Alfonso Batres, the VA's national director for readjustment counseling, said the stresses faced by soldiers in Iraq are much greater than those that weighed on military personnel in the 1991 Gulf War.

"This is urban warfare," Batres said. "There's no place to hide in Iraq. Whether you're driving a truck or you're a cook, everyone is exposed to extreme stress on a daily basis."

In mid-June, Jeff had learned through his local VA hospital about a counseling service called the Vet Center run, by the VA.

He met with a counselor and set up some more sessions. His parents took it as a sign of progress.

But a week later, young Jeff laced a garden hose around the wooden rafters in his parents' basement, and hung himself.

Department of Veterans Affairs officials believe that one in five soldiers returning from the war in Iraq will develop some type of mental illness.

War, truly is, Hell.

And it is our troops and veterans who endure this hell; not those who comfortably and safely sit at home eagerly calling for more and more conflict and bloodshed.