Why We Must Tend to the Children of Our Veterans

Post-traumatic stress disorder has become a household term, especially in the context of combat. Every day, some media outlet in the country talks about the PTSD of our veterans and troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, with the number now estimated to be 95 percent rather than the 20 percent previously reported. But what we aren't talking about as a country is the long-term consequences of that trauma. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden have created "Joining Forces" to help the families of our servicemen and women, the program's concerns being "employment, education, wellness and public awareness." Ms. Obama gave as an example of the outcomes she'd like to see: "better career opportunities for veterans and their spouses." Though a good job is essential, the prerequisite to one is a veteran's physical and mental wellness. That wellness is also essential for what I see as any family's most critical concern: their children's prosperity.

Our children's prosperity demands that we talk about their vulnerability to their parents' invisible wounds. In a terrible and cruel irony, when a member of the service returns home from combat, what they most want to achieve -- safety and sustenance for their children -- becomes elusive. The trauma of combat not only persists in tormenting the veteran, but the ghosts it creates haunt the entire household, infecting the children with the veteran's melancholy, depression, anger and unresolved grief.

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