A grim Veterans Day observance

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Updated 12:25 PM Tuesday, November 10, 2009

“Our thoughts are with all the families who’ve lost a loved one in this national tragedy. And our thoughts are with all the Americans who wear, or who have worn, the proud uniform of the United States of America.”

President Barack Obama

Those words were spoken in the aftermath of last week’s horrendous shooting massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. Bewildered Americans are still trying to fathom the motives of the gunman who opened fire on a crowd of unarmed soldiers, killing 13 and injuring 38.

The tragedy has cast a solemn and melancholy pall over today’s observance of Veterans Day, our annual holiday in which we salute and honor our nation’s military veterans.

Of course, with armed conflicts ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan, every day should seem like Veterans Day — because so many families have given sons and daughters to the wars and, tragically, many have not come home. Or they have come home with crippling injuries. We owe them so much.

Close to home, the family of Marine Cpl. Joshua Hartzell, a 22-year-old graduate of Butler County’s Ross High School, is mourning his recent death. Hartzell’s body was found in a wooded area at Camp LeJeune, N.C., last weekend and a fellow Marine has been charged with his murder. This Veterans Day will be a difficult one for Cpl. Hartzell’s loved ones and friends.

The Fort Hood massacre has also focused the nation’s attention to the mental and psychological stresses that are plaguing our military service personnel, and the factors that may have driven an Army major — a psychiatrist, no less — to open fire on innocent troops.

The nation now has a greater understanding of the emotional trauma that war — and repeated tours of duty — inflicts, even on those who might be physically unharmed. Suicide rates among Army personnel have risen substantially since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, despite major intervention efforts, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

It was reassuring to hear Army Gen. George Casey address the issues last weekend on network talk shows. “We’ve contracted with the National Institute for Health for a five-year, $50 million study of suicides,” Casey told ABC News. “... And recently, we just implemented a program called ‘comprehensive soldier fitness,’ which is designed to work on the front end of this, to give our soldiers, civilians and family members the resilient skills they need to make it through these tough times, and that’s a $125 million program here that’s going to unfold here over the next several years.”

As the United States considers an escalation of troops in Afghanistan, these programs will be important to help soldiers deal with the physical and mental demands of the job there. A recommitment to those goals of safeguarding and supporting our troops fully — on the field of battle and now apparently on domestic soil — is the best way we can mark Veterans Day 2009.

Although our medical knowledge may be greater and our tools of treatment more effective, this generation of Americans is no different than many previous generations who also made such personal sacrifices — leaving their spouses and children, enduring hardships and severe discomfort, going in harm’s way — in order to protect the American way of life. For that reason, we all should feel deep gratitude and admiration for all these brave men and women on this somber Veterans Day.

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