Our view: Mission: Keep living

But perhaps the toughest enemy is the one within the ranks -- the deeply ingrained notion that a warrior who acknowledges suicidal thoughts and asks for help has succumbed to weakness.

The military needs to defeat that notion.

Truth is on the side of the officers and non-coms who are leading the way in bringing the issue of suicide into the light and onto the list of wounds that need treatment. No stigma or shame should attend the troops who suffer dark imaginings of what they'll write in suicide notes and how they'll do the deed, men and women who struggle with demons and ghosts that won't let them reclaim any joy in living.

Dr. Joe Pace, a VA psychiatrist in Anchorage, said it simply: Those who suffer from any degree of post- traumatic stress disorder are reacting normally to an abnormal situation. And the sooner troops go for help, the sooner they tend to heal.

To do that, they need to know there's neither shame nor loss of career prospects in admitting the truth. And the truth is that suicidal thoughts are a wound of war no less real than physical wounds. The truth is that their country sent them into dark places that most in the country can't imagine. The truth is that suicide is an enemy far less likely to prevail if it's flushed into the open where the individual can deal with it -- and where friends, family and professionals can help.

Warriors need to be tough. Warriors also need one another. The call for help is commonplace -- for air support, for artillery, for reinforcements, for medics. No soldier would hesitate to make those calls. Nor should any soldier hesitate to ask for help in finding his way out of the darkness -- or at least keeping it at bay.

Suicidal depression is a powerful enemy that grows stronger in darkness and in silence. When retired Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes speaks out about his own despair and suicidal thoughts, he makes clear that those thoughts are not weakness, not lack of character, but another shattering wound of war. He got help -- from a commander who listened and encouraged him, a good woman and the therapy of horses. But he also knows how close he came to pulling the trigger.

He's decided to help others by speaking out. And in so speaking, he strikes back at that despair with hope.

The armed forces are gradually learning more about recognizing and treating unseen wounds. As Rhodes said, leadership is vital -- the best throughout the ranks must make clear to the troops that no matter what dark places they're in, they're not alone.

BOTTOM LINE: A soldier's despair isn't weakness. It's an honest wound of war that needs treatment.