Shell Shock in the 21st Century

Numerous papers and periodicals have, in the last two years, run special coverage of the special and often dire cases of soldiers returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As early as 2003, the Christian Science Monitor was reporting on the difficulties soldiers face when returning home from war zones; nineteen months later, the Monitor ran a piece on rising homelessness among veterans of the "Wars on Terror". In the last two years, more mainstream publications have followed suit. Anderson Cooper got in on the action. The New York Times and Washington Post both commented on the surge in homeless vets. Our own Chronicle ran a special Veteran's Day piece last year on the continuously rising statistics, citing data from the Palo Alto VA Hospital – the largest in-patient mental health facility in the country.

The horror stories go beyond homelessness. In a special series they called War Torn, the New York Times reported over one hundred and twenty cases of violent – and often lethal – crimes committed by soldiers returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. The New Yorker followed suit, with an article on the suicide of a decorated Marine, movingly coupled with a series of military portraits. The Washington Post, meanwhile spent years on a special investigation into charges of neglect and malpractice at the Walter Reed Army Medical facilities. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2008.