In every war America has fought, veterans have returned home changed by the experience of combat. That is not a myth. It’s not a hoax. And it’s unacceptable to dismiss the struggles of our warriors. In World War I, some were said to suffer from what was then “shell shock.” In World War II, we called it “combat fatigue” before Vietnam gave us a clinical term: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. War affects everyone differently, and it’s something all of us – as Americans, as citizens protected by the greatest volunteer military in history – have a responsibility to address.

New England Cable News produced an honest, telling documentary that I had the honor of screening. “Hidden Wounds” tells the story of three men and their battles with PTSD, one of them Jeff Lucey, a Marine Reservist from Belchertown, Mass.

When Jeff was leaving Iraq, his instinct was to report his traumatic memories of things he had seen in the war. But someone told him it might delay his return home, so he kept quiet. But the safety, security, and joy of homecoming eluded Jeff. Haunted by the war and what he had seen, he began to drink heavily. He was plagued by recurring nightmares, and began talking about suicide. On June 15, Jeff’s mom called the VA pleading for help. They scheduled Jeff for an appointment on July 13. On June 22 – one week after his mother’s frantic call for help – Jeff took his own life. Two days later, his family received a letter confirming his appointment for July.

The Pentagon believes that as many as 100,000 new combat veterans across the country will need some level of mental health care. The New England Journal of Medicine has reported that 1 in 6 soldiers returning from Iraq show symptoms of major depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. VA officials told the House Veterans' Affairs Committee that they expect to see some 2,900 additional returning veterans with PTSD in fiscal year 2006. The data shows that the VA has already seen 10,000 additional veterans with PTSD and will likely see another 5,000 new patients by the end of the fiscal year.

Not only are the numbers of newly affected vets staggering, but the same old stigmas still exist that prevent them from receiving the care they need. Fewer than 40% of those with a problem have sought help. Military officials and mental health providers predict that up to 30% of returning soldiers will require psychiatric services associated with their experience in war. These are levels not seen since the Vietnam War.

But even as the number of veterans in need of care for PTSD rises, the VA has scaled back on the intensity of outpatient care it provides to veterans with PTSD. Our VA medical facilities are not ready for the increased demand for the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In fact only 86 of the 163 VA Medical Centers have PTSD treatment centers. And the Vet Centers exclusively for counseling veterans - established in 1979 by Vietnam vet and former Senator Max Cleland – have not had their budgets increased above inflation in a decade.

If America truly supports our troops, we owe them more than a polite thanks and best wishes. We owe them action.

The wounds of war are not always visible, and we cannot not sit back and wait for people to ask for help. We have to be proactive. And we have to be smart.

Soldiers and Marines returning from war want to go home. They don’t want to do anything that could jeopardize their homecoming.

The New Hampshire National Guard has pioneered a way to address this illness before it’s too late. Upon returning from combat duty, veterans are required to participate in a confidential one-on-one counseling sessions with a VA Vet Center Readjustment Counselor, 60% of whom are veterans themselves. It has been enormously successful. Similar programs now exist in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island.

Together with the Vet Centers, General Oliver Mason and General Kenneth Clark, the commanders of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire National Guards, have made a difference with their head-on approach. They have saved families, marriages, and lives. Thank God for men like them.

Now we need to take these New England ideas to the rest of America. Earlier this year, I sought an additional $80 million in the supplemental spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to expand the successful New Hampshire program at Vet Centers across the country. The provision passed the Senate as part of a larger amendment to provide $430 million for veterans’ healthcare, but was eliminated in the Republican-controlled conference.

It’s part of a pattern in Washington – provide lip service about supporting the troops but not the lifesaving body armor they need; talk a good game about veterans but cut funding for their healthcare. It’s wrong, and it’s time for it to end. And this November, members of Congress will be held accountable for their real records. That’s why I’m standing with veterans running for critical House and Senate seats. They will help re-focus the debate in Washington on where it belongs – our troops.

We know that many soldiers just need to check in with another combat veteran once in a while, or maybe be part of a combat support group. If we can just get them help early, we can prevent years of difficulties and struggles and confusion. And they won’t have to go through what Jeff Lucey went through. That’s the least we can do for those who wear the uniform of our country.

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