For soldiers, the enemy may be themselves

This article caught my attention because I wanted to know what the title meant. How could our soldiers hurt themselves more than the enemy could hurt them? The article turned out to be about suicide. I suppose it makes sense that people who go to war would have a higher suicide rate. It turns out, however, that 20 percent of all suicides are veterans. Wow. When I think of suicide, usually I think of teenagers. This article was very relevant to the books we're reading, I think. When I read The Things They Carried, I kept thinking how weird it must be to go back to normal life after a war. It seems like everything would seem superficial and unimportant. Obviously, many people have trouble with it. This article made me think of the guy in the book who kept driving around the lake. He had no one to talk to, and eventually killed himself.
The article suggests that perhaps people who join the army are already more prone to suicide. A lot of drug addicts and criminals are allowed to join the army. Whether this is true or not, however, the author insists that there is something we should do about it. However, I honestly can't imagine how we could fix the situation. Can we afford to be stricter about who can join? Can we take away the unpleasantness of war? I think this might just be one of the terrible effects of war. Maybe we could try to ease the problem, but I don't think it can be eliminated. I think the only real solution is to do what we can to achieve peace.

article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2011/10/06/for-soldiers-enemy-may-themselves/SCQuVP2NXnoxWNXkCaRbSO/story.xml