Sep 3, 2010 -- The data released recently by the US government regarding the alarming rate of suicide among active members of our armed forces is cause for serious concern. For the past two years, the rate was nearly double that of age matched civilians and, in 2009, more soldiers died as result of suicide and related high risk behaviors than in combat. As startling as these numbers are, they could have been far worse. US Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli has reported that last year over 100,000 soldiers received three-week prescriptions for anti-anxiety or antidepressant medications. It is abundantly clear that the members of our military are experiencing significant stress and suffering caused by their repeated deployments, family and job disruptions, physical injuries, including brain trauma, and other painful and taxing situations while serving our country. It is equally evident that as these forces leave military service and return to civilian life they, not to mention the inadequate number of medical and mental health clinicians specially trained to work with veterans, will be grappling with the consequences of these stresses for many years to come. Read full article on The Huffington Post... Dr. Victor Schwartz is University Dean of Students at Yeshiva University and associate professor of clinical psychiatry at YU's Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Jerald Kay is professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Wright State University's Boonshoft School of Medicine. They are the editors of Mental Health Care in the College Community (Wiley-Blackwell).