Count the cost

We frequently hear about the dead and wounded among our brave soldiers in the war, but a new study highlights the tremendous lifetime costs that are paid by those who offer up the ultimate sacrifice on the altar of freedom.

The Homeless Research Institute found that over a quarter of the US homeless population are veterans of war, despite the fact that they constitute only 11 percent of the civilian adult population. This is more surprising since veterans have a higher than average level of education and skills. (Click here to read the entire news story.)

I listened to the stories of many veterans during my congressional race last year, and it is tragic to learn how much lives are impacted when we take good people and place them under the indescribable pressure cooker of battle. The human soul was not designed to suffer that kind of damage. Our leaders need to do a better job factoring in the toll of human suffering by our returning heroes before they commit them to the hellhole called war, and we need to do better at caring for those souls once they have returned.