The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, lasting almost 20 years, is America’s longest war. Although not top of mind with many Americans, its death toll weighs in the many tens of thousands. In addition, because the US borrowed most of the money to pay for it, generations of Americans will be burdened by the cost of paying it off.

Since the war against the Taliban began in 2001, there have been more than 3,500 coalition deaths, of which more than 2,300 have been US soldiers. A further 20,660 have been injured in action.

These official numbers don’t include the many troops who return home and die by suicide as a result of psychological wounds such as PTSD. Over 30,177 service members and veterans of the post-9/11 wars have died by suicide – more than four times as many as have died in combat.

Some soldiers deployed in Afghanistan identify with Vietnam War veterans who were mistreated when they returned home and who felt forgotten. They feel like history is repeating itself, with the US making the same mistakes.

America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s rapid takeover this month has left many veterans feeling outraged and discouraged. Mental health professionals working with veterans are urging them to talk about their feelings and seek help if they need it.

“The most important thing right now for all of us who are not veterans is to be ready to listen and to not assume we know what they are feeling or how they are feeling about things,” said Sheila Rauch, director of mental health research and program evaluation for the Atlanta VA Health Care System.

Burke Garrett, a retired Army lieutenant general who led a brigade of US troops in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2004, wants veterans to keep in mind their fellow Americans are very proud of them and all who have sacrificed.

“You served honorably and courageously to bring peace to the people of Afghanistan,” said Garrett, executive advisor to the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. “Take pride in your service, knowing that you kept our nation safe and made a positive impact, even with what is happening now.”

As veterans, we must remember the positive things we’ve accomplished in Afghanistan, including destroying the enemy’s roadside bombs, building public infrastructure, and making it safe for kids to return to school.

We must remember it wasn’t for naught.

If you’re struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, please know that you are not alone.

Contact the Veterans Crisis Line to reach caring, qualified responders with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Many of them are veterans themselves.

Call 800.273.8255 or text 838255. This free support is confidential and available 24/7.

If you or any veteran, their family, or caregiver are in need of other support, please fill out this form to be connected with America’s Warrior Partnership’s The Network.

For as long as wars have existed, they’ve been fought on two battlefronts — on the battlefield and in the mind. Only recently, however, have the mental-health tolls of combat been truly understood, or even acknowledged.

Since 2005, more veterans have died by suicide than the total number of U.S. troops who died in 30 years of war in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. By 2018, suicide among veterans was more than 17 a day. And the number of military deaths by suicide jumped 25% from the end of 2019 to the end of 2020.

But these deaths are preventable if Americans, legislators, and the Veterans Administration make veterans’ mental health their top priority.

A RAND study found that one-third of service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan report symptoms of PTSD, depression, or a cognitive condition like traumatic brain injury, which has been linked to future mental health disorders. If one out of every three men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan were struck by enemy fire, it would be national news. But because mental health is an invisible kind of suffering — and many veterans don’t seek help for it — its implications are often overlooked.

If today’s children and teens grow up believing our country doesn’t take care of its veterans, how can we expect them to want to join the military? Without a culture that renounces stigma and a system that prioritizes mental health, we can’t sustain the quality of forces we now have.

Sebastian Junger calls the bond shared between service members in war the “core experience of combat.” He writes in his book “War,” “The willingness to die for another person is a form of love, and is a profound and essential part of the experience.”

Because of this, one of the best ways we can honor those who have lost their lives in combat is to take care of their brothers and sisters who made it home. Most veteran suicides stem from post-combat PTSD, depression or substance abuse disorder (In 2017, a team of researchers studying data from more than 4.8 million veterans found that those with substance use disorders had twice the risk of suicide than civilians struggling with substance abuse). We need to tackle these issues together as a country — from everyday Americans to legislators in Washington, D.C.

Here are four things you can do:

• Call a veteran you know, even someone who “seems alright.”
• Be open about your own mental health struggles. Make it a part of our daily national conversation, so that we reduce the stigma associated with it.
• Donate to organizations such as America’s Warrior Partnership; Team RWB; Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS); Gold Star Families; and others that are addressing PTSD and mental-health challenges among veterans and their families.
• The MISSION Act is legislation, passed in 2018, that gives veterans greater access to healthcare in their communities if they can’t get a VA appointment. But veterans are still having issues accessing appointments, especially mental health services. It is one of the most common issues I hear about in my job every day. If you are having issues getting an appointment, contact Mission Roll Call and tell us your story and how it impacts you. Veterans have a unique perspective, and it needs to be heard.

As a nation, we must do better. We can do better. The steps we take toward ending veteran suicide today could end up saving the lives of our children or our children’s children in the future.

Patrick Griffith is the program director of Mission Roll Call. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army where he served as a noncommissioned officer in the 38th Ordnance Company Explosive Ordnance Disposal, supporting deployments to Africa, South America, and Afghanistan.

I voted in an NBA arena today—a pretty cool experience that took about 15 minutes total.

It reminded me of a couple of my most memorable voting experiences. The first was in between patrols in Baghdad from a patrol base in a burned out paper factory near the Baghdad Gates. I thought it was so cool that we got to vote from combat. It made me so proud to participate in the democracy that we were actively defending while helping to build a democracy in another country.

The second was years later in Afghanistan. I didn’t vote, but we helped plan and execute a massive security plan for the first democratic election since Taliban rule. It was the first opportunity that many Afghan women ever had to vote. They had their own polling stations—and when they were done and walked past the sand bags and crew served weapons with their index fingers covered in blue ink—many were weeping from the opportunity to make their voice heard.

Walking out of State Farm Arena in Atlanta and those memories rushing back, made me realize not to take this experiment of American democracy for granted.

Voting is our civic duty. Please go vote.