US Military Personnel Still Reticent to Report Mental Illness

Major General Mark Graham was a decorated officer who inspired his two sons to join the military. When Jeff was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, the Army treated him as a hero. When Kevin committed suicide, there was silence. Those different reactions inspired surviving family members to begin a campaign—to erase the stigma surrounding suicide and depression.

Suicide in the military has become epidemic. Since 2001, more American soldiers have killed themselves than have died in Afghanistan. Now the parents of Kevin and Jeff Graham have devoted their lives to reducing the stigma that prevents soldiers who need help from asking for it. Their story is told in a new book, published this week, called, The Invisible Front: Love and Loss in an Era of War. It's by Yochi Dreazen, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine.