War Stress Pushing Army Suicides Higher

Iraqi Army soldiers and U.S. Army soldiers from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division run across a street during their joint operation in the Amariyah neighborhood of west Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) (Petr David Josek - AP)

Tracy Willis, whose husband is a finance officer deployed in Iraq, said even though her husband works mostly inside a base, "There's no safe job in the Army."

"Being over there is a dangerous place," said Willis. When her husband returned home to Fort Hood for a break, she noticed he was jumpy in his sleep, unlike himself.

"It was a big scare," she said. "I don't want him to come home and feel he can't handle this."

Though the Army has boosted programs for family members as well, Willis, 24, said she's not sure what kind of help or information is available for soldiers like her husband. She's heard discussions of post-traumatic stress disorder but wouldn't know where to turn.

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Associated Press reporter Michelle Roberts contributed to this report from San Antonio, Texas, and William Kates from Fort Drum, N.Y.

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