This is a long and soul searing article. Chris Hedges, award winning war correspondent, and Laila Al-Arian, a Columbia Journalism grad and free lancer interviewed 50 US Iraq vets from all branches of the service who served from 2002 to 2006. The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness

Earlier this year stateside medical military personnel warned their superiors they did not have the resources in place to deal with PTSD in returning vets. Thousands and thousands of men and women, sent to serve their country in this war, well trained in combat, utterly untrained in the culture, the urban environment, their realities and disparities.

This is an intense read, for each tells their story, this is written rapid fire, giving you no time to breath. If you pray, then pray that churches, medical people, families will seek be trained to help and find their loved ones help. The known consequences of untreated, unsupported vets will be suicides, family breakdowns, addictions, memory and cognitive impairment, depression, social difficulties, desensitization, inability to parent, occupational instability, physical problems…

If you are a praying person, you may want to pray for these young men and women coming home, ill equipped to cope with their flashbacks, nightmares, estrangement, aloneness, guilt, shame…

Pray God will raise up people in their lives willing to be trained, willing to walk along side; pray for whatever God leads you to pray for. You may need to walk off the heaviness, sorrow and shock of the depth of fear, pain, disillusionment, confusion, anger and guilt that these men and women convey after reading this. Get yourself grounded after you read about the insanity, obscenity and injustice. How do they deal with such deep horrifying injustice? Bearing witness is a part of healing, and we must listen. Americans are going to have to learn what it really means to support the troops.

Give yourself time after you read this. While stories of their war experiences come home with survivors, this 50 battle weary vets merely reveal a tip of the terrible haunting consequences to the US service men and women coming home.