Our view: Defense Department must make improving mental health care a priority

Last week, a Department of Defense task force confirmed our worst fears. In a long-awaited analysis of how well the U.S. military health system is meeting our troops' mental health needs, the Pentagon found that it is failing us and them when our nation and especially our service members need them most.

According to the report, 38 percent of soldiers, 31 percent of Marines and nearly half of National Guard members reported symptoms related to post traumatic stress disorder. The Washington Post has reported that, as of this spring, 45,000 veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq had sought help for post-traumatic stress, enough to fill four Army divisions.

The sheer numbers of service men and women needing help is not the only problem.

Among the challenges overwhelming the military's mental health care system are traumatic brain injuries, which some estimates say may be afflicting as many as 10 percent of active-duty troops.

The men and women of our reserves and National Guard are bearing a greater burden of combat duty than ever before. When they return from duty to their civilian lives, those with mental health issues too often find themselves far from help and on their own.

To make matters much worse, many mental health professionals, themselves worn thin by numerous deployments, are fleeing a Defense Department health system that remains ill-prepared and underfinanced for the demands of today's multiple-front and long war.

Incredibly, just days before the study was released, The Associated Press reported that the Pentagon was cutting reimbursements to therapists provided through its Tricare insurance.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has six months to create a plan based on this report's recommendations. That plan must try to provide the kind of aggressive, unequalled treatment we offer those physically wounded on the battlefield for the men and women who incur mental wounds in service to our country.