Thomas E. Ricks: Why do so many veterans kill themselves?

Why do so many soldiers continue to take their own lives at a higher rate than their civilian counterparts, whether young or old? I’ve spent a lot of time stewing about this over the past few days.It began Monday morning, when I got a note from a vet in a very dark place and contemplating the act. He’d served in Vietnam. His risk of suicide is about 22 percent higher than that of his nonveteran peers, according to a report last year from the Department of Veterans Affairs.That aftern