WASHINGTO - The lethal shooting spree at a US Army base has dealt a blow to an American military already under severe strain from years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and plagued by a rise in suicides.
Revelations that an army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, had allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday came as a shock for an organization that likes to portray itself as a family.
The rampage occurred at a time of stress for the armed services burdened by two wars, with commanders struggling to ease the effect of repeated combat tours on troops and their families.
Army suicides hit a record level last year, with at least 128 taking their own lives, and are on track to set a new high this year -- surpassing the rate among the wider civilian population.
US commanders believe repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have played a role in the spike in suicides, as well as a surge in post-traumatic stress and depression.
General Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, has called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- a painful mixture of anxiety and depression -- one of the "signature wounds of the war," and appealed to commanders to take it seriously.
"I want to change the stigma linked to these wounds," Chiarelli said of PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
"These are not phantom issues made up by weak soldiers. They are as real as if you fell and broke your leg or lost an arm," he told an audience last month.
Cases of both post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury have grown from 38 percent to 58 percent since August 2008 among soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the US Army.
And about 30 percent of soldiers deployed will likely have some form of post-traumatic stress, Chiarelli said.
The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, speaks often of his concern over suicide and post-traumatic stress, saying the Pentagon is still working to understand how to cope with the problem.
Mullen said Wednesday that he has heard soldiers are often reluctant to report their symptoms and ask for help, fearing it could damage their careers.
At events at army bases, spouses sometimes speak with anger and an air of desperation, telling officials their loved ones are preparing for their fifth or sixth successive combat tour and have little time at home before their training resumes and another deployment begins.
Retired officers had warned that the army was at breaking point after a "surge" of US forces into Iraq in 2007. But commanders believe they have begun easing the strain -- increasing the time soldiers spend at home between tours.
The mission in Afghanistan, now into its ninth year, and the Iraq war have left political scars on the wider society as well, causing bitter divisions among Americans over the country's place in the world.
The controversial wars may have even played a role in the mind of the shooter, according to one colleague of Hasan, the suspected gunman.
Colonel Terry Lee alleged the officer had expressed dismay over the US military's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"He was hoping that President Obama would pull troops out... when things weren't going that way, he became more agitated, more frustrated with the conflicts over there," Lee told the Fox News Channel.
Lee added that "he made his views well known about how he felt about the US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan."
But a cousin of the suspect said Hasan had been the target of harassment because of his Muslim faith and "Middle Eastern ethnicity," even though he grew up in the United States.
"I don't think he's ever been disenchanted with the military," Nader Hasan said. "It was the harassment."
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