The following story is the tragic reality for thousands of Active Duty, NG, Reservists and Veterans of our decade + wars.
The only thing the story misses is how many Service Members, to include those coming from our community, are addicted while on Active Duty and being treated for illness, injury or wounds.
That number is enormous and is today considered a necessary evil (use of narcotics for pain relief), particularly in the event of serious injury or wounds (i.e. traumatic amputation / burn).
As these Service Members are boarded out, ETS or are otherwise discharged they take their addictions with them...into the VA...which then has to provide a wide spectrum of services to include MH/BH and detox...which are understaffed, under-resourced, un-approved (VA rarely contracts out to private sector for in-patient treatment programs despite not have at all the ability to provides residential programs itself).
https://news.vice.com/article/im-pts...icide-or-death