Timothy K. Israel was likely just one of 18 veterans who committed suicide on May 9, according to internal e-mails of the U.S. Veterans Administration.

Israel, a decorated Iraq war veteran, was found hanging in the Elwood Police Department jail cell. He used the drawstring of his Army-issue pants.

Just three days before Israel took his life, the House Veterans Affairs Committee grilled VA officials for apparently concealing statistics regarding the suicides of U.S. veterans.

A CBS News investigation revealed internal e-mails from the VA in which agency officials conspired to hide the staggering suicide numbers from the press.

Ira Katz, the VA’s director of Mental Health, said in a Dec. 15 e-mail, “There are about 18 suicides per day among America’s 25 million veterans.”

In another e-mail, Katz attempts to keep the true suicide statistics from the public. “Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities. Is this something we

should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?”

The recent death of Israel and CBS News reports reveal a little-known problem in the U.S. military, one that has existed for decades, according to Anderson Vietnam veteran Larry Wiesenauer.

Wiesenauer, director of Vet to Vet of Madison County, is one of many combat veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his combat time in Vietnam.

Dr. Steve Herman is the director of the Psychiatry Ambulatory Clinic in Indianapolis and said PTSD “is the result of an individual experiencing a severe stressor in such a way that they are unable to process it or grieve their way through it appropriately.”

PTSD sufferers include those who’ve been involved in a car accident, rape, combat or any other life-altering stressor. “Women who have been raped, people in violent situations or car accidents, the survivors of (Sept. 11) — most had PTSD,” Wiesenauer said. He believes combat veterans face a different challenge in PTSD due to extended time exposed to the stressor.

“The difference between their PTSD and combat PTSD is that ours is not related to a single incident, but a way of life. (That life) becomes an integral part of our emotions. It eats up a great part of our sense of reality because the reality we live in now, we still run against the combat check list.”

Symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, flashbacks, withdrawal from friends and family, avoidance of social situations, poor sleep patterns and intrusive thoughts, according to Herman.

Often times, veterans say, the mental challenges of PTSD lead to alcohol and drug abuse, imprisonment and homelessness.

Joe Lansford is the director of Stepping Stones, a Madison County organization aimed at helping veterans. The two-year transitional housing program at Stepping Stones currently houses 53 people. Ninety percent of them are veterans, Lansford said.