It's a tragedy: Some U.S. troops are surviving the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan only to take their own lives here at home.

It's shocking to learn that U.S. troop deaths from postwar suicide might outnumber combat fatalities in those two wars -- now at more than 4,500 -- according to Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, the government's top psychiatric research group. Insel said this week the nation is failing to provide adequate mental health care for its returning veterans.

His remarks came on the heels of a Rand Corp. study last month that found that of the more than 1.6 million military members who've served in Iraq or Afghanistan, about 300,000 suffer from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder -- and only about half of those sought counseling and treatment. For those receiving treatment, about half received substandard care.

CBS News, in an investigation last year, uncovered what it called a "suicide epidemic" among vets: At least 6,256 veterans committed suicide in 2005 -- an average of 17 a day.

At heated hearings this week, the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., charged that the Department of Veterans Affairs is either ignoring the extent of the veteran suicide problem or covering it up. Not only news organizations but also members of Congress trying to get data on veteran suicides have encountered bureaucratic resistance.

"The pattern is deny, deny, deny," Filner angrily told VA Secretary James Peake.

Veterans Affairs has taken steps in recent months to boost suicide prevention programs, such as introducing a suicide hotline number -- (800) 273-TALK -- and moving to add suicide prevention specialists at each VA hospital.

It's good, too, that the Defense Department ramped up efforts to ensure that soldiers who seek mental health treatment aren't stigmatized -- six in 10 military enlistees in a recent survey said they believed coming forward would hurt their careers.

Another key problem, according to Insel, is that many community mental health centers, especially in rural areas, aren't prepared or equipped to handle vets' mental health problems.

But clearly, many of our vets will be fighting personal battles for years to come -- and our nation has a duty to give them the best care possible.

Editorial by the Wichita Eagle