The casualties of war are not always the obvious ones, and the wounds brought home are not always visible until after they've begun to affect families and entire communities. Recent studies suggest that soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq are seeking mental health services at a very high rate. Whether it is post-traumatic stress, anxiety, suicidal impulses, alcohol and drug abuse or marriage and family problems - all of which can manifest themselves in the aftermath of combat duty - these are needs that must be taken very seriously.

Most alarming is the situation faced by many reservists and National Guard members, whose military insurance benefits cover only those problems diagnosed within 180 days after returning from combat. Those two groups now comprise about 40 percent of the front-line forces in Iraq and more than half in Afghanistan, the highest percentage for any war in U.S. history. They are doing more tours of duty, and longer ones, than anticipated, and when they return home - not to military bases, but to their families, communities and workplaces - it is imperative that they receive any counseling or mental health care they need.

The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research reports that 35 percent of Iraq war veterans it studied sought mental health services within a year of returning home. Since studies have estimated that only about half the soldiers who need such services actually seek them, it does not seem like an exaggeration to estimate that more than half of all returning veterans need mental health services.

Those figures, which come from a study that ended in 2004, noted specific events that lead to an increasingly high risk of post-traumatic stress, such as witnessing people getting wounded or killed, particularly if the victims are civilian women or children. As the intensity of the conflict in Iraq increases, so does the need for mental health services when troops return home. The questions are: Will that help be available, and will the service members who need it most actually seek it out?

The military has a program to assess the mental health of service members when they return home, with a follow-up assessment several months later. But many returning service members, eager to return home, underreport their symptoms in the first assessment. In the Walter Reed study, of all the returning veterans who sought mental health services, fewer than 10 percent were referred through the military's screening program. By the time stress-related problems are identified - in follow-up evaluations, through behavior changes or even suicide attempts - many Guard members and reservists are no longer covered by military benefits.

These issues are critically important to returning veterans, and to their families and communities. As the conflict in Iraq intensifies and drags on, we must take steps to make sure they are being adequately addressed.

The Department of Defense should find ways to improve its post-deployment assessment process so veterans who need help are more likely to get it. Returning veterans, particularly those far removed from Virginia's three Veterans Affairs medical centers (in Salem, Richmond and Hampton), must be made aware of the availability of mental health services from the community service boards that serve every Virginia locality. Those boards may need additional funding to handle an increased caseload once returning veterans begin seeking mental health services and family counseling.

Perhaps most important, let's extend insurance benefits for reservists and National Guard members to at least three years. Not all mental health concerns show up or are reported within six months.

These men and women are putting their lives on the line for their country. They deserve adequate care when they return home.