The Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. — Ray LaFon knows about the mental problems veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq may face. He has lived with his own for nearly 40 years.

LaFon, a Vietnam veteran with the 101st Airborne Division, couldn’t shake the images of war. His problems cost him a marriage, businesses and countless other relationships.

“My second wife was about to divorce me. I was an absolute wreck, carried a loaded gun around all the time,” he said.

The 59-year-old Basehor resident joined other veterans and clergy in urging Republican Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts to vote for a spending bill in Congress financing mental health programs for veterans and their families.

The veterans spoke of returning from an unpopular war in Vietnam to little support. Because of their experiences, they said, they understand the horrors soldiers face in Iraq, which they called a “quagmire.”

LaFon served in a medical evacuation unit and became used to hosing blood out of helicopters and repairing bullet holes after missions.

But one incident scared him. LaFon was calling in a chopper to pick up a wounded soldier, having been told the landing zone was clear. It wasn’t; a rocket-propelled grenade hit the chopper. Three of his best friends died, and a fourth was severely wounded.

LaFon had no way of knowing that the enemy had moved in, but for years felt responsible for the three deaths.

“They had to watch me for awhile. I carried all that guilt. I did my job. It could have been a matter of seconds,” LaFon said. “The guilt really hurts.”

LaFon said he is doing better, having been diagnosed with a full disability for post traumatic stress disorder. He got help from the Veterans Administration and found a support group of fellow veterans to lean on. His second marriage has recovered, and he is retired.

“I cannot have stress in my life whatsoever, because I have PTSD so severe that any stress might cause me to do something stupid,” he said. “I still have a lot of problems. I relapsed once, but I have the tools now to deal with it. I came back.”

The Senate expects to debate the funding bill after it returns Tuesday from a recess. Calls left with the senators’ offices were not returned.

Veterans said they decided to speak out after a recent Army report found its suicide rate is climbing.

The Army had 99 suicides in 2006, the highest rate since it began tracking the statistic. Thirty were by soldiers in Afghanistan or Iraq and about half were soldiers who hadn’t hit their 25th birthday. Failed marriages and relationships were blamed in up to 80 percent of the cases.