Humanitarian Mission for Returning Vets.(NEWS)

Byline: Dutch Mandel

If you subscribe to the idea that goodwill begins at home, then we do a disservice to returning servicemen and servicewomen who die behind the wheel of a car or riding a motorcycle.

Veterans lose their lives this way at a disproportionately higher rate than other Americans. It comes following prolonged time in the adrenaline grip of war, where their single-minded charge is to protect us at all costs. It should be a priority for us to give returning veterans what they need to be smarter and safer on their hometown streets.

Sons and daughters return free of the bogeyman and steeled with a sense of invincibility. They've dodged bullets, improvised explosive devices and barrages of hate, and now they live another day. Our vets return with pockets of cash and freedom's fresh air from a place where alcohol is forbidden and where, more often than not, their guard and bravado are at high alert.

Why shouldn't they, in the comfort of home, express themselves in a horsepower-pumped emotional release?

Because, sadly, when they do it that way, in a car or on a bike, many kill themselves. According to U.S. Army statistics supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among recently returning veterans. Mile for mile, a soldier's risk of a fatal crash is roughly 35 times higher on a motorcycle than in a car. In 2006, 186 soldiers returning from war were killed within the first 12 months of homecoming, with two-thirds of those deaths happening in the first six months.

What can be done to stem this tide? ...