August 21, 2008, Portland, OR - Oregon troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to die of suicide than in combat, recent data shows.

In 2005, 19 Oregon soldiers were killed in combat. In that same year, 153 Oregon veterans of all ages committed suicide.

The group facing the highest risk of suicide is veterans between 18 and 24 years old. Portland VA officials told The Portland Tribune that Oregon vets made almost 900 calls to the National VA Suicide Hotline in the last year.

Some local veterans said Wednesday that there's a suicide epidemic among returning soldiers.

Joseph Holness, an Iraq war veteran, said he has constant nightmares and flashbacks about the time he spent in Iraq.

"I've seen civilians get killed when a roadside bomb goes off and they get caught in the crossfire," Holness said. "A guy lost his face and still was alive -- a bomb went off."

Holness, who has been home for nearly four years, has post traumatic stress disorder. He said he blames the number of suicides on denial -- soldiers denying they need help and the community denying there's a problem.

"People aren't aware," Holness said. "You can't turn this on and off like a light switch. That's the problem. People think you come back from this conflict, like any war, and you just go back to normal -- business as usual. It's not that way."

The Tribune reports that nearly one in three Oregon suicides is a veteran, according to Portland State University professor and suicide researcher Mark Kaplan.

Holness said he works on his mental health every day. He attends group therapy and relies on medication to sleep, but he wants more discussion about PTSD and recognition for the victims of post-war suicide.

"That's the thing that really annoys me," Holness said. "The government doesn't see these people as casualties of war, and they are."