Cheryl Ecker of Champion, Ohio, wears a bracelet made out of the laces of her son’s army boots. Her son, Michael, a 25-year-old veteran of the Iraq war, became a tragic statistic in April.
He was standing in the yard of his home when he called out to his father. After his dad turned around, Michael saluted, raised a gun to his head, and pulled the trigger. His suicide was just one of many among those who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, a cause of increasing alarm at the Pentagon.