About three months ago, General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, wrote an internal report to the White House in which he discussed the military’s strategic options going forward.

In September, the report became fully public when it was leaked to The Washington Post, and from that time onward, discussions of Afghanistan have revolved around little else but the largely media-concocted McChrystal-Obama-drama over the number of troops who will be traveling to Afghanistan for their first, second or even third tours of duty.

McChrystal, for his part, has suggested the Afghan insurgency cannot be defeated unless the United States commits some 45,000 additional troops. Obama, with an outspoken Joe Biden in his ear, seems hesitant to automatically grant McChrystal what he asks. Running on a platform of a less hawkish United States and more concerted focus on Afghanistan, he is trying to find a balance between the man whom he succeeded and a full-on quitter.

Whatever the number announced, sundry criticisms from Democratic and Republican congressmen, pundits and citizens will undoubtedly follow, proving that no balance can be truly perfect.

Yet while drawing rants and raves, this number is not the only one on which Americans should be focused.

Another related, highly relevant number is that of the thousands of soldiers who have — and, after however many new troops go to and return from Afghanistan, will have — Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Familiarly known as PTSD, the condition was not formally recognized until the 1980s and can emerge after any terrifying event — a car accident or sexual assault, for example.

Soldier is, however, likely the profession most at risk for the syndrome, which is little surprise given that many soldiers are regularly directly exposed to the graphic bombings and bloodshed of foreign civilians and American soldiers the American public does not see.

According to a Rand Corp study released in April, almost one out of every five service members who have served combat tours in Iraq or Afghanistan returns home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. While some half of these individuals do not have their PTSD diagnosed or treated — given the stigma that the military attaches to mental disorders, many soldiers believe it’s weak to admit having a problem or try to get help tackling it — this translates to an estimated 60,000 soldiers with PTSD out of the 300,000 who have already served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Far from moderate depression, these individuals live with a laundry list of symptoms, the most prominent of which include alcohol and drug abuse, night sweats and nightmares, paranoia, sleepwalking and emotional numbness punctuated by outbursts of rage. Inarguably, the worst symptom is suicide, with Army figures showing that 76 percent of soldiers who have committed suicide in 2009 served at least one tour in Iraq or Afghanistan and likely had PTSD.

Yet the negative outcomes of PTSD are often far from exclusive to those soldiers, and their spouses, children and friends — who are, unfortunately, stricken with the affliction.

At Colorado’s Fort Carson, for example, the 4th Infantry Division, nicknamed the Lethal Warriors, has had eight of its 500 soldiers — almost all of whom have served at least two tours in Iraq — charged with murder or attempted murder in just the last two years. The crimes were brutal and seemingly motiveless, ranging from the rape and throat-slashing of a learning-disabled teenage girl to a soldier shot point-blank five times by multiple members of his own battalion. Not surprisingly, each of the eight accused’s lawyers have claimed their clients all displayed classic symptoms of PTSD upon returning from the Middle East.

Regardless, they will likely be found guilty and sentenced to decades in prison. And while they should be, their crimes — and those that will inevitably come from others with PTSD, who can not easily differentiate their homeland and home from an occupied country and a Humvee — should draw attention to the fact that these individuals need help and our country is not giving it.

Though the Pentagon has decreed that every battalion have its own mental health specialist and that the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD is a top priority, there are a mere 400 psychologists serving over 500,000 troops. Granted, more has to be done to encourage the thousands of soldiers who have, but have not been diagnosed with PTSD to seek help, but this is ridiculous.

I’m no expert with numbers, but it’s a ratio of one psychologist serving 150 soldiers who have PTSD. Most non-military psychologists, however, see about 30 patients, and are therefore able to study individuals’ cases more closely and see them more often. Almost needless to say, they hear far less graphic recollections and are far better paid as well.

It seems then, that the Pentagon needs to go beyond words and find a way to better serve its soldiers. Higher pay for military psychologists seems a no-brainer, but perhaps it’s worth considering to allow soldiers to see non-military psychologists as well.

Whatever the best answer, or likely answers, the point is sending more soldiers to Afghanistan is not just about how many are going and how many might make victory possible. It’s also about how many will likely live the rest of their lives with severe depression, go to prison or even take lives — both their own and possibly others’ — after they return.

Whether wars are good or bad, winnable or not, will always be debated. What can’t be, is how much they can cost our soldiers, and how much help they need and deserve.

– Steve Adams is a graduate student in journalism and mass communication from Annapolis, Md.