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I have family members that are bipolar.

We have to make sure the Hell the veterans come home from is not the Hell they come back to.

Our veterans and service members are known for their strength, but when they're recovering from an operation or receiving emergency care, that strength can depend on seeing a spouse, talking with the kids or just knowing that loved ones are by their side. It isn't difficult to imagine what a difference keeping families together can make.

Many of the patients in military and veterans hospitals require long stays, which can place a large financial hardship on families who don't live near the hospital, which is very common.

Our veterans who fall on hard times and find themselves without a home deserve more than just handwringing or kind words. They deserve real help that gets them back on their feet.

We need to look at how we can better fortify our force protection at military installations. But also, how can we deal with these mental health issues with our returning veterans? And our suicide rate in the military is twice as high as the average population.

I think how veterans are treated in our country is an abomination. We don't have the draft any more, which is why so many soldiers come from working-class - rather than middle- or high-income families. Those wealthier families aren't affected, so they're not agitating for change.

Our family suffers from a hereditary condition called, generally, mental illness. Specifically, multiple family members in successive generations have suffered from either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

Veterans come from all walks of life, and they live in small towns and big cities, in red states and blue states.

I'm trying to raise the awareness of the troops that, when they deploy and go to war, it's not just them at war - it's also their family. Their family is having to go through all the hardships and the stresses.