With President Obama's pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 comes a new generation of veterans coming home to face life after combat. Veterans face a variety of mental health problems, ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to suicide ideation.

Chicago Tonight put in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Veterans Affairs to learn more about the suicidal tendencies of Chicago-area veterans. The data represents veterans who have sought out care at the three Chicago-area VA facilities: Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in Maywood, and Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago. The data does not include veterans who seek out healthcare from the private sector. Below is a visual representation of the data we received.

*Other includes: carbon monoxide, mixed methods, stabbing, car accident, suffocation, and drinking bleach.

There was one inpatient suicide completion in 2011 at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago. The veteran "jumped from heights" in the health care center's atrium. We have more details on Chicago Tonight at 7:00 pm, when we speak with Dr. Bruce Roberts, Chief of Mental Health at Hines, and Anthony Peterson, Section Chief of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Programs at Lovell.

Related Links:

Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital

Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center

Jesse Brown VA Medical Center

Department of Veterans Affairs

Veterans Crisis Line