The combat veterans in our lives may know how to fight a war, but there's one battle that they need the rest of us to fight alongside them. And that's the battle for the mental health care they deserve.

There are all kinds of ways to get hurt in a war, and one of them is psychological -- traumatic combat stress exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety. The psychologically wounded need help to heal just like the physically wounded.

But the harsh reality is that help can be hard to find. I heard a two-part story on NPR's Morning Edition that reminded me just how hard it can be. Sometimes the unit leadership mistakenly believe a psychologically injured soldier is weak, not wounded ... sometimes the current grueling op tempo makes it difficult to make time both for training and therapy ... and sometimes mental health services are so overbooked you have to wait months for an appointment. The Morning Edition story described a worst-case scenario at Fort Carson where all these problems came together.

It matched some of what I heard through the grapevine. Fortunately, I've also heard about happy endings -- supportive NCOs and COs, and caring mental health providers. So that gives me hope that we can win this battle against stigma and systemic problems. Even the Morning Edition story had a happy ending of sorts that brought tears to my eyes. A sergeant was quoted as saying that a psychologically injured soldier in his unit was just plain weak. But after the interview, the sergeant began to realize that his war experiences were affecting his ability to function, too. So he joined the fight -- he got counseling, and he admitted it publicly on the radio, hoping that his story would encourage others to do the same.

Now that's courage.

The rest of us can take the fight to Congress. We can get behind a bill called the Psychological Kevlar Act. This bill could potentially change the culture of our military community and ultimately strengthen our fighting force.

I first learned about the Psychological Kevlar Act early in 2006 when I was given a chance to offer some input as it was being planned. The full text of the bill is on Congress's website. The most innovative element of the Psychological Kevlar Act is the fact that it focuses on beefing up efforts to PREVENT the development of mental illness from combat stress exposure. Prevention will certainly save tax dollars, but more importantly, it will save military families a great deal of pain.

How can we prevent psychological injuries? Well, currently we teach our new Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen how to take care of their bodies and equipment in combat. But we don't equip them with much in the way of psychological coping tools until just before they deploy. I believe that preventive mental health skills need to be taught from the moment they enter basic training. Learning "mental health first aid" right from the start would create a climate of awareness and reduce the stigma associated with seeking help later if it's needed. Taking care of their mental health would become just another thing they do, same as taking care of their physical health and their weapons, because all three elements are crucial to being an effective warfighter.

In the fall of 2006, the Psychological Kevlar Act, H.R. 6003, was introduced by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI). As it made the rounds of Capitol Hill, a Vietnam vet I know, Michael Lund, wrote an editorial supporting the bill that was published in Virginia's Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper. Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) saw that editorial, became a co-sponsor, and made the bill bipartisan. That's an important step for any bill.

And one ordinary citizen, Michael, helped make it happen.

All of us can be like Mike. The Psychological Kevlar Act is going to be reintroduced in the new Congress. It may get a new name; it will definitely be assigned a new number. But it will still have the same goal of preventing and healing psychological injury.

So join the fight. Read up about the bill. Pass the word to military family and advocacy groups. Write letters to the editor and to your congressional representatives -- in fact, here's an easy way to identify and contact your representatives. Feel free to use any part of this column in anything you write.

Anyone who's had to live with a combat vet who's suffering from traumatic combat stress exposure knows that preventive care beforehand and better access to care afterward would make a real difference in the day-to-day lives of military parents, spouses, and children. The passage and implementation of the Psychological Kevlar Act would be an important step in the right direction.

Together, we can win this one.