On New Year's Day of 2012, a former soldier named Benjamin Colton Barnes shot and killed a ranger at Mount Rainier National Park, where he had apparently fled after shooting four people at a party the night before.  Media coverage quickly zeroed in on Barnes's military background in an effort to link his actions to combat stress.  In the aftermath of the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, reports struggled to connect the same dots in the case of Major Nidal Hassan.  

However, Barnes's records indicate that he had mental health issues prior to enlistment, and Hassan had never deployed.  When a suspect in a violent crime has any connection with the military, media reports seem to insist on connecting the two facts and drawing combat stress into the story, even when it does not fit.  

The sum of these pieces is a wildly inaccurate portrayal of veterans in which:

• All veterans have post-traumatic stress disorder (apparently, it is issued as part of in-processing now), and
• Post-traumatic stress disorder makes people unstable, violent, and dangerous.  

This results in an underlying suspicion that all veterans are ticking time-bombs with very short fuses.

Between twenty and thirty percent of veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health issues such as depression.  The symptoms of PTSD include irritability and hyper-vigilance, anxiety, or nervousness (especially in response to certain triggers).  Most of these symptoms can be managed or improved with treatment and the support of friends and family.  

PTSD does not cause homicidal ranges, and as one official from the Department of Veterans Affairs put it, "having PTSD doesn't signify a propensity to murder Americans."

Proportionally, veterans are convicted of violent offenses at only half the rate of civilians.  This is very significant considering the demographics of both the military and of violent offenders.  The vast majority of homcides are committed by men under the age of thirty.  This roughly parallels the age and gender breakdown of veterans and active-duty service members.  A few bad eggs make it into any basket, even the military,but the actual data is clear - veterans are not dangerous.  

This truth is often overshadowed by the relentless insistence of the popular press on overplaying the prevalence of PTSD and linking it with violence.  Public opinion is vulnerable to the availability heuristic - a tendency to assess how often something happens based on how easily you can think of an example.  By drumming up sensationalized examples, this kind of reporting gives the public the wrong idea about veterans.  

A recent survey co-sponsored by production company Bad Robot and veterans' advocacy group The Mission Continues found that fifty-three percent of Americans believe that most veterans suffer from PTSD.  The survey's sponsors, as well as agencies like the Texas Veterans Commission, are concerned that this perception makes employers reluctant to hire veterans.  This may help explain why unemployment among veterans hit 12.7% in May of 2012, compared to 8.2% for civilians.  

These statistics are disappointing, given how much veterans have to offer.  The same character, experience, and skills that make veterans so vital to our nation's defense also make them vital to our economy.  

As members of the media, we have to do our jobs responsibly and well.  We have to put the truth ahead of ratings, sales, or traffic.  When we fail, people suffer.

For more thoughts on issues related to veterans, military families, and journalism, please check the author's personal blog here.