Much conflict photography is failing us, failing soldiers, their families and countries. The same could be said for conflict journalism (and journalism in general) save for a few bright lights such as Sally Armstrong, Robert Fisk & Graeme Smith. Though these journalists have given us a better understanding of life on the other – non-western – side today is a day to remember our own. And there are a few photographers that do this well, that get beyond the tired images of soldiers on patrol in dusty places to expose something deeper, the true repercussions of war. Photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson has a moving body of photographs that takes us in the back door and with a quiet, incisive vision shows the chilling, lonely trauma experienced by many US soldiers and veterans. And he doesn’t show any vets or servicemen.

According to the story the US CDC estimates there are 18 suicides by US veterans every day. And though the Canadian military isn’t stretched or stressed nearly to the same degree as the US military there have been rumblings of discontent from around the Canadian Forces, not least from freshly departed Veteran’s Ombudsman Colonel Pat Stogran.

The monetary cost of war is tallied on a regular basis (apparently $0.5M per soldier per year – not including salaries, benefits or long-term care – for Canada’s Afghanistan deployment) and it often seems that these numbers are the only concepts we understand. What if our soldiers and vets were given all the long-term support they need and deserve? No doubt it would be exceedingly expensive but might that rattle our cages, remind of us the terrible costs and make us consider our next war that much more carefully? Clearly, on some fundamental level, we have forgotten.