There have been days when there are more military family members killed by their veteran on the home front than troops killed in action on the war front. March 23, 2012, was one of them. Kristy Huddleston wasn't a soldier who had already served multiple tours, or a combat veteran traumatized by war, but her husband was. That put her at a higher risk of experiencing potentially lethal domestic violence than virtually any other demographic in the nation. As Kristy lay on the kitchen floor, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head, her 10-year-old son called 911. The murder trial of Bourne Huddleston, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, is on the docket for April 7 in Jackson County, Oregon.

Combat veterans are responsible for almost 21 percent of domestic violence nationwide, linked to the development of post traumatic stress disorder. This is comparable to the fact that veterans alone account for 20 percent of U.S. suicides. We call the problem of veteran suicide an "epidemic," funding research, convening conferences, and creating new programs, hotlines and therapies aimed at prevention, intervention and reducing the stigma of seeking mental health care. But we don't talk about veteran intimate partner violence at all, effectively ensuring that the catastrophic consequences remain largely unacknowledged and unaddressed.

Even as the overall frequency of domestic abuse in the United States declined, levels of intimate partner violence within the post-9/11 military and veterans' communities began to explode. Calls from people affiliated with the military more than tripled from 2006 to 2011. During roughly the same period at Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, the number of soldiers charged with domestic violence surged, and domestic abuse in the Army skyrocketed as an increasing number of soldiers returned from lengthy, repeat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and rates of PTSD began to rise.

Research has found that veterans diagnosed with PTSD were "significantly more likely to perpetrate violence toward their partners," with over 80 percent committing at least one act of violence in the previous year, and almost half at least one severe act, including strangulation, stabbing and shooting. This is more than 14 times higher than the general civilian population.

Traumatic brain injury, which is considered the signature wound of the post-9/11 wars, also increases the likelihood of aggression and impulsivity, and is linked to veteran domestic violence. And that violence has markers that distinguish it from the cycle of violence perpetrated by batterers, under the standard definition of domestic violence recognized nationally and internationally. Unlike typical civilian domestic violence, veteran intimate partner violence often occurs in the absence of an attempt to exert financial control; it is an explosion of violence, rather than an escalation; there is typically no "honeymoon" period after the event, as the veteran withdraws in shame; and the violence is more likely to be lethal or potentially lethal in severity. There is a direct correlation between PTSD severity and intimate partner violence severity, according to April Gerlock, who has conducted VA-funded research of veterans and their partners. She's one of the nation's leading investigators of veteran interpersonal violence, has worked for the Veterans Administration for three decades and is married to a Vietnam veteran.

"I have a lot of empathy for the veteran," said Gerlock, but she is concerned that the couples counseling available through the VA sends a message to the wives (who are frequently the primary caregivers) of wounded warriors that "you need to put up with this because this person's disabled."

Gerlock went on to say, "The VA is in a fantastic position to address all of this, but there is nothing systemic available."

The VA does what Congress mandates, and while the Violence Against Women Act includes provisions to protect Native American women and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, it offers no protection whatsoever for the wives and caregivers of combat veterans with PTSD and/or traumatic brain injury. And make no mistake; this is an exceptionally vulnerable population because - and only because - of the invisible wounds of war. The confluence of unprecedented levels of traumatic brain injury, PTSD and other mental health disorders puts the post-9/11 generation of veterans at extremely high risk of perpetrating violence in the home. There are multiple barriers that prevent veterans' wives from seeking and receiving assistance, not the least of which is that providers often lack the cultural competence, training and specialized services to effectively support the women who fell in love with the men who went to war.

That's the gap that the Blue Shield of California Foundation has been working to fill since 2009, when the foundation, based in San Francisco, started an initiative to prevent violence in the homes of military families. Under the leadership of Bess Bendet, director of the Blue Shield Against Violence program, the foundation began conducting research and convening community providers and stakeholders to discuss policy and strategies for serving the victims of returning veteran violence.

Since then, Blue Shield Against Violence has facilitated collaborative endeavors and provided grant funding and cultural competence trainings. It is the first - and only - foundation in the nation to identify and address the epidemic of abuse at the hands of America's wounded warriors.

Mitigating mental health casualties in troops and reducing or eliminating domestic violence suffered by the families of veterans make a compelling argument for limiting the number of combat tours. Congress needs to take up "one and done" now, before the next war begins. Congress should also convene a joint hearing on service-connected domestic abuse with the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs, and include advocates, military spouses and veterans' caregivers. The Kristy Huddleston Act, which would authorize the provision of services and transitional assistance to family caregivers who become victims of veteran domestic violence, needs to move past the desks of Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and be passed into law before we add another number to the body count of service-connected domestic violence.

It's been a steep learning curve because returning veteran violence "didn't fit typical civilian violence and no one really knew what to do about it," Bendet said. "But if we are really a foundation that cares about the most vulnerable, then we have an obligation to do something." And if we are really a nation that cares about the cost of war, we need to include somewhere in the casualty count those who are killed when the war comes home.