Dominic Di-Natale, a veteran television reporter who killed himself last week, loved spending time in war zones. That may seem surprising to many, but not to those of us who spent years toggling from one conflict to the next over the last decade.

Several journalists who covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been killed on assignment. The story of Mr. Di-Natale’s death came as a surprise to most of his friends. It speaks to the lingering toll of these brutal conflicts. And it speaks to his personality.

Mr. Di-Natale, 43, had an infectious laugh. His sense of humor ranged between dark and wholly inappropriate. He was disarming, smart on his feet, compassionate and devoted to his craft. He was rash at times and fiercely independent. In a letter to one of his closest friends, who lives in London, explaining why he killed himself, Mr. Di-Natale wrote that he found career fulfillment in the trenches.

“It afforded me professional integrity and social validity in others’ eyes,” he wrote in the letter. “I had absolutely none prior to going to war. I wasn’t even a real man until then.”