...Herat’s heroin highway begins in Iran, where tens of thousands of impoverished Afghans go to seek work every year. Grinding labor, long hours and the sorrow of being separated from families, coupled with cheap, easily available heroin, lead many to start using. Some addicts say their Iranian employers even encourage drug use to create a more pliable workforce.

The drug trade runs both ways, down 80 miles of asphalt that lead from Herat to the Iranian border. Opium comes from Afghanistan, but precursor chemicals, used to produce heroin, also come from Iran for use in labs deep in Taliban-held territory, according to Herat province counternarcotics chief Ghulam Jailani Daqiq. Daqiq said more than 40 percent of the illegal drugs smuggled out of Afghanistan crosses the Iranian border, then continues on to Turkey and Europe.

The human cost of the trade, he said, can be seen in the migrant workers who often come back to Afghanistan broke and hooked.

“Unfortunately, they went to Iran to find work, and the only thing they brought back was addiction,” Daqiq said.

Funding has not kept pace with the problems, according to local doctors and government officials. Addicts face long waiting lists to get into treatment programs in Herat province, which has just 275 beds in eight detoxification clinics. There is also a lack of qualified doctors. Part of the problem is a centralized Kabul administration far removed from distant provinces like Herat, Wahidi said.

“People making policy in the center don’t know local problems,” he said.

The lucky few who get treatment face a tough 45-day regimen, quitting cold turkey and dealing with the horrors of withdrawal with only basic medicine to treat symptoms (Afghan clinics do not use methodone). The program is followed up with six months of outpatient treatment.

At a 50-bed clinic down a dirt side street in Herat, recovering addicts, almost all of whom were using heroin or other opiates, are put through a combination of motivational meetings, boot camp and detox. Many of the basic duties at the clinic, such as cooking and cleaning, are divided up among patients, all of whom are confined to the premises except for tightly supervised weekly outings into the city.

They wear the same navy blue tunics, all sport short haircuts (discipline, routine and a neat appearance are pillars of the treatment), and most have similar personal stories. A search for a living in Iran turned into a nightmare of addiction.

On the first floor, newer patients still dealing with withdrawal symptoms shuffle through the neatly kept rooms, getting checkups and resting much of the day. On a recent visit, one brand-new arrival lay curled on a bed, staring at the wall, seemingly paralyzed by withdrawal. The atmosphere lightens on the upper floors, where patients have made it past withdrawal and are in the latter stages of inpatient treatment — they do chores and play foosball in a game room.

Part of the treatment is getting addicts to speak openly about their struggles. Najibullah, a 46-year-old father of 12, said he used heroin for 25 years before coming to the clinic. He went broke and sold his property and his family fruit farm to feed his drug habit.

“I was tired of it, my heart was tired of it, my wife and kids were unhappy with me,” he said. “I lost everything.”...

You can try alcohol or drugs — prescription or otherwise — to quell your feelings and tame your nightmares, or retreat to a dark basement and live like a recluse to cope. A shocking number have taken their lives.

“In the military, you learn to flip mental switches. You go from life in a normal society to life on the battlefield, and with every deployment, that switch can begin to short circuit,” says former Marine Capt. Sean Gobin.

The Veterans Affairs Department says 20 percent of returning veterans have post-traumatic stress. Instead of throwing medication at the problem, one group of veterans turned to the Appalachian Trail for a decidedly different therapeutic regimen.

After Gobin returned home from his third combat deployment, he went for a walk — a long walk — along the 2,186 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. As he followed the white-painted blazes from Georgia to Maine, he says he was walking the war out of his system and preparing for a new life outside of the military.

The Appalachian through-hiker, Earl Shaffer, did the same thing in 1948 after returning from World War II.

Gobin completed his own trek, then created the Warrior Hike “Walk Off the War” program, partnering with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to support combat veterans as they attempt to hike the trail’s entire length.

Last March, 14 Warrior Hikers left Springer Mountain, Ga., with their eyes set on reaching Mount Katahdin in Maine six months later.

They represented all four military branches, women and men ages 26 to 50. They received equipment and supplies needed to complete the hike, plus town support from veterans and hiking organizations along the trail and help with job opportunities upon completion of the hike.

On the trail, the Warrior Hikers scaled peaks, traversed ridges and forded streams as they hauled their bodies and packs across 14 states. They endured the typical long-distance hiking challenges — sore knees, deep snow in the southern mountains, intense heat waves and long rainy stretches. But they also struggled with appendicitis, kidney stones, sprained ankles and norovirus.

“I think back on many of the climbs I did in the Marine Corps — 25-mile death marches, walking until I thought my feet would fall off,” said retired Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Steve Clendenning. “But I did not do it every day like the trail. This was harder.”

About two out of three middle-class military families plan to scale back their Thanksgiving celebrations this year out of economic concerns, according to a survey by a corporation that assists troops with financial planning.

The survey by Texas-based First Command Financial Services tracked this response from 62 percent of commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers at staff sergeant rank and higher — a nine-point increase over a similar poll last year.

A battery of economic threats for the military have emerged this year including the recent government shutdown, debates over raising the debt ceiling, cutbacks known as sequestration and plans to downsize the military.

The families cited several ways of being more frugal this year. Some 29 percent vowed to reduce traveling, 23 percent would stick to a set budget and 22 percent said they would spend less on food.

“We have seen a drop in feelings of financial security month to month and a drop in confidence in the ability to retire comfortably,” says Scott Spiker, First Command CEO.