Even before last week's not entirely unexpected news about the emotional toll the long war has taken on our troops, I considered Sgt. 1st Class James Buchanan a first-class human being.

Despite everything he faces on duty in Iraq, despite being away from his wife and three kids, despite the rigors of leading a platoon, Buchanan took time to be a pen pal to a bunch of Ventura schoolchildren he never met.

I wondered even more how he did it after I read a U.S. Army report on suicide in its ranks. The number of soldiers who killed themselves last year reached the highest level since the Army began tracking these deaths in 1980. More than 115 active-duty troops died by their own hand in 2007, nearly twice the number of suicides in 2002, when military operations began in Iraq.

In widely quoted media reports, Army psychiatrist Col. Elspeth Ritchie called the war a trigger. She cited the long, multiple deployments, witnessing "really terrifying and horrifying things" and loaded guns always at the ready.

The rate of suicide among Army personnel actually is lower than that of civilians of the same age and education level. But the Army, the brass said, should be able to take care of its own.

The report called for sending out the message that it is OK for service personnel to seek counseling when their fuses are burning down too quickly.

That is easy to say and hard to do. One of the toughest battles we all fight is to get out those three little words: "I need help."

But certainly Sgt. 1st Class Buchanan practices a form of therapy that seems to suit him just fine.

Buchanan found himself adopted by the children at Cabrillo Middle School this spring.

This would be like you and me adopting Angelina Jolie. Somehow, she'd end up nurturing us.

They found out through the campus's Battle Buddy Club that Buchanan was collecting school supplies for Iraqi children.

These kids, he wrote, "are dirty, poor and out-of-your-mind adorable because they smile even in the midst of it all." They are the reason, he said, that he and the other soldiers get up every day and do what they have to do so these kids have a future.

A Cabrillo language-arts teacher assigned 44 students to write Buchanan a letter about anything on their minds.

Pamela Doss, a sign-language interpreter at Cabrillo, said in the past soldiers would write back a group note. And that is certainly appreciated, she said, but Buchanan wowed them.

A self-effacing sort who goes by the names of Jimmy Buck, Buck, Pig and the ManBearPig wrote a personal message to each child.

"That in itself is amazing," said Doss, "but this guy is funny, witty, honest, wise, articulate and connects with kids."

No kidding. Oprah should be seriously worried about Buchanan's return stateside.

To a young man named Alfred, who apparently is struggling on a couple of fronts, he wrote: "Grounded, huh? Grades are important, Dude, no matter what someone else says. They open up options down the road that you couldn't possibly understand yet. Please don't learn the hard way."

To Amanda, he offered his thoughts on the war: "I hope this is over soon, too. Soon, to me, means that the mission is accomplished, and that the aggressive cells in the region are wiped from the Earth so that peace and understanding reigns supreme. Dreamer? Yep. Nothing wrong with that."

To Bailey, he talked about warriors past: "Your grandfather has my eternal respect and awe for what he did in World War II.

"Learn his stories, write about them, tell them to your children. He was there in a time that the whole world was in grave danger, not just this country."

To Kaitlin, he explained what a school day is like for a kid in Iraq: "It's hard to teach consistently when things keep going boom and bang. Only a few hours of school a day if they have school that day.

"I know what you're thinking, short school days!! SIGN ME UP!!' Whoa there, Sister. They don't learn much and that is what the enemy wants. They want people to remain stupid and unaware of the outside world especially the Western culture."

Through these stories, the kids learn snippets about Buchanan, who has been in the Army for 15 years.

He was one of three children of a single mom, from whom he apparently inherited his sense of humor. "I can't count how many times she threatened to sell us to the circus."

I never got to interview Sgt. Buchanan. My e-mails went unanswered. But I wasn't too worried. Doss told me he is now home on leave with his family in Hawaii.

I suppose it would be corny and presumptuous for Buchanan to suggest to his comrades in arms that they spend time corresponding with youngsters they've never met. It's hard to know what to say to kids when you are just a little older than a kid yourself and living through the horrors of war.

But judging from the joy Buchanan seemed to get out of it, they might want to try it.

— E-mail this Star columnist at ccason@VenturaCountyStar.com.