HANCEVILLE, Ala. (AP) &045; The family of an Army soldier who committed suicide after returning from Iraq is hoping to use his tragic death to get help for other service members who may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dorothy Screws says she witnessed her only son, U.S. Army Pvt. Tommie Edward Jones, kill himself on March 25 at Fort Carson, Colo. Later the family learned Jones, 27, suffered symptoms of PTSD after seeing combat in Iraq in 2007.

“I can’t save my son now … I want to save somebody,” Screws told The Cullman Times. “If I can save one soldier, it will be worth it.”

Screws said she will push for the government to pass a law requiring soldiers to undergo some type of psychological therapy after they return from intense combat. Soldiers returning from deployments receive health assessments, but Screws said many soldiers, including her son, were concerned that asking for mental health treatment would hurt their careers.

“If they can make them tote 150 pounds on their backs and march … why can’t they make it mandatory to get help?” she said.

Jones mentioned a few of the traumatic events he experienced in Iraq to his mother shortly before his death.

“He said, ‘I wake up every morning angry,'” Screws said. “He said, ‘My body is here but my mind is in Iraq.'”

Awareness of suicide among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was heightened in early 2007 when the Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops &045; the highest level in 26 years of record-keeping.