STRESS, SUICIDE AND THEIR CAUSES

The author doesn't support his assertions with data but this is a very interesting piece nonetheless.

The higher suicide rate in Iraq can be attributed to the higher percentage of married and reserve troops, and the lower amount of stress training and screening in basic training for non-combat troops.

Older, married and reserve troops always experience more stress when in a combat zone, and it is stress that leads to higher suicide rates. Israel discovered this, for example, when it noted that the growing number of mental health casualties in the 1970s and 80s were disproportionately among the older reserve troops. During the 1991 Gulf War, which only lasted a hundred hours, the older reserve troops suffered a higher rate of non-combat casualties, including the mysterious "Gulf War Syndrome."