4 questions about veteran suicides

I recently came across reports of an increasing number of suicides among U.S. active-duty military personnel and veterans. I have my suspicions that the suicides are more common in some services and roles than in others, but without that data I have four questions.

1.A young sailor on the aircraft carrier USS Stennis was interviewed on This American Life in the first months of the War on Terror. I haven’t re-listened to the episode, but as I recall her job was to refill vending machines throughout the ship (or maybe just part of it).

Assuming she left the Navy after one enlistment and never was in harm’s way, would she and people like her have been more susceptible to suicide than the general population?

2. Speaking of the early days of the War on Terror: at the time, invading Afghanistan seemed just to most Americans. Special forces and other troops who fought Al Qaeda and overthrew the Taliban would have felt the support from home, had clarity of mission, and moral purpose. Over the years, however, the support waned, the mission kept changing, and moral confusion increased. It’s one thing to daily put one’s life on the line for a cause you think is just, but may be traumatic if you don’t know what you’re fighting for.

What are suicide rates of combat vets who served in late 2001, compared to, say, Iraq in 2005, or Afghanistan in 2009?

3. The American way of war these days involves a lot of bombing missions and drone strikes. Homes are destroyed…