Suicide among active duty military members and veterans has increased in the wake of the two international conflicts (RAND National Security Research Division, 2011), surpassing those of the general population for the first time since Vietnam. Recent research has identified the period of separation from the military as a period of elevated risk, regardless of deployment history (Reger et al., 2015). Although the association between deployment and suicide is not clear-cut, studies have shown that the transition to civilian life for Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans who served in combat can be particularly difficult, with over 50 percent describing the readjustment to civilian life as a “real struggle” (Morin, 2011a).

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