Thanks for that question.
In fact we are watching the mission in Afghanistan and its effect on the overall health of our soldiers, particularly the mental health of our personnel, very closely.
We have a well-developed process in place to assist them while in theatre. A psychiatrist, a social worker, and a mental health nurse are deployed with the task force at all times to provide service in theatre and to stay abreast of the general state of morale and mental health of the troops deployed.
The soldiers go through a process known as third location decompression. That's a bit of jargon. All it means is that they're given some time to rest and recuperate in a place that is neither the theatre of operations nor their home base. So it's a third place, and it's currently in Cyprus.
While there they undergo a period of four to five days of rest and what we term psycho-education. These are briefings on what to expect with the transition from Afghanistan to home life. What is the normal set of experiences during that transition, and what are the warning signs that things may not be progressing normally? They're also given instructions on the many ways to access both health care and non-clinical support services through the operational stress injury social support program. All our soldiers clearly understand that help is available and know where to get it.
The most elaborate follow-up is done four to six months afterwards. That's because we want some time for the differing emotions related to return to settle down. There's euphoria. There's perhaps some disappointment. There are a whole lot of conflicting things.
The data collection is still ongoing. Of course every rotation is a little bit different, but the data we have so far from these four- to six-month detailed screening follow-ups suggest that about 27% of people coming back have some difficulties. The vast majority, about 16%, have hazardous drinking behaviour. So more than half of that 27%--16% of the total deployed--show hazardous drinking behaviour. But an important number of people are struggling with more serious mental health issues, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder being the two most notable.