Prevention is probably the best remedy. I think there is probably much to be explored in that regard, including trying to increase soldiers' resistance to the events they will be exposed to on their mission or deployment. I am very much in favour of that. I think we should be investing a lot of money in research in that area, to try and see what works and what can really help them.
My first impression is that a proper self-screening procedure such as the one you described is probably the best solution. However, soldiers being the way they are, they may be reluctant to acknowledge they have a mental health problem.
I would just like to make two or three additional comments. To my knowledge, we are not currently able to identify soldiers who could suffer post-traumatic stress if they were exposed to a potentially traumatic event during their deployment. I don't think we have yet reached that stage.
In terms of our study of risk and protection factors in relation to our soldiers, we are still finding our way. We have identified three types of protection or risk factors. First of all, there are what are known as pretrauma factors—age, gender, past psychiatric problems or a family history of such problems, a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, or first-hand experience with other types of trauma. Then, there are peritraumatic factors—in other words, all the factors related to the seriousness and duration of the event, dissociation during the event, and so on. Finally, there are post-traumatic factors, particularly social or organizational support received after the event, and the number of stressors experienced subsequently, which may not necessarily result in trauma. For example, an individual may have difficulty sleeping. There are certainly factors at other levels as well, but I am just summarizing here.
Based on the current state of knowledge as to the extent to which these three types of factors can be good predictors, it is clear that pretrauma factors are not the best predictors of who will suffer from post-traumatic stress. The best ones are really the peritraumatic factors—in other words, the intensity and duration of the event, and how horrifying it was.
Having said that, such things cannot be predicted in advance. Every event is unique. There are events that one cannot even conceive of and for which no one could ever be prepared. Any soldier who came before you to give testimony could give you examples of horrifying events that he or she had experienced and that we could never have imagined.