Yes, we have done some research in looking at the factors that determine whether someone suicides. One of our officers who is working in our mental health directorate, Major Damien Hadfield, did a meta-analysis in looking at the factors that were common amongst our ADF members who died by suicide. He came up with a number of things that are very common in the general society in Australia as well.
There are factors such as a significant relationship breakup or a significant change in the person's life, such as a medical downgrade, so that they aren't able to do their jobs or might be looking at being discharged from the military as a result of their medical problem. It's something significant in that person's life, something that is out of their control and leads them down the path of depression. Then, of course, you get things like alcohol abuse, especially at the point where the member suicides; alcohol is a significant factor there. There are a lot of commonalities between the factors that predispose someone in our defence force for suiciding and for the general population.
Not a lot of our members who have suicided have actually had operational service; only about a third of our members who have suicided actually were deployed on operations. I'm just thinking of two of them who deployed and who subsequently suicided. Even though they were exposed to stressful things on their deployment, it wasn't actually those things that were major factors in their suicides. A relationship breakup or a medical downgrade were actually the major factors in leading them down the path of suicide.
I hope that answers your question.