One thing that I would jump on is the concept of the battle buddy that I mentioned earlier. If you have someone who has done it before and can, to Derryk's point, be a mentor.... I'm talking about the initial transitions: stepping off the plane, the first six months or a year. I think it would help if there was a one-on-one touchpoint to help that individual navigate all of the overwhelming things that they're going to be dealing with. They have no idea that they will be dealing with it. That's even assuming that they're not bringing their own issues to the table.
The hill before you is that much steeper when you have other challenges confronting it. Having someone there to help so that you're not alone when you're calling up the mental health service line and trying to explain how you feel. Having someone there with you, not just on the other end of the line, can help the individual get through that journey and be more adequately supported. The other benefit there is that's ensuring more than adequate communication of the services and support that are available.
To the point about mentorship and your earlier point about communication, you just have to ensure that it's there. Right now, that's something that's generally lacking in my experience. I should caveat that with, I know what I went through in the ninth year of the war in 2010-2011 when I came back. It was probably far better than what it was in 2002 or 2003. I'm very grateful that there were incremental improvements, but that doesn't mean we should forget about what we've learned and not think about how we can improve moving forward.