Veterans Affairs committee  The short answer is no, there has been no study to look at that. The long answer is that with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression and alcohol problems, soldiers who are physically injured are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress and depression. Post-traumatic stress and depression are linked with suicide.

Veterans Affairs committee  The idea of the healthy soldier effect really is at a general level. When you're looking at a population, soldiers are generally healthier, and so you'd expect a lower rate. But in the case you're describing, the person now has to cope with the loss and the injury and can't seem to figure out how to live with that loss, and how it's going to affect their career and their family.

Veterans Affairs committee  I've never seen any studies on it.

Veterans Affairs committee  The idea would be that among the risk factors--there are a range of them--with suicide attempts, once somebody has either made an overdose or a gesture, a suicide attempt, and landed in emergency, the challenge often is that the risk period right after is quite high. We totally agree that family and outreach in trying to support the person is very, very important.