A new comprehensive study of 3.9million military personnel who served after 9/11 has found no direct link between deployment to a war zone and elevated suicide rates . Researchers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma , Washington , concluded that military suicides may be more likely after members leave the service than during active duty deployment , particularly if their time in uniform is brief . ‘ It was certainly intuitive as the wars went on and suicides went up for people to assume that deployment was the reason , but our data show that that is too simplistic ; when you look at the total population , deployment is not associated with suicide , ’ said lead author Mark Reger . New study : Researchers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord looked at military records of 3.9million personnel who served after 9/11 and found no direct link between deployment to a war zone and elevated suicide rates . Matter of honor : Service members with a dishonorable discharge were about twice as likely to commit suicide as those who had an honorable separation . The four-year study , the largest of its kind , was published Wednesday in the Journal of American Medicine Association Psychiatry . While the US military has traditionally experienced lower suicide rates than the civilian population , suicides among active duty service members have surged in the past decade , almost doubling in the Army and the Marines Corps , Reger said . In 2012 , Pentagon reported 320 suicides by active-duty service members ; another 268 soldiers took their lives last year . To understand the relationship between deployment and self-inflicted death , researchers reviewed military records for more than 3.9million active-duty soldiers and reservists who joined up between October 7 , 2001 and December 31 , 2007 . A total of 31,962 deaths occurred , including 5,041 suicides , by December 31 , 2009 . Suicide rates were similar regardless of whether or not servicemen and women were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan . The study did not factor in veterans ’ exposure to combat and the potential effect of traumatic events on the battlefield on suicide rates . There were 1,162 suicides among those who deployed and 3,879 among those who did n't , representing suicide rates per 100,000 person-years of 18.86 and 17.78 , respectively . Leaving the military significantly increased suicide risk , however , with a suicide rate of 26.06 after separating from service compared with 15.12 for those who remained in uniform . At home and abroad : Suicide rates were similar regardless of whether or not servicemen and women were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan . Those who left sooner had a greater risk , with a rate of 48.04 among those who spent less than a year in the military . Service members with a dishonorable discharge were about twice as likely to commit suicide as those who had an honorable separation . ‘ This is the first time such a huge , comprehensive study has found an increased suicide risk among those who have separated from service , particularly if they served for less than four years or had an other than honorable discharge , ’ said Rajeev Ramchand , a researcher in military mental health and suicide prevention at Rand Corporation who was n't involved in the study . It 's possible that pre-deployment examinations may screen out people who have mental health problems , making those who deploy several times a healthier , more resilient group , said Dr. Alan Peterson , a psychologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio who specializes in combat-related post traumatic stress disorder . ‘ Those who really struggle with a deployment do n't go the second time , ’ said Peterson , a retired military psychologist who was n't involved in the study . ‘ Early separation from the military is often a marker for something else. ’ For those contemplating suicide , access to firearms can exacerbate the problem , Peterson said . ‘ It 's a risk factor that sometimes gets overlooked , but we 've seen when they do n't have access to weapons they are less likely to kill themselves. ’ Leaving the military significantly increased suicide risk , and those who left after just one year were most vulnerable . Some service members who leave the military early may have had risk factors for suicide such as mood disorders or substance abuse problems that contributed to their separation , particularly if they had a dishonorable discharge , said Dr. Christine Moutier , chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention . It is n't realistic to expect former service members to instantly reintegrate into their former civilian lives , but they may be experiencing serious mental health problems if they 're not eating or sleeping or if they 're extremely agitated or irritable , Moutier said . ‘ The lack of an association between deployment and suicide risk is n't surprising , ’ she said . ‘ At a very high level , these findings highlight the need for us to pay closer attention to what happens when people leave the military . ’
Researchers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord concluded military suicides may be more likely after members leave service than during deployment . The four-year study looked at military records of 3.9million service members from October 7 , 2001 to December 31 , 2007 . Total of 31,962 deaths occurred , including 5,041 suicides , by December 31 , 2009 . Comment: Soldiers with a dishonorable discharge were twice as likely to commit suicide as those who had honorable discharge .