The average suicide rate in the US military – 24 suicides per 100,000 soldiers – is lower than the civilian suicide rate for men aged 17 to 60 – 25 suicides per 100,000 in 2010.
LOWER - fewer military suicides than non-military suicides. Sad, but statistically healthier to be in the military (at least as far as suicide risk is concerned).Around 60 percent of military suicides are committed with firearms, though in most cases the guns are personally owned, not military-issued.
I read recently that the suicide rate of Israeli soldiers dropped dramatically! when they had to leave their guns at the base when off-duty. Maybe megaman knows something about this.
There was a recent controversy when an independent blogger unveiled an inconsistency between some army records regarding suicide rates. The army tries and minimize deaths recorded as "suicide" by registering them as "unknown cause" or "killed in duty", with the intention of maintaining a healthy image in the public sphere (at least that's that blogger's accusation). So while the published rate might be lower, the actual number might be the same, or higher then, recent years.