Military suicide is an increasing concern for Western militaries. In this article, using a qualitative media analysis, we introduce the military suicide equation as a metanarrative and analytic tool for understanding discourse on military suicides. This metanarrative—overseas service + post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) = suicide—positions military suicide as the consequences of PTSD acquired during overseas military deployment and positions increased military funding as the simplistic solution to what is often described as a military suicide “epidemic.” The military suicide equation operates to both normalize evidence of widespread mental health issues within militaries and sustain support for military institutions and war deployments by directing public attention to the “problem-solution” cycle identified in the equation. We assess the political consequences of this simplistic representation, namely the reproduction of preexisting myths about the “unknowability” of war, civilian responsibilities to “Support the Troops,” and the exceptional nature of military service and combat deployment.

中文翻译：

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战争神话和创伤后应激障碍和军人自杀的正常化：军人自杀方程

军人自杀是西方军队日益关注的问题。在这篇文章中，我们使用定性的媒体分析，将军人自杀方程作为一种元叙事和分析工具来理解关于军人自杀的话语。这种元叙事——海外服役+创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）=自杀——将军人自杀定位为在海外军事部署期间获得的创伤后应激障碍的后果，并将增加军事资金定位为通常被称为军事自杀“流行病”的简单解决方案。” 军事自杀方程的作用是使军队内部普遍存在的心理健康问题的证据正常化，并通过引导公众关注方程中确定的“问题-解决方案”循环来维持对军事机构和战争部署的支持。