It all seems set up that way. I'm a multiple time suicide survivor, I know going in if I seek help that if I tell the truth it's a mandatory 72 hour psych hold if you say or suggest you have a plan. I've had two friends lost last year from suicide and one marine friend that's always on the bubble. We occasionally get together and talk about our nightmares and suicidal ideation. He told me when he did try to go the VA route he felt insulted by the process. Essentially he told me the counselor kept saying that he didn't understand why his incident was haunting him so badly since he didn't personally know the ones who died. My friend told me in that one sentence it felt like the counselor had invalidated every feeling he had had about what happened until that point and the counselor had written it off as a weakness. Society seems to view mental illness through that lens, not something that should affect men, only women and the weak in their eyes. My brother is a manager of operations at a VA, I don't think the public knows just how much of the homeless population is comprised of veterans or the mentally ill. Sometimes I think it even gets to my brother, seeing bad situations turn worse so often. During Vietnam some people would look down on veterans returning from war and I don't think that has changed much. Sure the patriotism was there at first after 9/11 but we as a nation have failed and continue to fail our veterans in my opinion.