Just as the self-inflicted death of Helena Guardsman Chris Dana following a tour in Iraq has spurred the Montana National Guard to action, recent data about the suicide rate among war veterans nationally is prompting the VA to intensify its prevention programs.

Dana killed himself last March after he was given a less-than-honorable discharge for his faltering performance caused by the post traumatic stress disorder he was suffering from.

Since then, Gov. Brian Schweitzer created a task force to study PTSD and come up with solutions. Among the recommendations the task force made was to evaluate soldiers' mental health every six months for the first two years after deployment.

The Guard has hired Helena psychotherapist Carroll Jenkins to train therapists across the state in recognizing and dealing with the disorder. He's also involved in a conference scheduled for next month in Helena hosted by the Montana Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers on the subject of PTSD and other needs of veterans and their families.

These are all welcome developments, even if they spring from tragedy, but it is becoming clear that Dana's death was no isolated event.

Preliminary VA research obtained by the Associated Press this week reveals that there were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan in October, 2001, and the end of 2005. And that doesn't count the 147 troops who have killed themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan since the wars began. (Nor does it count soldiers who have killed themselves after returning to the U.S. but before they leave the military. Those deaths aren't tracked by the Pentagon.)

A separate study earlier this year by researchers at Portland State University found that veterans were twice as likely to commit suicide as male nonveterans.

PTSD is nothing new. It used to called "shell shock" or "battle fatigue." But maybe, at last, real and effective help will be available for war veterans. It's the least the county can do for people that Americans keep professing to honor.