“The military still blames the soldier, saying it’s financial stress or family stress, and it is still waiting for the service member to come forward,” said Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense.

In July, Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff of the Army, ordered that all soldiers returning from combat be evaluated by a mental health professional, either face to face or by video conference.

General Chiarelli and other top commanders have argued that the roots of the rise in military suicides are complex and that blame cannot be laid solely on repeated deployments. The majority of soldiers who have committed suicide  about 80 percent  have had only one deployment or none at all. Another factor is that after years of war, the Army is now attracting recruits already inclined toward risky behavior and thus more prone to suicide, according to a 15-month Army review of suicides released in July.

A close examination of some of the suicides at Fort Hood shows that they are as individual as fingerprints. Some of the soldiers who committed suicide were receiving treatment but took their lives anyway. Others were reluctant to seek help for fear of being labeled cowards or malingerers.

The commanders at the base have tried hard to change the never-show-weakness culture of the Army. They have trained more than 700 noncommissioned officers and chaplains to spot suicidal soldiers and refer them to counselors. Since April, more than 17,000 soldiers have participated in an exercise in which actors play out scenarios involving suicidal people.

Beyond the role playing, the base’s commanders have also employed a comedian who talks about the suicide of his brother and have compelled all soldiers to watch two training films about suicide  “Shoulder to Shoulder” and “I Will Never Quit on Life.” A former commander of the base, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, even established a holistic “Resiliency Campus,” where soldiers can do things like take tai chi and yoga classes, get massages or see family counselors.