Psychiatric News has a story about an article published in the British Medical Journal concerning length of deployments and psychiatric morbidity:

Americans often hear about the psychological demands on U.S. soldiers, whose tours of duty in Iraq have been extended from 12 to 15 months. They are not alone. New research shows that longer tours of duty appear to take their toll on troops from other countries too, according to an ongoing study of British forces by the King's Centre for Military Health Research at King's College London.

Comment: The study suggests that PTSD, psychological distress and physical symptoms increase with deployment length. The warrior development cycle consists of training, deployment and recovery. Deployment is tough but it is what warriors do. We hope our leaders our sensitive to their sacrifices. What can we do to better support our warfighters so they can grow stronger and fight on?

References:
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/20/16
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/335/7620/603