The VA doesn't have a clue how to address the suicide problem. I get most of my medical care through the VA hospital a couple of towns over from me. When I go in for my semi-annual checkup with my primary care physician, the routine intake questions always include things like, "Are you feeling sad today, even a little bit?" And I think almost every veteran knows by now that if you even hint at feeling sad or depressed, the VA may or may not try to help you but they WILL report you to NICS and you'll be prohibited from possessing firearms.
I was recently approached about being a subject in an 8-week research study on pain management, which I agreed to participate in. It's a two-group study -- one group works with live "coaches," the other gets a booklet and a robot phone call every evening. I'm in the robot call group. Two of the questions are "On a scale of one to five, how much did you feel sad today?" and "On a scale of one to five, how much did you feel angry today?" (I always press "1" [Not at all]for those questions.) Then, at the end of the call, instead of just telling me I can end the call by hanging up, they include the obligatory advice that if I feel suicidal I should call the national suicide hotline number (which they helpfully repeat).
By the end of the eight weeks they'll likely drive me to suicide.
The more important thing is that no veteran I know wants to lose his Second Amendment rights, so we know how to answer those questions. I don't care if my life is a country-western singer's wet dream of a dumpster fire -- my wife done run off with mah bestest friend, my pickup truck crashed and mah dawg just died -- when the intake nurse asks me if I'm feeling happy today the answer is "You betcha! Life couldn't be better."