About one-third of soldiers in these areas say they can't see a counselor when they need to, according to results of a survey conducted last year and released last month.

In Iraq, mental health professionals must travel in armed convoys to reach troops stationed in embattled neighborhoods. In Afghanistan, it can take an average of 40 hours for a psychologist to visit soldiers, the Army study says.

The Army surveyed 3,168 soldiers in its study. Today there are 157,000 soldiers in Iraq and 31,000 in Afghanistan. As part of President Bush's troop escalation in Iraq last year, many soldiers were moved to isolated outposts.

"They (mental health counselors) can't be in every place at the same time," says Lt. Col. Sharon McBride, an Army psychologist and researcher.

When counselors reach combat troops, they make a difference, says Lt. Col. Jim Carter, chaplain for the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq. In four months, the division has suffered only one suicide, he says. Last year, the Army reported a record number of suicides.

The Army, recognizing the need for more counseling, said nine months ago that it would hire 200 additional mental health professionals by May. It later raised the number to 288, about a 25% increase in staff. So far, 158 slots are filled.

Competition with the private sector and a national shortage of these professionals have slowed hiring, say Col. Elspeth Ritchie, an Army psychiatric consultant.

The Army says it is exploring new ways to build war-zone staffing, including sending in contracted civilian professionals, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Vaughan says. Also under consideration is a pilot program to allow civilian psychiatrists, psychologists and others to enlist for two years, rather than the current eight-year minimum.

"Experienced providers across the nation are willing to come and serve with us, even in uniform, if it was not for an eight-year obligation," says Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, a deputy surgeon general.

The shortage of caregivers and lack of access occur as mental health problems now affect 27% of non-commissioned officers (NCOs) on their third or fourth combat tours, the Army says.

Strain also shows among Army counselors rotating into combat, Ritchie says.

Army Capt. Bryan Shea, 41, of Canton, N.Y., is a reservist and psychologist with a state psychiatric facility. He will soon go to Iraq for a third deployment.

Shea says he is eager to help soldiers, but that deployments have shattered his personal life. He says he is in the midst of a bitter divorce and that he lost custody of his two daughters, ages 10 and 15, because of his deployment.

"They got to keep recycling those of us who are in, and it gets tiring pretty fast," says Shea, whose offer to resign from the Army has not been accepted.

Enlarge By Wang Lei, Xinhua/AP U.S. soldiers in combat, shown patroling Wardak Province in central Afghanistan in 2003, can often be hard to reach by mental health counselors whose presence often makes a difference in suicide rates.

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