researchers at joint base lewis-mcchord concluded military suicides may be more likely after members leave service than during deployment .
the four-year study looked at military records of 3.9 million service members from october 7 , 2001 to december 31 , 2007 .
total of 31,962 deaths occurred , including 5,041 suicides , by december 31 , 2009 .
there were 1,162 suicides among those who deployed and 3,879 among those who did n't .
soldiers with a dishonorable discharge were twice as likely to commit suicide as those who had honorable discharge .