Are less soldier suicides due to less soldiers or better conditions?

UPDATE November 14, 2013 If things are so good then why hasn't the DOD released the Suicide Event Report from 2012 yet? It is the comprehensive report with all the data and all the branches, including the National Guards and Reservists. It also included attempted suicides and the means.

Sounds like a great headline it is what they are not saying that is the problem. Last of 33,000 Surge Troops Left Afghanistan in September 2012. As of September there were a total of 1,399,622 according to Department of Defense Active Duty Military Personnel September 30, 2012 but as of September 2013 there were 1,382,684. That means there were 16,938 less serving.

Yes the numbers of soldiers taking their own lives while in the military have gone down.

For 2012, there have been 146 potential active-duty suicides
For the Army as of September "For CY 2013, there have been 115 potential active-duty suicides"

But the numbers of National Guards and Reservists have gone up.

For 2012, there have been 101 potential not on active-duty suicides 67 Army National Guard and 34 Army Reserve

For 2013 up until the end of September, the last release, "For CY 2013, there have been 112 potential not on active duty suicides 70 Army National Guard and 42 Army Reserve" but as of September of 2012

There are numbers that researchers use and then there are numbers the military uses. Why don't the ever agree?

Military suicide rate down more than 22 percent since last year, defense officials say
Associated Press
Published November 11, 2013

WASHINGTON – Suicides across the military have dropped by more than 22 percent this year, defense officials said, amid an array of new programs targeting what the Defense Department calls an epidemic that took more service members' lives last year than the war in Afghanistan did during that same period.

Military officials, however, were reluctant to pin the decline on the broad swath of detection and prevention efforts, acknowledging that they still don't fully understand why troops take their own lives. And since many of those who have committed suicide in recent years had never served on the warfront, officials also do not attribute the decrease to the end of the Iraq war and the drawdown in Afghanistan.

Still, they offered some hope that after several years of studies, the escalating emphasis on prevention across all the services may finally be taking hold.

With two months to go in this calendar year, defense officials say there have been 245 suicides by active-duty service members as of Oct. 27. At the same time last year there had already been 316. Each of the military services has seen the total go down this year, ranging from an 11 percent dip in the Marine Corps to a 28 percent drop for the Navy. The Air Force had a 21 percent decline, while Army totals fell by 24 percent.
read more here

UPDATE From NPR
With two months to go in this calendar year, defense officials say there have been 245 suicides by active-duty service members as of Oct. 27. At the same time last year there had already been 316. Each of the military services has seen the total go down this year, ranging from an 11 percent dip in the Marine Corps to a 28 percent drop for the Navy. The Air Force had a 21 percent decline, while Army totals fell by 24 percent.

But again, the National Guards and Reservists are forgotten about.