The trends in suicide rates among conscripts in Finland were analysed & compared to suicide rates in men of the same age in the general population. The suicide rates among conscripts slightly increased from the mid-1960s until the mid-1970s, but this rise was less marked than among young men in the population as a whole. In the 1970s & 1980s, the suicide mortality among conscripts was half that among civilian men of the same age. The implications for suicide prevention are discussed. (18 refs.)