Experts say the military's new mental-health awareness campaign is a long time coming, and provides essential treatment for soldiers suffering from the horrors of war.

Lt.-Col. Stephane Grenier deployed to Rwanda in 1994, as the country found itself caught in an ethnic conflict.

"There were bodies everywhere," Grenier told CTV News. "We were literally amidst human slaughter on a very, very grand scale."

He spent 10 months in the country. Images of the dead and dying -- including children -- haunted him long after he had returned to Canada. He even contemplated suicide.

"It was not being able to deal with the memories, the sounds, the sights," he said. "It was not sleeping."

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk announced the campaign last Thursday. He said that members of the military who struggle with mental health issues no longer have to suffer alone or in silence.

"If you have an issue, come on in," he said. "Because we can provide the help."

The initiative was prompted by the release this month of a Commons committee report on the effects of PTSD.

Among its recommendations, the committee called on the Canadian Forces to erase the stigma often associated with mental illness in the military, and create a culture of openness around PTSD.

The committee's report also suggested the military perform an audit to identify any holes in the Department of National Defence's mental health system and provide more training for officers to identify the signs of mental fatigue or stress, early on.

The military is also taking the rare step of reaching out for help from other organizations -- asking for input from Canadian mental health groups to address the issue in the ranks.

The struggle with mental illness has always been a touchy subject for the Canadian military. Even the question of whether to go public with the new initiative was under discussion up until the 11th hour.

It was only announced last Wednesday that the Thursday news conference would go ahead -- reportedly after intense internal discussions triggered by last week's Commons report.

The campaign comes amid a military police investigation into the death of Maj. Michelle Mendes in Afghanistan last April. It was a suspected suicide.

The colonel who led the first contingent of Canadian troops into Afghanistan, and is now the ombudsman for veterans affairs, says the military should offer help before combat missions even begin.

"The military trains from a physical perspective to the highest possible level to meet the challenges overseas," said Col. Pat Stogran. "What's missing right now is the psychological training.'

Grenier, who battled his depression and founded the military's operations stress support program, says that's coming.

"The educational foundation is now set," he said. "Now we're getting into specialty training -- the pre-deployment stuff, the resiliency training."

With a report by CTV's Craig Oliver in Ottawa