What advice would you give on helping a soldier who recently lost a loved one?

The soldier should have been directed towards the chaplin first thing. Has he taken emergency leave already? Everyone handles grief differently, continue to observe and communicate with him/her. You can also have a counseling session with your soldier to make sure he is aware of all the help available to him. Chaplin, armyonesource, leadership, friends etc. No one knows a specific grief timelime however we must at some point get back up and be soldiers again. I speak from personal experience of losing my mother while deployed. Hope your soldier is gtg soon

The best help is usually have someone who has gone through it meet with them and share experience and let them talk and grieve.

Its important that the Soldier knows he has his battles to rely on. I lost my sister and I was a mess. I didn't want to talk to anyone and I definitely didn't want to see a Chaplain because I was angry at God. I had good friends that would just come see me and make sure I was eating and they would just sit there with me for hours not saying a word because I didn't want to talk about it. Just having people there was a big comfort. Eventually I started talking to them and it helped the healing process.