Officials say returning veteranss have a hard time coming down off the adrenaline rush of war.
Colonel Mark London, director of the Georgia National Guard’s Joint Family Services, says vets often shut down.

He say they have been studying what is causing an increase in military suicides.

“About 75 percent of them is relationships. When a veteran comes back from war, they isolate themselves. They don’t communicate with their families. I went through the same thing when I came back from Iraq. Took me about three months to come off that adrenaline high. My daughter even said to me about a year later, she said ‘I felt like you abandoned us.’ It still hurts me.” he says.

The state National Guard has teamed up with the Warrior Alliance to help families talk about their experiences in order to build stronger relationships.

The Warrior Alliance is a group of non-profits working with the Pentagon to establish comprehensive health, education and job programs for vets and their families.

London says the program connects families who are experiencing the same thing.
“So they are able to open up and the families figure out what the problem is. It’s lack of communication. It’s lack of understanding and a lack of talking with one another. And feeling each other’s pain and what they’re going through. So it’s a matter of communicating.” he says.

Tags: Georgia National Guard, deployment, returning veterans, Warrior Alliance