Veterans face trials and triumphs when they return home

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Soldiers with the 1st Infantry Division bow their heads in prayer before a deployment ceremony for another tour in Iraq August 13, 2009 at Fort Riley, Kansas. The Army requires all soldiers take suicide awareness classes as longer and more frequent deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years have taken a toll. Thousands of soldiers have returned from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental difficulties.

There are more than 20 million veterans in the US. You may know one. You may be one. And they deal with all sorts of trials and triumphs when they return home.

There are more than 20 million veterans in the United States. You may know one. You may be one.

Nov. 11 is the day the nation pays tribute to our veterans, and all week on Take Two, we'll explore the trials and triumphs of our troops here, on the air, on our Facebook page and on Twitter with the hashtag #vetsmatter.

For more on what veterans deal with when they return home, Anthony Hassan spoke with Take Two. He directs the Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans & Military Families at the University of Southern California.

Hassan says that the Department of Defense is not preparing military personnel well enough for the challenges ahead when they transition from life in the service to civilian life.

This piece is part of KPCC's ongoing coverage of issues affecting veterans for Veterans Day 2014. See more of our coverage at KPCC.org/vets.