BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — September is Suicide Awareness Month, a time to focus on the struggles many face in silence. For members of the military community, those struggles can often linger long after service ends.

Matthew “Whiz” Buckley, a Navy veteran, remembers the day that changed his life forever.

“I saw the initial airplane hit. Saw the second plane hit. I knew we were under attack,” Buckley said, recalling September 11, 2001, his first scheduled flight as a commercial pilot.

After years of military service, Buckley said the transition wasn’t easy. Laid off from the airline industry and later working on Wall Street, he says the mental toll was overwhelming.

“They resort to drugs, they resort to alcohol, or sadly, anywhere from [ages] 22 to maybe as high as 44 veterans

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