PHOENIX — As more Arizona veterans return from war zones, state agencies and local communities must offer assistance to them and their families as the warriors return to civilian life, according to the governor’s policy adviser for faith-based and community initiatives.

Calling the combat in Iraq and Afghanistan the nation’s “seminal event,” Jannah Scott said every citizen in Arizona must support the returning soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines as they struggle to return to their families and society.

Gov. Janet Napolitano recently hosted a round table to begin the process of bringing in area faith-based groups and community agencies to reach out to returning veterans, especially Arizonans who are in the National Guard or Reserves, Scott said.

Many of the returning veterans are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or traumatic brain injuries, some of which don’t show up for months until after they are discharged.

The number of veterans who suffer from just those two conditions are staggering, even though Scott didn’t have the total number of Arizonans serving in the National Guard or Reserves who return with those problems.

The impact on the individual veterans is severe enough, but when families are included, the impact is even greater, she said.

Besides PTSD and brain injuries, many are returning with other disabilities, including lost limbs, that must be addressed.

Scott said the governor believes it is the responsibility to be an added asset within the federal system because “they are our people.”

Returning veterans and their families face educational and financial issues that will need “inspiration to address,” she said.

A problem with a veteran “is accelerated when families are involved,” Scott said.

The National Guard throughout the nation faces the obstacle that many Guard members are not prepared to enter into a combat situation because their training is more focused on helping address local disasters, she said.

Between the federalization of the National Guard for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and the calling up of Reserve members, the state has seen many of its men and women go off to war — far more than any other time in recent American history, Scott said.

The recent military round table held in Phoenix is a start to have all of Arizona’s communities become part of a grand solution, which will include federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, she said.

The state and local groups must work with federal agencies, all with the goal of helping Arizona’s veterans, Scott said.

Another roundtable for Southern Arizona — “for which Sierra Vista will have a role,” Scott said — will be held in Tucson either the last week in September or the first week in October.

The date will depend on when the governor can attend.

Noting Fort Huachuca is playing a major role in deploying people, Scott said the local off-post communities must reach out to the fort to offer additional assistance because the soldiers on the fort and their families are part of Arizona.

The fort has deployed units, primarily from the 11th Signal Brigade, as well as small groups of military intelligence soldiers and individuals to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 11th’s headquarters is in Iraq, and the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, which is part of the brigade, has soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar.

Active-duty military personnel and their families are integral part of local communities, where the own homes, pay taxes and go to public schools, she said.

When active-duty personnel  leave the military, some may stay  in the state and become veterans, who may join the National Guard or be part of the Reserves and therefore subject to call up for federal duty, Scott said.

“Veterans are committed people we can count on,” she said. “They are dependable and responsible.”

Veterans can contribute much to the state if they are made whole, and that includes developing educators through the state’s Troops to Teachers program, Scott said.

At the Phoenix round table, there was a representative from the fort, Chaplain (Lt. Col..) James Jones, Sierra Vista Mayor Bob Strain and a local pastor, the Rev. Shawn Buckhanan.

They are some of the people who will be called upon to help develop a local network of help that includes faith-based and community agencies, Scott said.

Buckhanan, who is the pastor of the St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church and represents the Sierra Vista clergy on Fort Huachuca, said the round table exposed a lot of loopholes that have to be closed.

Those loopholes were at all levels of government — from federal to the local agencies, he said.

And those who are willing to step up must accept that they will not necessarily be reimbursed for their help, he said.

“It’s going to take volunteerism, at its best,” Buckhanan said.

In some cases, wounds will have to be reopened to clean out the issues ignored for too long in order to help the healing process, the pastor said.

Reaching out throughout the community will be important, said Buckhanan, who in January 2007 was named by Napolitano to the state’s African-American Commission as the representative for Cochise County.

He envisions the commission to become an important part of helping veterans and believes it will be part of the local commission’s agenda at future town halls.

When the next state round table is held in Tucson, Buckhanan said he will attend and hopes to hear how the rural areas will be asked to help.

What is done in the large urban areas like Phoenix and Tucson  will not be the same as has to be accomplished in the rural areas of Arizona, Buckhanan said.

In some cases, rural communities, because of their small size and the closeness of citizens, have more knowledge of a friend suffering and therefore are more willing to reach out to help.

When it comes to helping veterans, the best way to handle recovery is “to treat the whole disease,” he said.

“And that means the whole community must be involved.”