(Radio Iowa) – The National Association of Counties is encouraging county officials — and all Americans — to participate in Operation Green Light for Veterans this week — and many county office buildings in Iowa will be lit to honor veterans in the area. Winnebago County Veterans Affairs Coordinator Mary Lou Kleveland says the courthouse in Forest City will be lit with green lights, starting tonight (Tuesday). “It’s just a way that we can drive around and see these green light bulbs and just have another reminder of the sacrifices that our veterans made so that we can have freedoms,” Kleveland said. “I don’t think we can say, ‘Thank you,’ enough.”

(Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)

About 200-thousand service members transition to civilian life each year and Kleveland says up to 72 percent of them experience high levels of stress during the transition. “We also have a lot of Vietnam veterans who, as we know the story, they came back, they weren’t welcomed and so they’re just now seeking out benefits 40 years later,” Kleveland says. “And then we have our Operation Enduring Freedom and all the Gulf War and War on Terrorism men and women coming back…but also our peacetime veterans that did a lot behind the scenes that we will never know about.”

Operation Green Light begins tonight (Tuesday) and continues through Veterans Day on November 11th.