Dr. Rita Spilken started the Our House Foundation out of Springfield, Missouri.

Spilken testified in front of the Veteran Affairs Committee asking for funding that would allow transitional communities for those soldiers returning from overseas.

Many veterans along with Spilken testified asking for a one-eighth cent sales tax that would give increased funding to veteran programs.

Reporting from Jefferson City, I'm Carly Robertson.

Daniel Bell, spokesman for the Missouri Veterans Commission, says the Commission hopes to one day have a gear down phase of about 30 days before soldiers go back into the community.

Interest in the time period when soldiers return home has heightened due to a recent CBS investigation that shows veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide than non-veterans in 2005.

Bell says the Commission was not aware of the issue until the CBS investigation and is not sure of the numbers in Missouri.

Scott Perkins with the Department of Mental Health says right now there is a hotline where veterans can call for services but added he has seen a growing interest in trying to coordinate veteran services.