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Images of Taliban leaders claiming control in Kabul, Afghanistan, have brought emotional responses from citizens across the globe.
For current and former United States veterans, local health officials said the events overseas could be even more disturbing.
"All these images in Kabul that are being shown on TV and in the news are greatly affecting veterans," said Shaun Shenk, who is the executive assistant to the Medical Center Director at the Van Zandt Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Altoona. "It's a difficult situation, and many of our veterans are struggling to process all of this right now."
Taliban fighters took control of the Afghan presidential palace Aug. 15 after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
The United States was involved with the conflict in Afghanistan for almost 20 years, and in that time, nearly 7,000 Americans were killed in combat.
With U.S. forces now withdrawn from Kabul, health officials said a vast range of emotions are being triggered in veterans across the nation.
Dr. Michele Vella-Healey, who is a psychologist at the VA, said that veterans are likely to experience emotional responses such as anger, regret, shame, blame, guilt and anxiety.
Soldiers could be questioning whether their sacrifices were worth it or unsettled with how the situation ended, officials said, causing many different levels of emotional distress.
"Anyone that sees what's happening in the world right now is going to have some type of emotional response, and there is no such thing as an abnormal response," Vella-Healey said. "Any type of emotional response is normal."
Shenk, who previously served as part of the United States Air Force in the late 2000s, said he understands the many different emotions veterans may be feeling right now.
But while many who served in the war in Afghanistan are experiencing emotional responses due to the current situation, Shenk said veterans of all wars are facing troubles.
Specifically, Vietnam veterans are suffering from emotional hardships due to the eerie parallels between the crisis in Kabul and the events of South Vietnam
in 1975.
"They are seeing the parallels from what they saw in combat compared to what is happening today," Shenk said. "We've had many Vietnam veterans reach out to us as well. But what we're grateful for is that they're actually reaching out."
Medical professionals at the VA said it is "not abnormal" for veterans who were discharged even 40 years ago to experience some type of emotion regarding Kabul.
"It's all unique to the individual, but all of these emotions are normal," Vella-Healey said. "No emotion is wrong, and we are biologically programmed for those emotions to work for us."
Many memories of combat will stick with veterans for years, officials said, with many suffering daily from what occurred.
Others may suppress memories, with images and details from combat not resurfacing until years later.
Valle-Healey said those memories do not go away; rather, they hide under the radar and function in a person's daily practice until something comes forward to trigger those memories.
"A lot of these veterans could very well have memories triggered from combat or homecoming," Vella-Healey said. "There's a very large spectrum. There could be suppressed memories, or there could be memories that these Vietnam veterans have been carrying with them all along. It's not uncommon to have memories trigger 20, 30 or 40 years later."
According to Valla-Healey, an average of 20 to 22 veterans die by suicide daily.
Of those veterans that die by suicide, an average of 14 of them do not seek counseling.
At the Veterans Affairs center in Altoona, medical professionals said their goal is to provide veterans the proper resources to cope with any mental or physical distress they may be in.
"We've shifted from 'what is the matter with you' to 'what matters to you,'" Vella-Healey said. "We're not thinking of people as a disease. We're looking at a person's overall health and honoring the spiritual and social aspects of who you are."
Shenk said counseling at the VA is patient-centered, stating that the patient is "always in the driver's seat" of what types of therapy they would like to receive.
Many of the peer counselors and mental health professionals at the VA are former veterans themselves, Shenk said.
"It can be comforting to have someone who understands the emotions you are feeling and what you are going through," Shenk said. "We're all trying to process this right now, and we can do it together."
When available, the VA offers same-day services, and professionals can be reached at 814-943-8164, extension 7305.
If a veteran requires immediate attention, they are urged to contact the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 extension 1.
"What you're feeling about the situation in Kabul is normal," Shenk said. "We invite anyone to reach out to us and talk."