NORTH SHORE — As they balanced on a cable 40 feet off the ground, hanging onto each other for support, the Schofield Barracks soldiers showed excitement, nervousness, focus and a little worry.

The experience was kind of like the approximately 15-month combat deployment they just returned from in Iraq — only less dangerous.

In reality, there was no need for concern. The groups of about seven soldiers making their way across the cables at the "Odyssey III Challenge Course" at Camp Erdman, were wearing harnesses and tethered to a line above.

But the fear of falling — even if it was only a couple of feet — got their hearts racing.

"It was definitely adrenaline-filled. Me personally, I don't like heights too much," said Sgt. Matthew Bair, 25, who was an armorer with the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry "Wolfhounds" in Taji, Iraq.

Getting the soldiers' adrenaline going was the point of the all-day exercise.

As 4,300 Stryker brigade soldiers rotate back to Hawai'i from more than a year in Iraq, all will be required to go through the "Warrior Adventure Quest" and either the ropes course at Camp Erdman, kayaking and scuba on the Wai'anae Coast, or paintball war at Wheeler Army Airfield.

With the Army learning, in some cases tragically, that reintegration back into society is no simple task, Warrior Adventure Quest is a new approach that provides a healthy adrenaline-high alternative to that of a combat zone, and induces anxiety in a team setting to see which soldiers might be headed for problems at home.

'HIGH RISK' BEHAVIORS

The "why" of the program is explained this way in an Army brochure: "Mitigate boredom and high-risk behavior of redeploying soldiers by providing high-adventure activity in an outdoor environment."

Those "high-risk" behaviors include isolation, suicidal tendencies, domestic strife and alcohol abuse. Riding motorcycles recklessly is a big concern.

Army suicides have increased for the fourth straight year, with 128 active-duty cases confirmed in 2008 and 15 pending investigation. Army officials have pointed to frequent and repeat deployments as a likely cause.

Despite the growing candor about the problem at the highest levels of the Army, officials in Hawai'i have declined to release suicide statistics for the 25th Infantry Division.

The concern is so great, the Army ordered a 30-day "stand-down" beginning yesterday for suicide prevention training servicewide.

Nationwide, an estimated 5,000 former members of the military — including retirees — commit suicide annually, with Iraq and Afghanistan vets 35 percent more likely to commit suicide versus the general population, the Pentagon said.

ALL FEEL EFFECTS

Combat tours bring a wide range of reactions.

According to studies, up to 18 percent of returning combat vets experience depression or post-traumatic stress. But all soldiers are affected in some way by a year or more in Iraq or Afghan- istan.

"It does a number of things," said Lt. Col. David S. Davidson, the deputy commander of the Stryker brigade, and one of 97 soldiers to return from Iraq as part of an "advance party."

"One, you are just separated from all the things that you would typically consider to be normal," Davidson said. "While we have access to PX facilities and weights, and things of that nature, you are separated from your family."

Also identified is the temptation by some soldiers "to try to cram 15 months of life into the first 10 days you are home," Davidson said. High expectations for the good life often run into a more mediocre reality.

Still other soldiers isolate themselves and retreat from society after being in a routine and seeing the same individuals morning, noon and night.

The Stryker brigade lost 10 soldiers in Iraq. Davidson said one death remains under investigation as a possible suicide.

Most soldiers reintegrate in a matter of weeks and have no problems. A relatively small percentage continue to have issues long-term.

COUNSELING AVAILABLE

The Army has instituted a lot of mandatory and voluntary counseling in Iraq and back at home stations, but with 4,200 soldiers expected back in Hawai'i in coming weeks, "we are coming into the time period when those types of things will start to surface," Davidson said.

In September, the Army piloted the Warrior Adventure Quest at three garrisons. The program is new to Hawai'i, and the Army plans to eventually make it mandatory for all returning soldiers everywhere.

Nearly 80,000 soldiers are expected to go through the program Armywide this year, at a cost of $7 million, the service said.

TEAMS FORMED

The 25 soldiers at Camp Erdman last week started the day by carrying a fellow soldier on a stretcher while balancing on telephone poles laid out horizontally about a foot off the ground.

The soldiers were broken up into two teams of 12 and 13, and it was up to them to get their "injured" comrade across.

"That's part of the challenge. They have to sit down and say, 'This is how we're going to structure it,' " said Conor Joyce, who is with the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, which runs the adventure quest program.

If one soldier did too much talking or commandeered the event, Joyce said the facilitators would make that individual "mute," requiring others to step up.

In the afternoon, teams of seven made their way over the high-wire cables and through about eight segments that are between about 30 and 40 feet off the ground, and each of which had its own challenge.

In one segment, the seven-man teams had to try to congregate on a 2-foot by 2-foot platform positioned out on two strands of cable, while holding on to each other for support. From there, they had to leap one at a time to the next platform, which in some cases was several feet away.

Bair, the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry soldier, slowly was joined by six others crowding onto the first platform and the cables behind it.

GETTING CLOSE

"We're a close-knit family, but this is about as close as we're going to get," said Staff Sgt. Bibbs Ivory, 32, from St. Louis, getting a laugh from those watching on the ground.

Ivory, with the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry, spent 15 months in Taji and was the operations non-commissioned officer for his battalion.

Officials said the adventure quest gets soldiers out of their rooms, and back to a level of adrenaline rush that helps them readjust to the civilian world, while also opening their eyes to some healthy opportunities for socialization.

"A lot of times, you come back, and a lot of guys don't want to do too much," Bair said. "I think it's good to get reintegrated back into society rather than sitting around drinking all the time."

Staff Sgt. Jeff Coots, 28, known as "Doc" because he's a medic with the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, had sweated up his gray T-shirt by the time his team made it through the course.

"It was pretty good. Helps build unit cohesion," the Rhode Island man said.

Coots said on the way over, "you could see, with a lot of guys when we rode on the bus, they were kind of nervous, kind of mad, saying, 'Why are we doing this?'

"But now, you can see them at the end, where there's a sense of accomplishment. They did it and they enjoyed it."

At the end of the session, Camp Erdman facilitator Gabe Wallman gathered the soldiers together, and asked what they were going through and how activities like the adventure quest could help.

Staff Sgt. Jarrod Taylor, 29, who just got back from his fourth combat tour after two deployments to Afghanistan, one to the Horn of Africa, and now Iraq, spoke for many when he said, "I'm pissed off, I don't want to go to work, I'm not motivated, and I don't want to do anything that involves the Army."

Wallman said he recommended soldiers "have the antennae up, and be willing to support and be willing to be supported."

A Tripler Army Medical Center "behavioral health liaison" attends the adventure quest activities. Maj. Philip A. Holcombe, deputy chief of the psychology department at Tripler, spent the day last Tuesday with 25 soldiers taking part in ocean activities at the Pilila'au Army Recreation Center.

LOSING THE STIGMA

Holcombe said he's found that men tend to relate more through activity. Getting over the stigma of seeking help has been hard for the soldiers.

"I think the activities provided a venue to allow them to gain some comfort around a psychologist and be able to talk to me about things they might not have if I didn't have the opportunity to spend the day with them," he said.

Holcombe rode the waves with soldiers in a two-man kayak — talking as they went.

"You know, where's he going to go, right?" Holcombe said with a laugh, pointing out he had a somewhat captive audience.

But he said several soldiers came up to him and talked about issues they are experiencing, and they now have his direct contact information.

"It's the beginning of forming a relationship," Holcombe said.