A Rochester program that helps veterans meet other veterans is thriving at one local bowling center.

Every Thursday morning, a group of military veterans gets together at Sunset Lanes. It's through a program called CompeerCORPS, which focuses on not only building camaraderie, but also to help struggling vets lean on each other after their military service ends.

“Normally you have a mentor and mentee,” said Tyrone Banks, a U.S. Army veteran. “We found with veterans, that didn't work that way. It's best to put a bunch of veterans in one spot, let them mingle and find each other, and that seems to be working for us."

Besides bowling, veterans in the CompeerCORPS program do other activities, ranging from painting to golf — all geared toward easing the transition back to civilian life.

“When you get out of the military, you kind of have nothing,” said Tracy LoTemple, program director. “You don't know how to be a civilian anymore so you isolate. You retreat.”

“It helps to make that integration back to civilian life a lot easier when you're surrounded in a community of people trying to do the same thing, and adjust back to living a normal life,” added RJ Sirianni, a Marine Corps veteran.

That support, in and of itself, is huge. Veteran suicides in the U.S. have risen to an average of 22 per day, according to experts.

“We all don't feel the pain,” said Army veteran Mark Mitchell. “We feel the camaraderie, we all feel a sense of relief when we're together."

A place where success on the lanes — and in life — is measured in a different way.