Problem arises for veterans job training program

UPDATE June 21, 2012
VA fixes problem with vets job training program
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Army TImes
Posted : Wednesday Jun 20, 2012
With just 10 days before a new education benefits is launched to help unemployed veterans learn a new skill, the VA has rushed to fix a problem that could have left community colleges in 18 states and Puerto Rico ineligible for participation.

Veterans Affairs Department officials told Congress late Wednesday they were revising their eligibility criteria for community colleges to be part of the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program so that schools that offer a limited number of four-year bachelor degrees would not be left out.

Four-year colleges and universities will remain ineligible but community colleges listed by the U.S. Education Department’s National Center for Educational Statistics College Navigator as a two-year school will be covered, VA officials said in a note to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, which raised questions about eligibility on Tuesday.
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Problem arises for vets job training program
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Army Times
Posted : Tuesday Jun 19, 2012

A problem has arisen for a veterans’ training program expected to launch July 1: Classes at community colleges in 18 states and territories will not be covered because those schools also provide bachelors’ degrees.

The Veterans Retraining Assistance Program, created by Congress to provide one year of training and education benefits to certain unemployed veterans to prepare them for work in high-demand fields, was to be limited to short courses that could yield big results.

However, “using VA’s narrow definition of ‘community college,’ if a school awarded one bachelor’s degree along with hundreds or even thousands of associate degrees, that school would not qualify for VRAP training,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., the second ranking Republican on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Bilirakis said some community colleges are allowed by state law to provide a small number of four-year degrees. For example, 23 of Florida’s 28 community colleges are not eligible for VRAP, the chancellor of the Florida College System has warned.

“The reason given for this denial is that each of those 23 community colleges awards a very limited number of bachelors’ degrees, most often in technical and health care fields, such as a bachelor of nursing degree,” Bilirakis said.
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This came in from the Department of Veterans Affairs

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Hosts Workshops during Detroit VA for Vets Hiring Fair

WASHINGTON ( June 19, 2012) – The Department of Veterans Affairs Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program (VR and E) will host several workshops aimed at helping Veterans understand the many benefits and programs that promote Veteran employment during the VA for Vets Hiring Fair being held in Detroit June 26-28.

As part of the Veteran Open House, VA will educate Veterans on vocational rehabilitation and employment services, register them for VA’s online employment toolkit, www.VetSuccess.gov , and provide tools that help Veterans find meaningful careers, receive accommodations for disabilities at their place of employment, and start a small business.

“At VA, we know the skills and characteristics Veterans bring with them to a new career can only benefit an organization,” said Under Secretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey. “Our VR and E program is committed to assisting Veterans find meaningful careers, whether in the federal government or in the private sector.”

VA is hosting three major events at Detroit’s Cobo Center June 26-29: The VA for Vets Hiring Fair, the Veterans Open House, and the National Veterans Small Business Conference and Expo. The events are expected to attract thousands of Veterans, business owners and federal employees, with an economic impact estimated at $11 million for the city.

More than 24,000 federal and private-sector job openings across the country will be available at the free Veteran Hiring Fair June 26-28. VA will bring together partners like the First Lady’s “Joining Forces” initiative and Hiring Our Heroes, along with private sector companies, during the fair. Not only will the fair provide Veterans an opportunity to showcase their skills to potential employers, it will also assist Veterans with resume preparation, interview techniques and career coaching to help Veteran attendees become career ready. VA hosted a similar event Jan. 18 in Washington, D.C., which attracted over 4,100 Veterans and resulted in over 2,600 on-the-spot interviews and more than 500 tentative job offers.

The Open House gives Veterans and their families the chance to find out about the wide range of financial and health-care benefits, services and resources that are available from federal, state and community agencies. Veterans can conveniently enroll in VA care, sign up for eBenefits and MyHealtheVet, and get their questions answered face to face.

The National Veterans Small Business Conference and Expo is the premier government event for Veteran-owned businesses. Last year’s conference in New Orleans drew almost 5,000 attendees, and more than 6,000 participants are expected this year. VA will provide Veteran-owned and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned businesses with a wide range of information to help them maximize opportunities in the federal workplace.

Known historically as the world’s capital for the transportation industry, the Detroit metro area is reinventing itself with six booming industries: medical research, defense, entertainment, green tech, urban farming, and aeronautics. About 330,000 Veterans are served by the city’s VA medical center, and more than 704,000 Veterans live in Michigan.

VA invites all interested persons and businesses to attend. More information about the small business conference is available at National Veterans Conference. Information and registration for the hiring fair is available at VAforVets.

Older veterans included in Hire Heroes Act

Program recruits older vets for employment training
By Steve Vogel
Washington Post

U.S. Department of Labor - Cheryl Blackburn, an Army veteran, had previously held jobs in customer service and as a security contractor, but is also unemployed. She recently signed up for the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program.

For Cheryl Blackburn, an Army veteran who lost her job as a leasing consultant in March, the search for new employment has been frustrating.

“I wanted to get back in government, but everybody said you needed a degree,” said Blackburn, a D.C. resident who once worked as a security consultant for the State Department. “I had the experience, but I needed the degree.”

Blackburn, 51, of Southeast, is one of the first veterans in the country to sign up for a new program offered jointly by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Labor Department aimed at retraining up to 99,000 older veterans for high-demand jobs.

The program, known as the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), targets unemployed veterans between the ages of 35 and 60. The program is a key part of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama late last year.

Blackburn hopes to use the program to earn a degree in finance at the University of the District of Columbia or Northern Virginia Community College.

“This important tool will help those who served our country receive the education and training they need to find meaningful employment in a high-demand field,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said upon the program’s May 15 launch.
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Greedy colleges target veterans

U.S. Veterans Targeted By Marketers in College Selection Process
By SUSANNA KIM
ABC News
April 30, 2012


The Post-9/11 GI Bill offers financial support for veterans' education, leading some marketers to target vets with deceptive advertising about college opportunities and President Obama to sign an executive order on Friday to curb those abuses.

The bill was an enormous boost to Michael Dakduk, who served in the Marine Corps and is now executive director of Student Veterans of America, an organization whose mission is to provide vets in higher education and following graduation with resources and support.

Dakduk, who left active duty in 2008, said he would not have been able to pursue his bachelor's degree full-time at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"I had such a substantial increase in benefits, I could focus solely on studies," Dakduk said.

The Las Vegas-native had previously attended community college while working part-time, with assistance from the Montgomery GI Bill.

That bill provides a monthly education benefit to active duty military members who pay $100 a month for the financial assistance.
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FSU grad still recovering from 2009 Fort Hood shooting

FSU grad still recovering from 2009 Fort Hood shooting
Apr. 25, 2012
By Doug Blackburn
Democrat senior writer

FSU graduate Patrick Zeigler survived two tours in Iraq but was nearly killed during the Nov. 5, 2009 massacre at Fort Hood.

Zeigler, a Florida State graduate who was gravely wounded during the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, has relocated to a civilian hospital in California. His daily rehabilitation continues, 30 months out and counting.

He is hopeful he will be able to walk without a cane by August, when he is scheduled to testify in the murder trial of former Army psychiatrist Malik Hasan, charged with killing 13 men and women at Fort Hood. He also continues to work on his left arm, which remains mostly paralyzed after it suffered two bullet wounds.

Zeigler remains a positive, focused man. He and his wife, Jessica, who married at Fort Hood in December 2010, are expecting their first child in late October, within weeks of the third anniversary of the Fort Hood tragedy.
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Who am I today?

UPDATE Here's an example of what I was talking about

“It was being idle and not doing anything,” Casey said, “I was going through a major loss in my life. I was losing an identification of self because for almost a decade I had identified with being a combat soldier.”

You can read more of what Casey had to say here.
Veteran's mission continues even after his return from combat

Who am I today?
by Chaplain Kathie

April 24, 2012
Two years ago I became a student at Valencia College. My finals were yesterday. I woke up today no longer a student. I asked myself "Who am I now?"

The Digital Media field is not something a woman in her 50's goes into normally. It was a lot easier than I thought fitting in with other students my daughter's age but trying to keep up with them was hard. After a while, I knew what the professors expected out of me and got close to several other students. Most days I was in the Digital Media lab when I wasn't in classes. Usually Tuesday mornings I'd check the emails, do some posts and head off to Valencia. Today I had nowhere to go.

For two years there was a normal routine, knowing who I'd see and what I would have to do but today it's all up for grabs and I'm sitting here feeling differently about my life. Sure, I will still do the rest of the things I did in my life, but a part of it is now over. I gave some hugs to some of the people I got close to, said goodbye to the professors after they did all they could to help me learn my trade and drove off campus for the last time.

When you think about life changing events in your own lives, it may be easier to have a better understanding of what it is like for the men and women coming out of the military.

They trained to learn what they had to, then did it. They knew who their commanders were and the members of their units became like family to them. One day they are wearing combat boots, dodging bullets and fearing an IED is hidden in the road they have to drive over. The next day they are waking up and wondering what comes next for them.

They have to rediscover who they are all over again, find where they belong, establish a new routine at the same time they have to adapt back to civilian life without the people they were with. Keep in mind each of them were ready to die for the others. All I had to do was be willing to help another student when I knew something they didn't and be ready to ask for help when I needed it. If this life change is that hard on me, how hard is it for them? We just expect them to do it. Could we? Could we do it easier with help and a community that really has stepped up? Every community across this country needs to step up with support groups for them.

I met a lot of veterans at Valencia. Most of them were in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were several National Guard students. It was very hard for them to adjust to that part of their lives. Few other students wanted to understand and even less wanted to get to know them since they were older than students entering college right out of high school. The friends I made at Valencia made all the difference in the world to me. We can make all the difference in the world for these veterans as well.

Honors college students use social media to help soldiers

Students use social media to assist soldiers
By Jessica Velez ASST. NEWS EDITOR
Published: Monday, April 23, 2012
SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

As a result of their efforts, soldiers deliver school supplies to children in Afghanistan.

Social media might be useful for keeping track of friends and messaging the occasional celebrity, but a group of honors students is using the social media platform to help Afghan children and veterans of the Iraq War and Afghanistan conflict.

“Social Media, Social Change: One Pencil Can Help Bring Peace,” is an honors course in its second semester of existence. Taught by Liisa Temple, an Emmy Award-winning freelance journalist, the idea for the course grew from School Supplies for Afghan Children, a charity she started with her husband, retired U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Rex Temple, in 2009 after an encounter he had with a child in Afghanistan.

“When I was handing out the candy, this particular child was fixated on my ballpoint pen,” Rex said. “And he kept saying … the Dari word for pen.”

Rex said he knew what the word meant but asked his interpreter why the child kept saying it. He learned that the child didn’t want to be like his father and toil in the fields.

“He knew the route out of poverty was through education,” Rex said.

Rex called Liisa at home and asked her to ship all of the extra pens and pencils they had lying around their house, an effort that eventually grew into the school supplies program.

Students enrolled in the Honors College course follow in the footsteps of Rex, who delivered more than 700 boxes of school supplies during his last tour in Afghanistan, which ended April 2010. This semester, students have shipped 65 boxes to Afghan school children, Liisa said, with another 50 to 100 boxes ready to ship out this week. School Supplies for Afghan Children has grown to include participants in 17 states and resulted in more than 20,000 pounds of donated school supplies, such as notebooks, pens, pencils and loose-leaf paper.
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Veterans group suspends chapters at for-profit colleges

Veterans group suspends chapters at for-profit colleges
By Justin Pope
The Associated Press
Apr 05, 2012

A leading student veterans group is suspending chapters at 40 for-profit colleges, saying it's concerned they've been set up by the colleges as shell organizations to help them appeal to veteran students who carry lucrative government tuition benefits.

The schools may be creating what are essentially fake SVA chapters to help them qualify for lists of "military friendly" or "veterans friendly" colleges that are proliferating in guidebooks and online, Student Veterans of America executive director Michael Dakduk said Thursday. On some lists, the existence of an SVA chapter at a school figures into the formula.

The organization, which has 417 campus chapters, said it would not name the for-profit schools while it investigated further. But Dakduk said that during recent membership renewals, SVA discovered numerous chapters listing as contacts people SVA later identified as school employees, not student veterans, and that chapter websites simply redirected anyone interested to the colleges' pages.

He said SVA has occasionally encountered the issue before, including at not-for-profit universities, but he said the recent discovery amounted to a much more widespread pattern. read more here

Army veteran college student found dead

Army Veteran, Towson Student Found Dead
April 1, 2012
 TOWSON, Md.
(AP) — An Army veteran and Towson University student has died. Baltimore County police say Timothy Coyer, 27, was found dead by his roommates inside his apartment near campus Saturday afternoon. Although the cause and manner of death are not known, police say Coyer’s death was not a homicide. read more here

Colleges listed as Military Friendly may be more money friendly

`Military friendly' college lists prompt concerns
BY JUSTIN POPE AP
Education Writer

 In press releases and ads, colleges love boasting they're "military friendly" and "veterans friendly" - and that isn't just because veterans are usually good students and campus leaders. It's also because the newly expanded Post 9/11 G.I. Bill will pay colleges of all types around $9 billion this year to educate nearly 600,000 veterans, and virtually every school wants to expand its slice of that pie.

 But some schools touting their spots on proliferating lists of "military friendly" colleges found in magazine guides and websites have few of the attributes educators commonly associate with the claim, such as accepting military credits or having a veterans organization on campus. Many are for-profit schools with low graduation rates.

 The designations appear on rankings whose rigor varies but whose methods are under fire. Often, they're also selling ads to the colleges. Some websites help connect military and veteran students with degree programs that may match their interests, but don't disclose they are lead aggregators paid by the institutions - often for-profit colleges - whose programs they highlight.

 "They're not real rankings," said Tom Tarantino, a veteran who is deputy policy director of the advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "What they are is advertisement catalogues." Labeling them "a huge problem," he called for standards to be established for proper use of the term "military friendly" schools. read more here

GI Bill Consumer Awareness Act to help veterans decide

Sens.: Grade schools that take GI Bill benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 27, 2012 14:26:35 EDT
A new Senate bill proposes to create a consumer report card for every school covered by Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to disclose information about their policies on transferring credits to other schools, their average student loan debt, their course or degree completion rate, and how many graduates find jobs in their chosen fields.

The GI Bill Consumer Awareness Act is the latest effort by lawmakers to provide a warning to those using generous veterans’ education benefits that some schools may make big promises but deliver very little.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman and chief sponsor of the bill, said it is a response to “stories of frustration, confusion and even manipulation.”

“We have seen that in certain instances, our service members and veterans have been misled just to boost enrollment of students with this very lucrative benefit,” she said, referring mostly to some for-profit schools that use recruiters or salespeople to sign up students.

“We have seen reports of veterans who utilize the benefit for one school only to find out that when they want to move on to graduate school, the degree they received from the first school is inadequate,” Murray said.
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Delayed GI Bill funds leave students scrambling

Delayed GI Bill funds leave students scrambling
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 9, 2012 13:38:28 EST
The Veterans Affairs Department says it has hit a “bump in the road” in processing GI Bill benefits claims. Affected student veterans are calling it missing rent money.

VA’s Buffalo, N.Y., regional office that processes claims for East Coast colleges and universities is up to seven weeks behind, meaning that schools are late receiving tuition and fee payments and students are left empty-handed if they are expecting a monthly living stipend.

VA did not respond to questions about the Buffalo problem submitted by Military Times. Instead, days after inquiries were made about GI Bill claims problems reported by readers, a statement from the VA’s education service chief director was posted on VA’s official blog, VAntage Point.
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Triple amputee Iraq veteran lost limbs but stuns professors

Iraq war veteran loses limbs, not courage to pursue dreams
by Craig Harris on Mar. 04, 2012

TUCSON – It’s a weekday afternoon when Brian Kolfage pulls into the parking lot at the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture.

Immediately, it’s clear Kolfage isn’t your typical student.

At 30, he’s older than most undergraduates studying architecture. His gait isn’t like that of his fellow students. And he’s missing his right hand.

Kolfage, a triple-amputee who lost his limbs serving in Iraq with the U.S. Air Force, steps out of the driver’s seat of his specially made black Range Rover on prosthetic legs. He heads toward the back of the SUV, where he removes his manual wheelchair, climbs in and heads off to class.

Kolfage is in the third year of a rigorous five-year program, and classmates and faculty say they are amazed by his work.

“Brian was right-handed, and he not only had to learn to write with his left hand, but he had to learn to draw with his left hand. And he’s impeccable,” said Siri Trumble, an adjunct lecturer who was Kolfage’s first architecture teacher at UA. “He quickly emerged as one of the top draftsmen.”
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Utah senate kills veterans tuition bill

Senate kills veteran tuition bill
BY DAVID MONTERO
The Salt Lake Tribune

First published Feb 24 2012
SB44 • Sen. Luz Robles saw her bill that would have extended tuition benefits to military veterans fail Friday in the Utah Senate on a 14-11 vote, leaving the Salt Lake City Democrat incredulous and bewildered after the measure had sailed through previous votes.

“I don’t understand what happened,” Robles said. “I’m in shock.”

The measure, SB44, passed its committee unanimously and its second reading — where senators often debate legislation — 26-1. It would’ve allowed for the state to fund a gap between federal funds military veterans apply for when attempting to obtain a bachelor’s degree at the university level.
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Veterans returning to school face a new challenge

Veterans find new life at UNM

By Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga
New Mexico Daily Lobo
Last updated: 2 hours ago
Veterans returning to school face a new challenge: the shift to college life.

During the last two years, UNM has seen a 38 percent increase of veterans’ enrollment, according to Student Veterans of UNM.

With the official end of the war in Iraq in 2011, many veterans, including Vice President of Student Veterans Army Sgt. Chris Duncan, have decided to return to school, or start college for the first time.

Duncan, a 32-year-old philosophy student, is one of the 1,070 veterans enrolled at UNM. He decided to start college in spring 2009, immediately after two years’ deployment in Iraq.

Duncan said he hopes to earn skills that will help him secure a job in the civilian world.

“Going to school was less stressful than having a job, in my opinion, so in going to school I’ve had a less stressful transition to civilian life,” he said.

On the day before he returned from Iraq, Duncan said he witnessed the death of three of his fellow soldiers after an improvised explosive device exploded near a Humvee he was driving.

Duncan, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq, said he wasn’t aware of the full effect of post traumatic stress disorder on his ability to focus until he began at UNM.
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9 years after leaving Army, veteran mistakenly declared AWOL is arrested, jailed

UPDATE

Army finalizes discharge for veteran mistakenly jailed as AWOL
By BILL MURPHY JR.
Stars and Stripes
Published: February 13, 2012

WASHINGTON — The Army will issue a discharge certificate to a former soldier who was arrested and held in Florida jails for 12 days last month because the military considered him absent without leave nine years after he was chaptered out.

Louie Castro, 28, who was to have been given an other-than-honorable discharge in December 2002 and who says he had thought his military service was long behind him, was arrested Jan. 2 as he re-entered the United States after a trip to France. Army officials had demanded that he fly to Fort Carson, Colo. — a base where he had never served, but where the 4th Infantry Division moved in 2009 — as a condition of being let out of jail.

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9 years after leaving Army, veteran mistakenly declared AWOL is arrested, jailed
By BILL MURPHY JR.
Stars and Stripes
Published: February 10, 2012

WASHINGTON — Louie Castro is a 28-year-old religion major at Florida State University who should have started the final semester of his senior year last month. Instead, he spent 12 days in jail after being arrested at Miami International Airport because of an administrative error the Army apparently made when he left the service more than nine years ago.

The Army considered him absent without leave.

Castro was told he must fly to Fort Carson, Colo. — a base where he never served, but where his old Fort Hood unit, the 4th Infantry Division, relocated in 2009 — to resume his old life as an Army private long enough for military personnel officers to fix his paperwork. In the meantime, he missed the start of classes and was forced to withdraw, costing him his financial aid. He will not graduate on schedule.
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Lack of compassion from other college students fuels troubles for some with PTSD

I am in my last semester at Valencia College for Digital Media Live Event Certification. I meet a lot of veterans, especially veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. PTSD is one of the things they talk about the most. I am old enough to be their Mom and married to a Vietnam Veteran so when they ask what I do, I tell them I work with veterans and then they open up.

During a Veterans Day event at East Campus, I interviewed four veterans and each one talked about their military service and PTSD.



These students are having hard time going from combat to college but that makes them even more remarkable. With all they are carrying around with them, they didn't give up on the next part of their lives and their dreams are worth working harder for. While most other students have the usual problems these men and women are returning from years out of their lives when their lives were in danger on a daily basis. While most college students have no idea what is going on in Iraq or Afghanistan, they are remembering it everyday.

Lack of compassion fuels troubles for some with PTSD
By Jaime Ortega-Simo

Published: Monday, January 23, 2012

Some students who come from military backgrounds and then decide to pursue a college education can suffer from the somewhat common disorder known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can occur after someone has experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death.

Roger Buck, the interim director of the Counseling Center at Hocking College, spoke at the event "Understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" held at the Ohio Union on Jan. 19. Buck said one of the biggest problems for students with PTSD is that when coming back from the military culture, they didn't fit well with the college crowd.

"These veterans are older individuals, have more life experience and leadership," Buck said.

"Veterans with PTSD feel disrespected by the childish behavior of traditional teenage students."

Buck said for many veterans with PTSD, there is a lack of respect by faculty and staff on campus for the sacrifices of veteran friends killed and injured. Buck said the "non-compassionate" attitude of staff members toward veterans suffering from PTSD does not help solve the problem.

"These guys have seen horrible events, smelled horrible stuff and experienced extreme human emotions," Buck said. "People need to be more understanding."

In addition to a change in attitude from professors and faculty, one professor suggested that the best solution to PTSD-related complications is to seek medical treatment.

"There are thousands of soldiers that suffer from PTSD," said Joseph DeCola, director of clinical services at OSU's Anxiety and Stress Disorders Clinic.
DeCola suggested students who suffer from PTSD seek psychiatric therapy.

"No one wants to go to treatment, but it works well," DeCola said. "They are not going to get better by themselves. It's just like going to the gym: If you don't work out, you're not going to get stronger."

DeCola said people with PTSD can suffer a snowball-effect if they don't get treatment, which causes nightmares, depressions and flashbacks until it becomes uncontrollable.
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Veterans find N.C. residency requirements hinder higher education efforts

Veterans find N.C. residency requirements hinder higher education efforts
Sun Dec 25, 2011
By Paul Woolverton
Staff writer

Staff photo by James Robinson
Johnny N. Allen retired from a 30-year career with the Coast Guard and moved to North Carolina in August. Allen wants to attend Fayetteville State University on the GI Bill to get a degree to become a middle-school math teacher, but he's taking classes at an online school until he's lived here long enough to qualify for in-state tuition.

Military veterans who want to attend college in North Carolina are encountering a roadblock to their plans to further their education: the state's residency laws combined with new restrictions in the GI Bill.

The GI Bill is intended to provide former military personnel with scholarships to get their college degrees. But in August, the GI Bill was changed. It no longer pays out-of-state tuition rates at public universities and community colleges, said Mark Waple, a lawyer who represents the Student Veterans Advocacy Group of North Carolina.

Veterans who haven't become North Carolina residents must make up the difference between the in-state tuition rate and the much higher out-of-state rate until the state accepts them as in-state students.

In North Carolina, that takes a year of living here as a North Carolina resident.

According to data that Waple gathered, about 420 student veterans in the state's 16-campus university system are affected by the change in the GI Bill and the residency restriction.
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Adjusting to college can pose special challenges for veterans

Adjusting to college can pose special challenges for veterans
Published: Saturday, December 10, 2011
By Brian Albrecht

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Going from mortars to mortarboards isn't always a seamless transition when it comes to veterans on campus.

They're students in their 20s "with the life experience of 50-year-olds," noted Rick DeChant, executive director for veterans services and programs at Cuyahoga Community College. "Sometimes they don't always see eye-to-eye, maturity-wise, with nonveterans."

One Tri-C student-veteran, Maria Popow, said she tends to gravitate toward other vets on campus. "I relate better to veterans, because we get it," she said. "But I have no problems with civilians, either."

Kent State University student Cat Hofer, 29, of Cuyahoga Falls, noted, "A lot of people in my classes are 18 or 19. Coming back from a combat deployment, and having two kids, at times it makes you feel old."

"The military is like a family -- in relationships and how you are cared for," she added. "Once you come out of deployment, you lose that camaraderie and are on your own."
read more here

Four students talk about their experiences going back to college after serving in the military.


Transition from Combat to College is the subject of this project I did for Motion Class. It was done with stop motion (pictures instead of film) because it is a huge issue for veterans at Valencia College as well.

Iraq War veteran attends college before heading overseas again

Iraq War veteran attends college before heading overseas again
By Jean Cowden Moore
Posted December 3, 2011
It's been years since he served in Iraq, but Andrew Gonzalez still ends emails and texts in military talk, with phrases like "standing by for confirmation" or simply "copy."

"It really does have to do with who I am," said the 41-year-old Moorpark man. "If the Marine Corps told me tomorrow, 'We don't have any space for you,' it would be incredibly hard to take."

Gonzalez enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve when he was 28 after a brief time in college with no real focus, a series of unsuccessful sales jobs and a stint as a personal trainer. Six years after he enlisted, Gonzalez was serving on an air base in Iraq, surrounded by military aircraft and hot, empty desert.

In February 2013, two months after graduating from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, the reserve staff sergeant will be deployed to Afghanistan.
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Colleges Face Challenges With Influx of Military Veterans

UPDATE
For Veterans' Day, I asked students at Valencia College what professors could do to help them enter into the next part of their lives after combat. Here's what they had to say.





Colleges Face Challenges With Influx of Military Veterans

By Sandra G. Boodman
NOV 29, 2011
This story was produced in collaboration with

When Brian Hawthorne enrolled at George Washington University as a 23-year-old junior after two tours in Iraq, the former Army medic was unprepared for the adjustment.

"I felt like I was on another planet," he said of his first semester in 2008. Hawthorne recalled feeling whipsawed by the abrupt transition of "going from an environment where people around you are dying every day and trying to kill you" to a campus where he was surrounded by people who didn't know anyone in the military.

Academics provided no refuge. "I was very worried because I couldn't concentrate," said Hawthorne, who had graduated near the top of his Westchester County, N.Y., high school class. "I would read one page and forget what I'd just read." In danger of flunking out, he sought help on campus and was referred to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the District, where doctors quickly diagnosed a mild traumatic brain injury caused by his proximity to bomb blasts.

Hawthorne's experience is emblematic of the challenges — social, academic, psychological and medical — facing the rapidly growing population of veterans who are flocking to colleges around the country, and the health demands placed on the schools they are attending.

Propelled by the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which took effect in 2009, 2 million veterans, many of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan, are eligible for generous benefits that can amount to a full scholarship. At George Mason University, Virginia's largest public school with more than 32,000 students, for example, the number of veterans has almost doubled, from 840 in 2009 to 1,575 last spring.


also

Vets on Campus Face Unique Challenges
November 29, 2011
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS -- Army veteran Ben Miller remembers the isolation he felt when he enrolled at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in the fall of 2009.

"I would show up on campus, talk to absolutely no one and go home," said Miller, 27, who did three tours in Iraq as a counterintelligence specialist. "I didn't feel like I really belonged."

With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down and enhancements to the GI Bill, colleges and universities are expecting a surge in veteran enrollment unseen since World War II.

But some academics and veterans' advocates are warning that many colleges are unprepared to deal with the unique needs of former service members. Many veterans face a difficult transition to civilian life, ranging from readjustment issues to recovery from physical and mental injuries.

And they say without special attention, many will fail to graduate.

"If colleges are not prepared to help transition Soldiers from combat you do run the risk of losing an entire generation," said Tom Tarantino of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "The GI Bill isn't a thank you for your service. What it really is is a readjustment benefit. It is giving them the opportunity to do something that is constructive for their mind and their body, that gives them a mission and allows them to move forward in life. It's a backstop so you're not walking right off the plane from combat in to the civilian world. It was designed to be a soft landing."
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