Wisconsin State address combat veterans as students

SAT., OCT 13, 2007 - 3:29 PM
Student veterans combat different stresses
HEATHER LaROI
608-252-6143
hlaroi@madison.com
John Osborne, a senior at UW-Madison, doesn't tell many people that he spent five years of his life with the U.S. Army.

Why? Mostly because it's just easier. Then he doesn't have to answer the questions. The inane "So, was it hot over there?," or the question vets dread, but always, always know is coming, whether they'd ever killed someone.

"You get it all the time. All the time. And if you say yes, their only response is going to be 'Oh, that's cool," said Osborne, who was deployed 15 months in Iraq. "No, no, it's not. That somebody is somebody's father, somebody's brother."


It's little wonder that veterans, who already "just feel different" from their fellow students, don't talk much about their experiences.

But as the numbers of veterans continues to climb on campus, university officials are increasingly aware that this is a student population with experiences and stresses that most undergrads — and the universities they attend — may know very little about.
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I received an email from a university in North Carolina about using my videos to discuss PTSD. Hero After War, explains in mild details what they see when they come home with the combat in their minds. What is happening in colleges throughout the country, is that they are trying to not only understand what is going on over there, but they care deeply about what is going on in these soldiers when they come home. Vietnam veterans, didn't get this kind of understanding. I think the huge difference comes, not from past mistakes only, but from the wealth of information on the net and the sharing of human experiences. If any generation will end the stigma of PTSD, I am very hopeful it is this one.

If any college wants to use any of the videos, please feel free to download them off Google or YouTube. If you want a DVD, email me. My PTSD videos are none political. They address the human price after trauma.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington