College-bound vets say campus needs often unmet

Colleges and Universities across the nation have a unique gift heading their way very soon, but will they deserve it? Think about the fact with the passing of the new GI Bill (thanks to the efforts of Senator Jim Webb and others) these veterans will come with their tuition pretty much paid for and ready, very ready to learn for the next part of their lives. Considering a great number of them joined the military to help pay for college, they were willing to risk their lives in order to achieve it. That says something of the great desire they have for a better future. How many students on their campus were willing to die for their education and serve their nation at the same time?

It's all in attitude really when people open their eyes. Seems to me that if I ran a college and had students like the men and women serving in the military today, I would do whatever it took to show them they are very, very appreciated as well as welcomed. For the colleges in the Orlando area, email me and I can explain it in detail in person. Namguardianangel@aol.com


For all other colleges, call NAMI and find out more.

College-bound vets say campus needs often unmet
By DAVID MERCER The Associated Press
1:21 PM CDT, July 18, 2008
1 2 next CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Nothing Derek Blumke saw during three Air Force tours in Afghanistan prepared him for college life.

That was obvious to him during one of his first calls to the University of Michigan, when employees told him they couldn't answer his questions because he wasn't yet a student. Later, he found himself wandering the Ann Arbor campus trying to figure out how to use his military benefits to pay tuition.

"I was frustrated and angry and disappointed," said Blumke, 26, a former gunship maintenance supervisor who's now a senior studying political science and psychology at Michigan. "That frustration and anger turned into motivation. You don't want me here? OK, fine. I WILL come here."

As veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq return to campus, many are finding that colleges and universities are only beginning to figure out how to help soldiers, sailors and others transition back to civilian, social and academic life.


Many need help with paperwork. Others seek emotional and psychological support. And others struggle to fit into the social fabric of a campus where their classmates often are much younger.

"Obviously, nobody goes to combat and comes back the same person," said Bob Wallace, director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a Marine veteran of Vietnam. "With multiple problems that we're seeing, there is a stress on people."

There are no firm statistics on the number of veterans attending colleges and universities, because some attend without benefit of the GI bill. According to the Veterans Administration, about 250,000 veterans are using the benefit.

But with more people returning from conflict than at any time since the Vietnam War -- along with a new, more generous GI bill -- the number of college-bound vets is expected to swell.

And universities are beginning to respond to their needs.
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Not Your Average College Students At University of Southern Florida

The Reality of Readjustment
Military.com Christine Gibson, January 25, 2008
Iraq veterans return to civilian life as students at University of South Florida, but find their combat days influencing their college experience

Chaddrick Faison can't watch the news. Watching the news reminds the veteran of his 2004 deployment in Iraq.


Sophomore Sheena Cooper guarded a base camp while in Iraq. With permission from the Oracle.


"I don't want to see stories of soldiers dying," he said.

Faison, along with 776 other students at USF, attends college using Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits, as the Montgomery GI Bill gives veterans grants for their education. Faison, along with other soldiers who have returned from combat abroad, faces challenges adjusting to civilian life, especially life as a college student, and USF offers various services to help them adjust.


http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,160767,00.html
Remember what it was like when your kid went off to college. All the problems of being away from home for the first time that went with it, from finding out where the classes were to sleeping with a roommate for the first time in a dorm; navigating laundry from one floor to another only to find their patience needing to be put into use because someone left their clothes to go get a Frappuccino. Most of them have never even done laundry before. The pressures of getting the grades are just part of it.

Now add in coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan. They are used to wearing what everyone else is wearing, eating what everyone else does and being told when to go to sleep and when to wake up. While most of their classmates were transitioning from high school to college life, they were dodging bombs in Baghdad. Carrying books instead of a machine gun and putting on a T-shirt instead of body armor were the furthest thing on their minds but it was what they intended to do once they made it home.

Colleges all across America need to understand they are not your average college student facing the same problems every other student has to adjust to. Some will come back needing not only to adjust to being in strange surroundings but to adjust to being in a place where their life is no longer in danger as well.