Not Enough Colleges link veterans with others

This is a very interesting article but I wanted to spotlight the part that only 32 percent have set up veterans groups so they can find each other. Considering they already feel out of place, more colleges need to focus on putting these veterans in touch with others. This way they can find the support they may not be able to find on their own.

Survey of Services for Veterans
July 22, 2009
Colleges are preparing for an influx of student veterans, but how prepared are they? A new report from a group of five higher education associations, "From Soldier to Student: Easing the Transition of Service Members on Campus," represents, the authors write, the first attempt to assess the current state of programs and services nationally.

A new, much-expanded Post-9/11 GI Bill goes into effect August 1 (less than two weeks from now). In anticipation, many colleges have been stepping up their outreach to and support for veterans -- creating veterans' offices, training faculty and staff on challenges unique to student veterans, creating specialized orientation programs, expanding counseling center capacity, and, perhaps most significantly, putting extra money into institutional aid for veterans by joining the Yellow Ribbon program. The new report attaches numbers to the anecdotes.

But colleges have much more work to do in the following areas, the report notes:

Assisting in the transition to college. Just 22 percent of colleges with services for veterans provide such assistance.
Offering professional development to faculty and staff, on transition issues and issues specific to students with brain injuries and other disabilities.
Easing the path to re-enrollment for service members once they return from deployments. Again, just 22 percent of colleges with services for veterans have an expedited re-enrollment process in place (16 percent even require veterans to reapply and be readmitted to re-enroll!).
Helping veterans connect with other veterans. Just 32 percent of colleges with services for veterans have a club (although that might be changing, given the rapid growth in Student Veterans of America chapters).
read more here
Survey of Services for Veterans

Obama: Real patriotism is treating veterans right

Obama: Real patriotism is treating veterans right
Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor May 12, 2008 12:35 PM

Barack Obama told West Virginia voters today that a test of real patriotism is giving veterans the care and services they need -- a test he argued that the Bush administration has sorely failed in a "betrayal of the ideals that we ask our troops to risk their lives for."

"We must never forget that honoring this service and upholding these ideals requires more than saluting our veterans as they march by on Veterans Day or Memorial Day," he said, according to prepared remarks. "It requires marching with them for the care and benefits they have earned It requires standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our veterans and their families after the guns fall silent and the cameras are turned off. At a time when we’re facing the largest homecoming since the Second World War, the true test of our patriotism is whether we will serve our returning heroes as well as they’ve served us," said Obama, who has been criticized for not wearing a flag lapel pin.

The Democratic front-runner renewed his call for creating a "21st century VA," for expanding treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, and for a new GI bill for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In calling for expanding services and benefits, Obama also talked at length of personal memories of his grandfather, Stanley Dunham, who enlisted after the Pearl Harbor attacks, fought with General George Patton during World War II, and is buried in a national cemetery in Hawaii with Pearl Harbor victims.

"I knew him when he was older," Obama said, according to the prepared version of the speech. "But whenever I meet young men and women along the campaign trail who are serving in the military today, I think about what my grandfather was like when he enlisted – a fresh-faced man of twenty-three, with a hearty laugh and an easy smile."

"I can still remember the day that we laid my grandfather to rest," Obama continued. "In a cemetery lined with the graves of Americans who have sacrificed for our country, we heard the solemn notes of Taps and the crack of guns fired in salute; we watched as a folded flag was handed to my grandmother and my grandfather was laid to rest. It was a nation’s final act of service and gratitude to Stanley Dunham – an America that stood by my grandfather when he took off the uniform, and never left his side."
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/05/obama_real_patr.html

Veteran Support A Phone Call Away, Says Gayle Kagen

Veteran Support A Phone Call Away, Says Gayle Kagen
(GREEN BAY, WI) — Continuing their work to find ways to improve veterans’ lives, Gayle Kagen and the Brown County United Way today spread the word about 2-11 call centers serving as a single national point of contact for veterans and their families seeking counseling and other services.

“We are working hard to make sure that those who have served our country bravely and their families receive the benefits they deserve,” Mrs. Kagen said. “Brown County United Way and Brown Country Veterans Services provide incredible support for our local veterans. With 2-11, that support is just a phone call away.”

Mrs. Kagen was joined at the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Green Bay by Lisa Clark from the Brown County United Way.

Gayle Kagen, the wife of Congressman Steve Kagen, is president of the Freshman Congressional Spouses Class of the 110th Congress. After visiting Walter Reed Hospital, she brought together the United Way and the National Military Families Association to discuss how 2-11 could provide resources for veterans and their families.

“I’m very excited to be part of a program that’s helping the families of our service personnel get access to the help they need,” said Ms. Clark, 2-11 manager for the Brown County United Way. “This is exactly what 2-11 is all about, providing an easy gateway to services in our community.”
2-11 is an easy-to-remember, nationwide, non-emergency telephone number that connects people with community services and volunteer opportunities. Mrs. Kagen and the Freshman Congressional Spouses are promoting the Military Families Program as part of the menu of services available through Brown County 2-11. A subsection of the local 2-11 website is also dedicated to offering services for military personal and their families and can be seen at http://www.get211.org/.

Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. Applauded the efforts of his wife and the other spouses, as well as local advocates like the Brown County United Way.

“Our community here in Northeast Wisconsin does an incredible job of working together to meet the needs of our veterans and their families,” Dr. Kagen said. “Dialing 2-11 is an easy way to connect our soldiers with these much needed resources.”