Veterans get help shifting lives from soldier to student

Many have had problems making the transition to civilian pursuits

Friday, April 24, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN Iraq veteran Ed Hazelwood, 29, of Hollywood is working toward his electronic engineering technology degree at the College of Southern Maryland. Hazelwood served in the Navy during both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

When Mary Neal Vieten spoke to doctors, nurses and staff at St. Mary's Hospital in Leonardtown earlier this year, she stressed the need for community awareness of the difficulties some veterans have as they make the transition to civilian life.

"Eventually these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will end," said Vieten, a licensed clinical psychologist and a Navy Reserve officer, "and these men and women are going to be coming home. We need, as a community, to be prepared to help them adjust to this homecoming.

"In other wars, we sent soldiers and sailors to war in ships," she continued.

"They had about 30 days to think and process where they were going and what they were going to be doing. Today, you can have someone serving in Fallujah one day and home making cookies the next day."

From combat to college

Colleges and universities are among those trying to respond to issues veterans might have as they continue their education in a civilian environment after serving in the military.

John Schupp, a chemistry professor at Cleveland State University in Ohio, started a program specifically designed to help veterans make the transition from military life to college life.

Called the Supportive Education for the Returning Vet or SERV, Schupp said when he began researching how veterans used the GI Bill, he found that fewer than 10 percent of veterans actually take advantage of their educational benefits.

Some of the biggest reasons given by veterans for not attending college, according to Schupp, were the difficulty vets had in dealing with classes and tests, dealing with the university bureaucracy and trying to fit into an academic environment after being on a battlefield.

"With this program," Schupp said, "we offer veterans-only classes, which lets the veteran relax and focus on what the class is about. They can ease into their classes and not feel overwhelmed.

"One anxiety vets have is that they think they didn't do well enough in high school to do well in college," Schupp said. "They don't realize the impact the military has had on them and how well they will do in college once they get here. These veterans are born leaders."

Schupp noted that it is a winning situation for colleges and universities because veterans are good for retention rates at colleges.

"The VA is willing to work with colleges and, once you get that first group of veterans in, they will help promote the program," Schupp said. "I think if universities prepare themselves correctly and welcome them back, these veterans will successfully make it through college."

New GI Bill coming

At the end of World War II, more than 2 million veterans came home and went to college using the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, otherwise known as the GI Bill, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed in 1944.

In 1952, veterans' benefits were expanded to include money for Korean War veterans. And, in 1984, Congressman Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery of Mississippi restructured the original GI Bill, which has been known ever since as the "Montgomery GI Bill."

A new law, the Post 9/11 GI Bill, goes into effect in August. It gives veterans with active duty service on or after, Sept. 11, 2001, enhanced educational benefits.

The bill covers educational expenses, provides a living allowance, money for books and gives veterans the ability to transfer unused educational benefits to their spouses or children.

Because more than 1.5 million men and women have served in the military since October 2001, colleges and universities could find themselves in the middle of a student population boom.

Taking advantage of opportunities

One of the veterans using the educational opportunities available locally is Stephanie Casares, an English major at the College of Southern Maryland.

Casares is a Navy veteran. She now works as a civilian contractor at Patuxent River Naval Air Station while attending classes at CSM.

"I think one of the hardest things for me to get used to when I went back to school was being in classes with younger students," Casares said. "I had taken classes on board ship and, in the Navy, everything is hands-on. In school, I was sitting in classes with kids younger than me. You are speaking about life experiences and places you have been and they don't even know what you are talking about."

Casares, 34, said her transition into college was aided by the patience and understanding shown by the academic and VA advisers at CSM.

"They understood that I was making a big transition from military to civilian lifestyle," she said. "It is ingrained in you when you are in the military to pay attention to detail, so I am overly organized and always prepared in my classes."

One of those Casares works closely with is Natalie Transue, the VA adviser and transcript evaluator at the La Plata campus of the College of Southern Maryland.

"I hear from veterans all the time that the transition from the military environment to the higher education environment is difficult," Transue said.

"A lot of veteran students choose community colleges as their first step into the world of higher education because we offer a smaller environment with a diverse group of learners," she said.

She added that because community colleges are different from traditional four-year institutions that are filled with students coming in right out of high school, veteran students can identify with a lot of the nontraditional students.

"Our registrar's office is often the first place veteran students visit to inquire about VA benefits if they are on campus," she added. "I've pretty much become the one-stop-shop for CSM's veteran students using their educational benefits through the VA. ... I walk them through setting up an appointment to take the placement tests if necessary; obtaining military and college transcripts; registering for classes; dropping or withdrawing from classes; and filling out their VA paperwork."

Transue, who is also a military wife, said she gives students CSM's "Guide to Veterans Educational Benefits," which contains the information they need to understand VA benefits.

"I do feel like I have a personal relationship with a lot of my veteran students," she said. "I think that veteran students like that they can shoot me an e-mail and receive an almost instant response, even on the weekends."

Job commitments can interfere

Ed Hazelwood, 29, a defense contractor with Northrop Grumman at Pax River, is also a Navy veteran who is continuing his education at CSM.

Hazelwood was attached to an F-14 Tomcat squadron serving on the USS John F. Kennedy and then later with the USS Abraham Lincoln during both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He said the hardest part about attending college has been balancing a full-time job that involves travel with his classes.

"There are some professors who try to work with you," he said. "They understand that you have to travel with your job, but there are some classes where you can only miss two classes and then you are toast."

Hazelwood said one of the best things about coming back to school as a veteran is that you appreciate your education. "If you are going to school for something you are already doing, it is exciting," he said, "because you are learning more. What you are learning in class, you are taking back to where you work."

Like Casares, he also had to deal with younger students in his class.

"When I took some of the lower-level classes, I had a couple of students who were fresh out of high school who would disrupt classes," he said. "But, I have been in their shoes. You get to know who is there to learn and who is going to school because Mom and Dad are paying the bill.

"Being in the military gives you a sense of reality," he added. "I went in the Navy because my grandpa was in the Navy during World War II and it made an impression on me. You realize as you get older that your quality of life depends on how you perform and work.

"And, we are lucky that our government is providing us with a GI Bill so we can take classes," he said. "So many of our youth take it for granted and think they are entitled to it. They waste their opportunity."

Both Casares and Hazelwood plan on finishing their degrees at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center in California, which is partnered with Capitol College; Catholic University; the College of Notre Dame of Maryland; George Washington University; Gratz College; Johns Hopkins University; Old Dominion University; University of Maryland; and Towson University. Students can complete their last two years of college at the higher education center after being accepted at one of the schools partnered with SMHEC.

Casares plans on transferring in the fall to the University of Maryland, and hopes to teach English or get a master's degree in clinical psychology.

Hazelwood is planning to attend Capitol College and finishing his electrical engineering degree.

Cynthia Shoemaker, the university coordinator at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center, said because of the nature of the school and its proximity to Pax River, the school has a number of veterans.

"Because many of the people who work on the base as civilians are prior military, we have a lot of returning veterans who choose to come here to Pax River because of this school," Shoemaker said.

Some vets experience difficulty

While some veterans slide into civilian life and school without too much difficulty, other veterans can struggle.

Vieten said that communities and universities are going to see more individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder as veterans return from deployments.

PTSD can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal where physical harm occurred or was threatened.

"Some of the things we have asked these kids to do are horrendous," Vieten said speaking to the St. Mary's Hospital staff, "and they really struggle with these things. They have a lot of guilt and a lot of sadness. They do not want to burden their families with their stories, so they keep information bottled up inside.

"PTSD is really an invisible injury," she added. "If you are a double amputee, your injury is obvious. But with PTSD, your injury or medical condition is hidden, until something triggers it."

Ann Penick, a mental health counselor for the College of Southern Maryland, said she visits the CSM campuses in La Plata, Waldorf, Lexington Park and Prince Frederick every week. "We have about 300 veterans on our campuses," Penick said. "Our goal, for next year, is to organize a support group for veterans."

Penick said if a veteran were to need more help or information, she would refer that person to Arianna Hammond, the Southern Regional Resource Coordinator for Maryland's Commitment to Veterans program. It's a three-year pilot program begun by Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown (D), which started in October 2008. The program refers veterans from rural areas in Maryland, who are having difficulty accessing outpatient services, to local providers.

"We try to meet the needs of all veterans," Hammond said, "but especially those who are having a difficult time transitioning to civilian life."

"The focus of our program is to facilitate rapid access to outpatient services at the Veterans Administration," Hammond said. "We report to [Brown's] Veterans Behavior Health Advisory Board. Essentially, it is to understand what the barriers are in rural areas and see how we can improve services."

Vieten said that one thing this new generation of veterans will do is seek help.

"I think this generation is not going to put up with what veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam did," she said. "I think they are going to seek help and to ask for help. They are going to be more apt to come and say, `I don't really feel very well.' Communities have to be prepared before they start asking for help."

jmalene@somdnews.com