Student groups seek veteran aid

[admin]

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2008/mar/05/student-groups-seek-veteran-aid/
Student groups seek veteran aid
a.. Julia Erlandson, Daily Bruin senior staff (Contact)
b.. Published: Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Nick Salcedo remembers hearing bullets whiz by him – “they sound exactly like they do in the movies” – and having a rocket-propelled grenade shot directly at him while serving in Iraq.

But when he returned to school after nearly a year overseas, he found that life as a student veteran in the U.S. did not come without its own set of obstacles.

From social adjustment to financial and health burdens, student veterans face a range of issues other students do not.

Salcedo, a third-year psychology student, is president of the Military Veterans Organization, a UCLA student group aimed at advocating on behalf of student veterans and educating them about the resources available to them.

One of the most important functions of the group is providing an outlet to share experiences, which they often cannot get through military benefits and programs, Salcedo said.

“(Military officials) don’t really process you out so you can deal with society,” he said. “They don’t really help you psychologically with coping.”

The Military Veterans Organization’s program called the Soldiers Project offers free psychological counseling to veterans and their families and friends.

“(Veterans Affairs) has services like that, but the Soldiers Project is more on a personal level,” he said.

Anthony Allman, a fourth-year political science student, founded the Military Veterans Organization after transferring from Santa Monica College, where he began a similar group.

Allman’s unit was deployed to Kuwait to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, but by the time they arrived the main phase of the invasion was over, and they were sent home.

“I got to Kuwait three days after the last missile was fired,” he said. “So essentially after I got there they no longer needed me for my job, and I came home a month later.”

Like Salcedo, Allman faced difficulty transitioning back to civilian life.

Though the military provides a number of benefits and services for veterans, Allman said many veterans, especially students, are not aware of all of them.

“When I got out, I didn’t even know I was a veteran. I thought to be a veteran you had to be in like World War II,” he said. “People say, ‘It’s the military’s fault you didn’t know,’ but not necessarily. The military’s focus is on retention.”

According to the Veterans Benefits Administration, a division of the Department of Veterans Affairs, returning military personnel are entitled to benefits including education assistance, vocational rehabilitation and home loans.

But both Allman and Salcedo said the available benefits often are not sufficient, especially the educational benefits.

The main education assistance program is the GI Bill, which can provide several years of funding.

But Allman said GI Bill money often conflicts with other types of financial aid and leaves veterans needing more.

Allman is also vice president of the Student Veterans of America, which lobbies at the federal level for veterans’ benefits. Recently, the group helped introduce the Student Veteran Financial Aid Fairness Act of 2008, which seeks to improve veterans’ education funding.

“You can give congresspeople as many facts and figures as you like, but when they hear veterans’ stories about their difficulties, it makes an impression,” Allman said. “The lobbying efforts really paid off.”

Salcedo and Allman also said they believe UCLA should offer more assistance to its veterans.

Salcedo noted that veterans make up a very small percentage of UCLA and the University of California system as a whole – with only about 1,200 veterans in the UC – so they are often overlooked when it comes to providing resources.

“We just need more, and we need the school to be more cognizant of that,” he said.

The Military Veterans Organization is working with other organizations on campus, such as the Academic Advancement Program and the Office for Students with Disabilities, to gain additional resources for veterans, Salcedo said.

But while they engage in advocacy efforts on behalf of veterans, Salcedo said the organization is careful to steer clear of overly political topics.

“We’re a nonpartisan group because a lot of us have different views politically. Our meetings are straight nonpolitical – (just) what we’re doing to help other veterans.”

Ultimately, a big part of that help is simply providing a group of people with whom they can share their experiences, Salcedo said.

“That’s my mission, my intent: to get more people on board,” he said. “They need a group to hang out with, because it is a brotherhood.”


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Reference: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml