Newswise — On college campuses across the country there are students who look much like everyone else, but they are anything but typical.
They are more mature, independent and focused. They have seen things that their fellow students likely never will. They are military veterans.
At Florida State University, a group of military veterans and supporters have started a new student organization, the Collegiate Veterans Association, to address their unique needs. The nonpolitical, nonpartisan group wants to be the first chapter in what will hopefully become a national network of collegiate veterans groups.
"I think there is a need for something like this on college campuses," said Eric Lundblom, president of the CVA. "When you are in the military you have such a tight bond with the men and women you serve with. These are people who would die for you. They are your family, and when you get out of the military, you lose that."
Already, interest in the FSU group is taking off with about 20 people attending the first meeting in September. The group plans to have "mixers" and sponsor student sports teams, as well as organize activities like sending care packages to active duty soldiers.
The group is not simply a social organization, however. Lundblom said the founders of the group felt strongly that there was a need to educate their fellow students - and even faculty and staff - about the experiences, strengths and needs of veterans and their families. To this end, the group plans to form a speakers' bureau comprised of veterans willing to speak to classes and create exhibits to display at university functions.
"It's good to get a soldier's eye view of what happened on the ground," said CVA vice president Dan Rosenthal, 22, a member of the Florida National Guard who served in Iraq. "It's a viewpoint most people will never hear. We're not taking any stand on the war, other than to support the troops and the veterans."
The CVA would like to simplify life for veterans new or returning to campus by developing a handbook that would include all forms and documents, lists of organizations and contact information. The group also wants to be a support system for veterans as they adjust to campus life.
That's support that Rosenthal, a political science major, could have used when he returned to campus last year after serving in Iraq.
"When I first got back, I felt different," he said. "Most college kids are worried about having to eat ramen noodles and how hard their exams are. Maybe they even have to sleep on the couch. I was worried about not getting shot and whether I was going to get food and water when it was 140 degrees - literally - outside. I slept on a dead rat in the desert."
Lundblom agreed that life is different for the veteran in college. He started college as a 22-year-old freshman after serving four years in the Marines. After joining the Florida National Guard, his education was interrupted when he was deployed to Iraq. Now 29, he is trying to finish his history degree while working full time at the Tallahassee Vet Center, an organization that provides readjustment counseling to combat veterans.
If these students are more serious about life than their civilian counterparts, it's no wonder. This generation of veterans is more likely to have served in a war than any other group of veterans since World War II, according to social work Professor Charles Figley, the group's faculty adviser and a veteran of the Vietnam War. About half of CVA's current members are combat veterans.
While it's difficult to estimate how many students at FSU are veterans, there are 522 students who are using their veteran's benefits this semester, according to Cheryl Goodson, the Veterans Affairs coordinator at FSU. She thinks the CVA can help veterans become better students by offering some stability and a sense of community.
That's exactly what the group's secretary/treasurer, Kristy Scarpa, 22, a social work graduate student, had in mind when she initiated the formation of the group. Her father and uncle are veterans and her boyfriend is currently serving in Afghanistan.
"I felt there was an intense need for the military veterans on campus to have an outlet where they could meet other military veterans," she said. The group hopes it will inspire other veterans to start CVA chapters on campuses throughout Florida and the nation.
For more information, visit http://www.fsu.edu/~cva.
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