From Iraq to the Classroom

As is the case with many other young adults attending college, Alan Meyer was intrigued by the prospect of receiving financial help towards his tuition. He was drawn in by the military's incentives, exchanging tuition payments for his signature on a contract enlisting him in the Army Reserves, which seemed like a fun endeavor to him. During his freshman year, he joined the Reserves and only had to attend training one weekend a month and two weeks a year.

The army covered 75 percent of Meyer's college bill and provided a monthly stipend, but in return he was sent overseas for about a year. He was stationed at Camp Victory in Baghdad as a combat medic health care specialist. Now 23, Meyer has a year of war experience under his belt and, after returning in September 2007, is beginning his transition back into civilian life.

He left behind his parents, older brother and friends when he went off to Iraq, but found communication easy with access to the Internet and phones. Instead of just worrying about how he would manage, Meyer felt for his family, who he believed had a harder time during his absence.

"They had it rougher than I did," says Meyer. "They had to watch me do it while I had to actually do it."

Now, Meyer is home and planning on restarting college in the spring at the University of Pittsburgh, where he needs one more semester to finish his degree in writing and political science.

On his initial return, Meyer admitted to being a little nervous.

"There was some level of apprehension," Meyer says. "But we have to sit through all these ridiculous briefs at how difficult reintegration is. I was just like wow, I would rather fight alligators on my front porch than be here; I just had a drive to get back to my normal everyday life as soon as possible. There were problems, like I had to go buy a car, get back into school and find an apartment, but there was no mountain too high, so to speak."

Meyer is not the only one anxious to return to everyday life immediately on arrival home, but Kathleen Mohr, a transition patient advocate with the Boston Veteran Affairs Healthcare System, says the information sessions that stand between a soldier and the warmth of his own bed are important.

"[The military] rallies to bring everyone in and make sure they're aware of their benefits," Mohr says of the three or four day period meant to inform returning servicemen of what is available to them as a veteran. Each state provides veterans with different benefits, such as Massachusetts, which offers a $1,000 welcome home bonus.

"There are a lot of advantages to paying attention in those classes," she says, emphasizing the free 90-day dental coverage and two-year health coverage that many veterans are unaware they are entitled to.

The VA also helps inform soldiers of the advantages of registering as a veteran within their first two years of returning home because after registration, they are forever a veteran and will always have the resources of the VA available to them.

Meyer has not yet had to approach the center for returning soldiers offered by the VA, finding civilian life easy to sink back into. He still keeps in touch with the people he was deployed with, using them not necessarily for support, but for his own unique transition.

"There's frequent excursions," he says. "I wouldn't really call it support. I don't know how much support you can find with four dudes and a couple six packs, but if that's what you call support, then sure."

He admits that everyone comes back different and that veteran counseling centers are a great resource for people who deal with the reintegration into society differently.

"Personally, I wouldn't contact it, but I'm an advocate of it," Meyer says. "If people ever want to or need to they definitely should, but I think I'm pretty good, at least for now."

At the returning soldier centers, servicemen will find one-on-one attention from psychologists or newly appointed transition patient advocates, who were added last April after the scandals with Walter Reed surfaced, says Mohr. As the wife of an Iraq War veteran, she applied for the job and believes she has the ability to be there for the men and women returning and facing a huge adjustment back into everyday life.

Mohr works with all ages at the center and finds that younger soldiers share similar difficulties in their readjustment back into college.

"When they get deployed they have to stop their college career," Mohr says. "[They've] spent a year living in high stress and to go back to college, everyone is gung-ho in going, but actually doing it we're finding we have to help them get organized."

These young people are going to an environment where they have to start making their own meals and choosing their own clothes as opposed to in the military where breakfast is always waiting and all they must do is slip on a uniform.

"The big problem is organization," Mohr says. "[They are] a little overwhelmed going back to school and adjusting back to civilian life."

Although these simple tasks are difficult to relearn, Mohr hasn't had a problem with returning soldiers to classrooms with their fellow peers. She is currently working with two people returning to college who speak with her daily, and they have been well received by fellow students.

"None of them have reported any problems, which kind of surprises me," Mohr says.

While Meyer doesn't anticipate any difficulties in his classes except for some volatile but reasonable politics classes, others believe the transition back to college may be difficult with relating to fellow students.

"[They have] difficulty relating to others in their age group who have not lived in constant danger, wondering if they or their best friends are about to be blown up," wrote Andrew Pomerantz, chief of the Mental Health Service at White River Junction VA Hospital, in an e-mail interview. "[They] wonder about the value of education- why bother with algebra when the world is exploding?… For most people, this fades away and they are able to get back to business."

Many compare the return of Iraq veterans to those who returned from Vietnam, when society blamed the soldiers for the war. According to Allen Dyer, a professor of psychiatry at East Tennessee State University, people are much more aware that soldiers are just doing their job, and returning servicemen are coming back to a different, more supportive environment.

"A lot of people will be questioning the war," Dyer says about the potential dynamic in the classroom. "A lot of students won't have what veterans have in seeing things first hand."

Despite this, Dyer believes that the extra experience soldiers bring into college will add to the classroom experience.

Upon the return to college, servicemen have the opportunity to receive money for their continuing education through the vocational rehabilitation program or the Montgomery GI bill, with the VA paying 100 percent of the bill in some cases, says Mohr. For those who choose not to return to college or to get a part-time job, positions seem to be easy to obtain. Meyer doesn't believe he'll have any more difficulty finding a job next semester than his fellow students.

"Employers are trying to do the right thing and hire returning vets, so we've actually had a lot of people [get jobs]," says Mohr. "I just have a handful that are not working and it's usually by choice."

While finding a job is easy with the use of VA resources such as the vocational rehab program and different career centers, Mohr explains the troubles start in maintaining the career.

"Keeping a job is a whole other story, and this is where they need to do the center for returning vets," says Mohr. "It's a huge difference working in the civilian sector and being a soldier. That's where the problems start because they have a hard time on the job. That's when the red flags come up and they come in and work with psychologists and continue their adjustment process so they can work successfully."

While some soldiers seek help immediately upon return from deployment and others don't utilize their VA resources for one or two years down the road, the VA will always be there if problems arise.

"I personally feel I can make a difference working for the VA," Mohr says. "The people that are coming back really need an advocate and they really need a voice. That's what I am; I am their voice."

Meyer feels as though his transition back home has been relatively easy, with college starting next semester and his life returning to normal, with another deployment hopefully not in the near future.

"Getting back into normal everyday life really hasn't been that difficult," said Meyer. "Because it's just everyday life."