thedrifter
04-20-07, 08:00 AM
Veteran student works on college benefits
By: J.A. Garcia
Posted: 4/20/07
If you happened to be watching the news at 6:30 p.m. April 13, on KSAT-12, you would have seen Jim Joslyn, the station's vice president and general manager, deliver an editorial on veterans deserving benefits at the end of the news segment.
"From health care to disability, veteran benefits are falling short of where they should be and leaving vets with broken promises," Joslyn said.
Marketing freshman James Sutton, a student at this college, will add educational services and funding as another area of benefits veterans are falling short on.
Sutton is a former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps who has come up with ideas to provide more benefits for war veterans returning from active duty who are pursuing a higher education - especially for those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Sutton served in the Marine Corps for eight years and was deployed to Iraq three times, serving seven month long tours.
He also worked as a senior urban assault instructor in the Urban Warfare Training Center at Marine Corps Base 29, in 29 Palms, Calif.
There he trained combat Marines preparing for deployment to Iraq.
If necessary, he would follow units that needed additional training to Iraq for two- to three-week periods.
Sutton explained that after returning to San Antonio upon leaving the military, he enrolled at this college for the spring semester and began his first class, SDEV 0170, Orientation to College, a week before the semester started, but immediately felt out of place.
He felt awkward being around people he couldn't identify with.
"When I was in freshman orientation and we had to give examples of things we've done in the past, all my examples were military stuff and everybody looked at me like 'he is crazy,'" Sutton said.
He got so discouraged at one point that he started talking to local recruiters to see when the next unit of Marines would be going to Iraq so he could join them, he said.
"I wanted to go back to Iraq because that is where I felt comfortable," Sutton said.
After thinking of his family first, which was one major reason he got out of the military; getting support from several instructors such as Student Development faculty Jim Lucchelli and Kimberly McConnell and business Professor Sylvia DeLeon; and working with student organizations such as the San Antonio Global Ambassadors Club and the Public Administration Club on the Community College Day at the Capitol trip, Sutton decided to stick around.
He wanted to see what he could do for veterans so that they wouldn't have to be in his position of feeling uncomfortable about being in college, he said.
One of his ideas, which he ran by Lucchelli, was to start an orientation to college course specifically for veterans.
The course would follow the same curriculum as the orientation to college course now, but it would be set in an environment of military veterans which will allow veterans to associate with people they can relate to and share their experiences with, Sutton said.
"In the military what a lot of people are scared to do is … talk about some of the experiences we had in Iraq."
He explained that people in the military are scared to talk about their experiences because they do not want to be labeled as having post-traumatic stress syndrome, which could cause them to be processed out of the military.
Being able to talk about those experiences will help veterans transition into college life, Sutton said.
Other ideas he would like to see initiated for disabled and wounded veterans are providing off-campus sites at Brooke Army Medical Center or Wilford Hall Medical Center where veterans can work on receiving certificates or degrees, having voice-activated computers and software, providing more note takers for disabled veterans and escorts for handicapped veterans.
With DeLeon's help, Sutton will be applying to the San Antonio Area Foundation, which is distributing $5 million to nonprofit organizations providing services to fulfill the unmet needs of military personnel and their families under the Texas Resources for Iraq-Afghanistan Deployment (TRIAD) Fund.
Sutton has had an outreach of support from many people, such as the president of this college, many of the deans and directors, legislators, Lucchelli, McConnell and many others after presenting his ideas to them.
He has garnered the support of well-known local boxer, Jesse James Leija, who has offered to help with the cause.
Sutton, who plans to enlist in the Marine Corps Reserve after he is finished with school, is obviously more comfortable with where he is in life and college now.
"Even though I am not in the Marines anymore, I'm still helping out war veterans ... I don't need to be in the Marines to change people's lives," he said.
Ellie
By: J.A. Garcia
Posted: 4/20/07
If you happened to be watching the news at 6:30 p.m. April 13, on KSAT-12, you would have seen Jim Joslyn, the station's vice president and general manager, deliver an editorial on veterans deserving benefits at the end of the news segment.
"From health care to disability, veteran benefits are falling short of where they should be and leaving vets with broken promises," Joslyn said.
Marketing freshman James Sutton, a student at this college, will add educational services and funding as another area of benefits veterans are falling short on.
Sutton is a former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps who has come up with ideas to provide more benefits for war veterans returning from active duty who are pursuing a higher education - especially for those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Sutton served in the Marine Corps for eight years and was deployed to Iraq three times, serving seven month long tours.
He also worked as a senior urban assault instructor in the Urban Warfare Training Center at Marine Corps Base 29, in 29 Palms, Calif.
There he trained combat Marines preparing for deployment to Iraq.
If necessary, he would follow units that needed additional training to Iraq for two- to three-week periods.
Sutton explained that after returning to San Antonio upon leaving the military, he enrolled at this college for the spring semester and began his first class, SDEV 0170, Orientation to College, a week before the semester started, but immediately felt out of place.
He felt awkward being around people he couldn't identify with.
"When I was in freshman orientation and we had to give examples of things we've done in the past, all my examples were military stuff and everybody looked at me like 'he is crazy,'" Sutton said.
He got so discouraged at one point that he started talking to local recruiters to see when the next unit of Marines would be going to Iraq so he could join them, he said.
"I wanted to go back to Iraq because that is where I felt comfortable," Sutton said.
After thinking of his family first, which was one major reason he got out of the military; getting support from several instructors such as Student Development faculty Jim Lucchelli and Kimberly McConnell and business Professor Sylvia DeLeon; and working with student organizations such as the San Antonio Global Ambassadors Club and the Public Administration Club on the Community College Day at the Capitol trip, Sutton decided to stick around.
He wanted to see what he could do for veterans so that they wouldn't have to be in his position of feeling uncomfortable about being in college, he said.
One of his ideas, which he ran by Lucchelli, was to start an orientation to college course specifically for veterans.
The course would follow the same curriculum as the orientation to college course now, but it would be set in an environment of military veterans which will allow veterans to associate with people they can relate to and share their experiences with, Sutton said.
"In the military what a lot of people are scared to do is … talk about some of the experiences we had in Iraq."
He explained that people in the military are scared to talk about their experiences because they do not want to be labeled as having post-traumatic stress syndrome, which could cause them to be processed out of the military.
Being able to talk about those experiences will help veterans transition into college life, Sutton said.
Other ideas he would like to see initiated for disabled and wounded veterans are providing off-campus sites at Brooke Army Medical Center or Wilford Hall Medical Center where veterans can work on receiving certificates or degrees, having voice-activated computers and software, providing more note takers for disabled veterans and escorts for handicapped veterans.
With DeLeon's help, Sutton will be applying to the San Antonio Area Foundation, which is distributing $5 million to nonprofit organizations providing services to fulfill the unmet needs of military personnel and their families under the Texas Resources for Iraq-Afghanistan Deployment (TRIAD) Fund.
Sutton has had an outreach of support from many people, such as the president of this college, many of the deans and directors, legislators, Lucchelli, McConnell and many others after presenting his ideas to them.
He has garnered the support of well-known local boxer, Jesse James Leija, who has offered to help with the cause.
Sutton, who plans to enlist in the Marine Corps Reserve after he is finished with school, is obviously more comfortable with where he is in life and college now.
"Even though I am not in the Marines anymore, I'm still helping out war veterans ... I don't need to be in the Marines to change people's lives," he said.
Ellie