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thedrifter
11-27-07, 08:28 AM
2 Va. veterans grateful for grants
But Longwood students who served in Iraq say colleagues need more aid

Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007 - 12:08 AM

By JAMIE C. RUFF
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

FARMVILLE -- Two Longwood University students -- Marine Corps reservists Dean and Dustin Meadows -- are among the first 100 veterans to receive scholarships from the Fund for Veterans' Education.

Grateful as they are, the 20-year-old twins from Farmville say the nation should be doing more to help veterans offset the high cost of college.

The private fund was recently set up to help soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan get a postsecondary education.

It aims to bridge the gap between the cost of education and other sources of aid such as the GI Bill, military educational benefits and federal, state and institutional need-based grants.

The fund's average scholarship is about $4,500 per semester.

"They shouldn't have to apply for scholarship after scholarship after scholarship to go to college," Dean Meadows said of fellow veterans.

"Veterans shouldn't have to make the choice of taking care of their families or

going to school," Dustin Meadows added.

Matthew Boulay, executive director of the fund, agrees: "We feel it is something the government ought to be doing." The fund provides a model for a new GI Bill, he said.

The scholarship is based primarily on financial need, Boulay said.

The Sept. 11 attacks spurred the brothers to enlist in the U.S. Marines Reserve while attending Prince Edward County High School.

Dean Meadows served in Iraq on convoy security from March to October last year. Dustin Meadows was stationed as a combat engineer in Anbar province from September 2006 to April. One of his jobs involved being the first on a road to clean it of mines so U.S. and Iraqi forces could travel on it safely.

Both are now majoring in political science at Longwood.

Dustin Meadows complains that the media are ignoring the successes of the war and politics is prompting some political leaders not to support the effort.

"If America has the opportunity to make a difference in that part of the world, I think we should take it," he said.

"If we don't finish the job in Iraq, if we don't do everything to make sure that [Iraq] is a functioning democracy, what is that area going to look like 10 years from now?" Dean Meadows asked.

The war has changed the course of their lives.

Dustin Meadows said he would like to be a political adviser but now could see himself as a SWAT police officer in Miami or Washington, touching lives every day.

"That's what I'm trained for, and I like it," he said.

Dean Meadows said he wanted to go into politics but now plans to pursue religious studies and become a preacher.

"I just made a promise to the Lord, 'If you get me and my Marines through this so they can see their families and live a good life, I'm yours,'" he said.
Contact Jamie C. Ruff at (434) 392-6605 or jruff@timesdispatch.com.

Ellie