Return to class tough for vets

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) | Returning home after three tours of duty in Afghanistan, Derek Blumke was eager to return to college. But the Air Force veteran felt unwelcome at the University of Michigan as he tried alone to manage the transition from warrior to student.

During one of his initial calls to the school, employees told him they couldn’t answer his questions because he wasn’t yet a student. Later, he found himself wandering around the Ann Arbor campus, trying to figure out how to use his military benefits to pay tuition and feeling like no one would help.

“I was frustrated and angry and disappointed,” said the 26-year-old former gunship maintenance supervisor who’s now a senior studying political science and psychology at Michigan. “That frustration and anger turned into motivation. You don’t want me here? OK, fine. I WILL come here.”

As veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq return to campus, many are finding that colleges and universities are only beginning to figure out how to help them transition back to civilian, social and academic life.

Many need help with paperwork. Others seek emotional and psychological support, and some struggle to fit in with classmates who are often much younger.

“Obviously, nobody goes to combat and comes back the same person,” said Bob Wallace, director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a Marine veteran of Vietnam.

With more people returning from conflict than at any other time since the Vietnam War - along with a new, more generous GI bill - the number of college-bound veterans is expected to swell.

Universities are trying to respond to their needs.

About 250,000 veterans are attending colleges and universities on the GI Bill, according to the Veterans Administration. No firm statistics are available on the number attending without the GI bill.

At Michigan, Mr. Blumke, now president of a national group, the Student Veterans of America, said the university recently appointed a person to answer questions. He recommends that other schools set up groups of student veterans who can help identify problems.

Many veterans have banded together to help one another navigate their schools.

Megan Upperman dropped most of her classes during one of her first semesters at Southern Illinois University after finding it difficult to transition back to civilian life.

Miss Upperman, who served in Iraq in 2004 in the Army National Guard supply convoys, said she was uncharacteristically edgy for six or eight months after her return. She was in what she called a state of “hyper overdrive.”

“At the drop of a dime, I’d just get upset over something that was ridiculous,” said Miss Upperman, 23, a senior earning a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology.

At the urging of a boyfriend, she enrolled in counseling through the Veterans Affairs Department.

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