Struggle on home front

Jake Warner lashes out when his classmates at the University of Wisconsin-Madison protest the war.

Education For Veterans

Junior Katie Nelson, 22, and freshman Tony Jawson, 24, take a break from classes at UWM's Student Union. Both served in Iraq, and both worked to sort through the variety of benefits for veterans.

Education Benefits for Veterans

Wisconsin G.I. Bill: Covers 50% of tuition and fees for veterans attending the University of Wisconsin System or Wisconsin Technical College System. A 100% tuition break will kick in for the WTC system starting this summer and for the UW System this fall. Veterans must have entered active duty from Wisconsin. Spouses and dependents also are eligible if the veteran died in the line of duty or suffered an injury that federal officials say amounts to a 30% disability. The benefit covers 128 credits, or eight semesters. Participants can be in graduate or undergraduate programs. They must be full-time students.

Wisconsin Veterans Education Reimbursement Grant: Reimburses veterans in the UW System, Technical College System or approved private colleges for 100% of their tuition and fees not covered by other grants, scholarships or remissions. Veterans must achieve at least a 2.0 grade-point average and have a household income below $50,000. They have up to 10 years after leaving active duty to use the benefit.

Wisconsin National Guard Tuition Grant: Provides 100% tuition reimbursement for enlisted soldiers or warrant officers of the Wisconsin National Guard attending a college or university in Wisconsin.

Chapter 30 Montgomery G.I. Bill: Monthlybenefit for veterans in college or certain types of job training. The level of the federal benefit, which can range from a couple hundred dollars to more than $1,000, is based on the veteran's length and type of service.

More Coverage

The Journal Sentinel's team of education reporters provides regular news, notes and links of interest on the beat covering K-12 through higher education.
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Section: Education

Section: War In Iraq

Four years after enrolling at UW-Oshkosh, Todd Johnston still feels lonely; he misses having friends by his side 24 hours a day.

A slew of government benefits, including a new Wisconsin G.I. Bill, is propelling record numbers of veterans into Wisconsin's colleges and universities.

Thousands of men and women - many back from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan - are seizing the chance for a free, or nearly free, education.

But even with the financial assistance, the transition to college can be difficult, as veterans such as Warner, Nelson and Johnston can attest.

"It's a lot," said David Pelis, a counselor at the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee who has worked with veterans at area colleges. "On top of their class schedules, they're dealing with readjustment issues that the average 21-year-old student doesn't have."

There are longstanding benefits, including the Montgomery G.I. Bill, the Wisconsin National Guard Tuition Grant and the Wisconsin Veterans Education Reimbursement Grant.

More assistance arrived in 2005 when the state Legislature passed the Wisconsin G.I. Bill. It has covered half the cost of tuition for veterans in the state's public colleges and universities. This year, it will expand to cover 100% of tuition.

The new benefit is significant because students don't have to wait to be reimbursed; the assistance is upfront. Spouses and children of veterans also are eligible for the benefit if the veteran died or became disabled in the line of duty.

Nearly 3,000 veterans and dependents cashed in on the Wisconsin G.I. Bill last fall. The number of participants is expected to continue to rise.

"The state G.I. bill has obviously perked an interest in going back to school," said Karen Malone, a military education benefits specialist at UWM, where the number of students with veterans benefits has almost doubled in the past year, from 228 to 450. "We're getting even more of a push now that it's going to 100 percent."

Support groups help

Veterans at UWM have formed a support group called Welcome Home, which has drawn more than 100 participants. Veterans at UW-Oshkosh are contemplating a similar organization.

Many miss the tight-knit community of a military unit, said Johnston, an Air Force veteran who served in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

"At school you don't get the same feeling you have when you're stuck with the same people for three or four months at a time, every day, all day," he said.

Warner, a UW-Madison junior, gets frustrated by what he sees as laziness in some of his classmates and professors. A former Marine Corps squad leader who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he snaps at professors when he thinks they are doing a poor job.

And don't get him started on students who protest the war or military recruiting on campus.

"I was full of pride coming back from war, thinking I really did the right thing," Warner, 24, said. "These guys have no idea what they're talking about. They'd hand me anti-war literature, and I'd say 'Go to hell.' "

A variety of struggles

Tony Jawson, a 24-year-old Army veteran in his freshman year at UWM, said his memory has slipped since he served in Iraq - the result, he suspects, of his blowing up ammunition. He can study for hours, and when he sits down to take a test, forget everything that he reviewed.

"I have to write everything down in order to remember," he said. "And then hope I remember where I put it."

Jawson also struggled to sort through the variety of benefits for veterans. None of the officials he talked to could answer all of his questions. The paperwork was difficult to decipher.

"I didn't know what benefits I was entitled to," said Nelson, 22, an Army Reserves veteran. "It took a lot of questions. No one is sitting you down to do the paperwork."

Nelson was attending UW-Parkside when she was called up to go to Iraq in 2003. Transferring to UWM upon her return was not difficult; it was early in her nursing studies.

"If I was interrupted now," she said, "it would be really hard to get back to school."

Pelis, of the Veterans Medical Center, works with veteran students who face the possibility of a second tour of duty who have "depression and anxiety through the roof."

"Every time I see a movie about the military, I want to go back," Warner said. "I miss that focus of my life."

......"Warner, a UW-Madison junior, gets frustrated by what he sees as laziness in some of his classmates and professors. A former Marine Corps squad leader who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he snaps at professors when he thinks they are doing a poor job. And don't get him started on students who protest the war or military recruiting on campus. "I was full of pride coming back from war, thinking I really did the right thing," Warner, 24, said. "These guys have no idea what they're talking about. They'd hand me anti-war literature, and I'd say 'Go to hell.'..."

I love this. More power to you young man. And he has hit the nail on the head; laziness and ignorance (mis-education).

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