UNL student vets Victims of society's guilt'
"You're away from your family.
away from your wife.
You ain't got no friends on your left.
your right!"
U.S. Army cadence call
Once the PFC, the corporal or the sergeant leaves
military life he often finds he doesn't have a friend.
This also is true of the student vet. In today's Close
Up, staff writer Dennis Onnen examines some of the
problems that face UNL student vets.
"You've completely alienated the veteran. We
came home second-and-third-rate citizens. There were
no parades, no ticker tape and not any thanks most
of the time."
Those were the words of Steve Beadle describing
the problems facing approximately 1,500 student
veterans at UNL. Beadle is Nebraska president of the
Student Veterans Organization, (SVO).
"According to Beadle, veterans face not only
emotional problems, but financial ones as well. Under
the Gl Bill for education, student veterans receive
$220 a month if they are single and $261 a month if
they are married. This is simply not enough for most
veterans to live on. Beadle said.
He told about two student veterans at Kearney
State who committed suicide, one because of a $9
debt. Two UNL veterans also tried to kill themselves,
he said.
Beadle who recently returned from a national
conference, heard a psychologist speak at the
conference who confirmed some of his own feelings.
"The non-veteran population and the government
share a collective guilt about the morality of the
Vietnam War and the veterans have become the
victims," the psychologist said.
With these seemingly insurmountable problems in
some cases, where do student verans go for help?
Beadle said that many come to him just to talk. Ed
Kezar, graduate assistant in human development and
the family, has volunteered as a counselor for SVO.
However, since the end of January when he first
offered his services, not one veteran has come to him
for help.
Beadle explained this by saying that student
Up
veterans are more likely to talk to other veterans.
Leroy Ramsey, director of minority affairs, agrees.
Ramsey, a veteran, said he has about 25 student
veterans who come and talk to him "from time to
time." He has requested S12,000 from the
Department of Health, Education and Welfare to hire
a full-time student veterans counselor starting nxt
fall.
Ramsey said the University is partly to blame for
the difficulties that veterans have in adjusting to
college. "What does dormitory life have to offer a
veteran?" he asked. Veterans are usually about 22
years old and older but the University still treats
them like children, he said.
A typical student veteran works part-tima W
continue his schooling, according to Jack Ritchie,
assistant director of scholarships and financial aWl.
"Quite a few do apply for aid," he said. He added
that a veteran's money from the Gl Bill cuts down on
.the amount of aid for which he is eligible for, so
many veterans go to local banks for federally insured
loans.
Beadle said he hopes to get money from the
University to institute a work-study recruitment
program in which student veterans would contact
other veterans around the state. The purpose behind
the program would be to show veterans the benefits
they can gain by continuing their schooling.
Hopes for such a program come in the face of a
growing number of UNL student veterans dropping
out of school, Beadle said.
Beadle asks that civilians look at the vattraa's
problems before they turn against him.
"Veterans want so hard to be civilians again. We're
trying to get the people to see that the Vietnam
veteran has problems. He's nothing but a human
being." he said.
I am trying
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luis
borges
That's mostly what you'll
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