News & Events
‘Operation Healthy Homefront’ Caps Semester of Activities for Student Veterans
“Operation Healthy Homefront,” a November 2008 collaborative venture between New York City College of Technology’s Student Wellness Center and the Office of Veteran Services featured 30 community and other organizations and attracted a sizable College and outside audience thanks to CUNY-wide promotion. Organized by Wellness Center Director Holly Burmeister and Veteran Services Coordinator AJ Luna, an Iraqi War vet, the fair also was promoted in selected Brooklyn-based and other media.
Participating organizations included community health and mental health providers as well as armed services and veterans organizations that address the physical, mental and emotional health issues veterans and their families face as the former begin post-active-duty lives. The fair was designed to connect student and other veterans with health providers throughout the community and to provide information about the full range of benefits available to them. Also on hand to answer questions and assist prospective students interested in attending City Tech were representatives from the College’s admissions and financial aid offices.
“‘Operation Healthy Homefront,’” says Luna, “provided CUNY student and other veterans with the information they need to more efficiently deal with the mountain of paperwork they often encounter in pursuit of the health, education and other benefits available to them through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In this regard, another very useful tool is a relatively new 599-page guide to veteran issues, from educational help to vocational rehabilitation, from housing to citizenship.
“The guide, The American Veterans’ and Servicemembers’ Survival Guide, is published by the nonprofit advocacy group Veterans for America and available as a free download at veteransforamerica.org. It was written by veterans and others for a new generation of soldiers with old problems like post-traumatic stress and new ones like traumatic brain injury, the tragic legacy of Iraqi and Afghan roadside bombs. I encourage all veterans to acquire this valuable resource.”
Luna notes that this online publication has been praised by vets everywhere, who while routinely commending the dedication of advocates on their behalf, are frequently frustrated by the maze of federal rules and the incredibly slow pace at which post-service benefits are awarded or denied. “Hopefully, General Eric Shinseki, President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Luna adds, “will move quickly to make candidate Obama’s pledge to fully address the needs of service personnel and veterans a reality.”
Professor Paul Schwartz, Counseling Center and faculty advisor to City Tech’s Student Veterans Club, frequently encounters the toll that war-related traumatic experiences are taking on today’s student veterans. “Many veterans returning to civilian life and college after one or more tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan clearly show what stress and trauma can do to a person,” says Schwartz.
“While former military personnel frequently bring a high level of discipline, determination and purpose to their educational pursuits,” Schwartz adds, “much of what they have experienced in warfare has left them with psychological wounds that do not heal easily. They often find it necessary to conceal from other students the fact that they served over there during what has been so defining a part of their lives. ‘Operation Healthy Homefront’ went a long way toward letting them know that both City Tech and CUNY care and stand ready to assist them in every possible way in building productive lives for themselves and their families.”
City Tech has long supported its student veterans. A hallmark of the College is that it was founded 63 years ago to provide educational access and opportunity to veterans returning to civilian life from the Second World War. The Photo Gallery that follows reveals just how active a part of the City Tech and larger communities its student veterans are and how the College is supportive of their interests and activities. From trips to Washington, DC, participation in Memorial and Veterans Day activities, co-sponsorship of events that feature a music concert and taped interviews with vets from the various conflicts that have marked the past 60 years, these men and women are an active force both on and off campus. On campus and in other community venues, they have partnered with dental hygiene students in collecting funds in support of the highly successful and well-publicized “Send a Solider a Smile” campaign that provides much-needed dental healthcare supplies to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The Student Wellness Center was delighted to help plan and stage this invaluable event,” says Burmeister. “Veterans have put their lives on the line for all of us, and we owe it to them to do everything within our power to assist them in more easily obtaining the benefits to which they are entitled. In many ways the country has been remiss in this regard for far too long. ‘Operation Healthy Homefront’ was one small effort to help right this wrong.”
Photo Gallery
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