UI program offers support for vets

Chase Clark politely declines to describe how he got injured during combat while serving his country.

The Blackfoot, Idaho, native returned to the states with injuries that will hound him for a lifetime. And he felt the frustration of many returning soldiers who face administrative headaches when they try to tap into government resources and programs that could help them carve out new lives.

But last year Clark learned about a program at the University of Idaho called Operation Education. It’s believed to be the only scholarship program in the country that pays full tuition, housing and even child care for any veteran wounded since Sept. 11, 2001, who applies and is accepted. The program even pays for veterans’ spouses.

“When I first heard about it, I got really excited because it was offering a lot of help that wouldn’t be covered by other avenues,” said Clark, a 23-year-old sophomore landscape architecture major. “I jumped on that opportunity. I’m really glad I took part.”

Karen White, chairwoman of the Operation Education scholarship program, hopes other colleges and universities follow Idaho’s lead. She and her husband, UI President Tim White, have written more than 5,000 letters they intend to send by the end of the month to every college and university president in the country asking them to adopt similar programs.

“It’s a particularly useful gift for the veterans with disabilities,” Karen White said. “They are the ones who really have to rethink how they are going to support themselves and their families. If they can’t rely on their bodies as much anymore; they are going to have to rely on their brains, and higher education will give them those tools needed to be successful.”

Because the program uses donated funds and services, the university can accept only about three or four applicants a year. The program will top out when it reaches about 20 students, White said.

“That’s why we have this need, or strong desire, to approach other schools to start the same program on their own campuses,” she said. “We know most students would prefer to go to school close to their support system. So it would be great to have Operation Educations scattered across the country so students wouldn’t have to come to Idaho to take advantage of this type of scholarship.”

The idea came from Heidi Linehan, the university’s director of development, White said. Linehan visited her daughter, who volunteers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. After seeing the determination of wounded service members there, Linehan returned to Moscow and began asking what the university could do to help.

“Heidi was the inspiration. But since then it really has been a group effort,” White said.

An attorney in Moscow provides veterans free legal help. A financial planning firm offers monetary advice. And Gritman Medical Center, in Moscow, is providing free physical therapy so Chase Clark doesn’t have to travel 80 miles each way, three times a week, to the VA Hospital in Spokane.

“If the veteran is not interested or able to attend school, the spouse could apply,” White said. “We want the family unit to be successful.”

Medical advances on the battlefield have ensured that soldiers are surviving injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan that probably would have been fatal in Vietnam, Korea and World War II, White said.

“As a result, we are seeing an influx of wounded veterans. Even if the war stopped today, the numbers are unbelievably huge,” she said. “This country’s support system is just not ready for the staggering number of wounded veterans.”

Sean Burlile, 37, works as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Boise. Burlile lost hearing in his right ear while serving as a firefighter on an aircraft carrier during Operation Desert Storm. He said coming home from combat can be particularly hard on military reserve and National Guard units.

Burlile explained that active-duty units get a two-week course to make them aware of all the available benefits from Veterans Affairs and other resources to help them transition back into civilian life. But many reserve or guard units go home to a city that often doesn’t have many services.

“I don’t want to say it’s the VA not doing a good job or the National Guard not doing a good job, but they are slipping through the cracks,” Burlile said. “The VA does provide good service, but when someplace like the University of Idaho develops programs like Operation Education, it takes a burden off the taxpayer and really helps the veteran.”

Burlile, a doctoral candidate at UI, is scheduled Monday to defend his dissertation, “The experience of transitioning from the armed forces to the civilian work force as a result of service connected disabilities.”

For his research, Burlile interviewed 10 disabled veterans about their transitions back into the work force. He also works with many returning veterans as part of his job.

Many of those men and women came home suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries from roadside bombs, orthopedic problems and myriad other issues.

While veterans have the Montgomery G.I. Bill to help pay for their education, the current benefit does not come close to providing the same level of support the government afforded veterans from past generations, Burlile said.

That leaves some veterans, like 28-year-old Tom Prewitt, to make tough decisions – he didn’t make enough money to pay for child care as he finished his degree at Idaho. Fortunately for Prewitt, he university accepted him in the program last January and provided a $400 monthly payment, enabling his wife to go back to work as a registered nurse.

Prewitt, a Wisconsin native, suffered ankle and knee injuries during training prior to his deployment with the 101st Airborne to Afghanistan in 2002. He became Operation Education’s first graduate in May with a degree in wildlife biology, and now he works as a wildlife biologist for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in Plummer.

“Your average veteran has lived life for a couple years. They have bills and debt and other needs. Bills don’t stop when you are in school,” Prewitt said.

And tuition is one of many roadblocks that wounded veterans must overcome, he said.

“Many are suffering from mental trauma or physical trauma. If you take one less thing for them to worry about, it’s that much easier,” Prewitt said. “I really do believe more would go back to school. I think it’s a way to give back to veterans. They have given so much.”