From soldier to civilian

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - It’s a scene being played out nationwide: military men and women marching into crowded gymnasiums and armories to cheers, hugs and kisses from family and friends.

With the end of the Iraq War and the expected drawdown of forces from Afghanistan, these homecomings are happening more and more.

But after the homecomings end, the true work of coming home begins.

Education

For some veterans, life after deployment involves college study, study which would be unaffordable without military service.

“Without the guard, I’d have a lot of student loans,” said Specialist Jessica Uchytil, who deployed to Iraq in 2008 and now studies music at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College. “I’d be paying off student loans until I retired.”

Uchytil, like many veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, qualifies for education benefits under the post-9/11 G.I. Bill.

Depending on the length and type of service, student veterans who qualify for the bill can be reimbursed for full in-state tuition, book fees and a monthly living stipend.

Still, experts say most veterans never use their education benefits.

“By the Veterans Administration’s own admission, only 15 percent, I believe … of veterans use their education benefits that they have eligible to them,” said Mike Caress, a veterans’ benefits coordinator at Indiana State University. “There’s so many of them that don’t use their education benefits.”

Some veterans are overwhelmed by the variety and requirements of education benefits, Caress said, while others do not know they qualify for benefits at all.

Helping veterans navigate their benefits is part of his daily work.

“He’s a wizard when it comes to the (Veterans’ Administration),” said Cody Eslick, a student veteran at ISU. “There’s just tons of information out there, and it gets really confusing, so it helps to have someone out there who can help you through the process.”

Still, Caress said many other veterans worry that they will not manage college life.

“It’s really tough to get people who have been away from school, have taken a different path, to step back and go back to school,” Caress said, “but once they do make that step, I think most of them are pleasantly surprised at how well they do.”

In many cases, veterans prove better-prepared for college life than students coming directly from high school.

“They’ve got two things going for them over what they typical college freshman has coming out of high school,” Caress said. “They’ve got maturity and … they have time management skills that the military has taught them.”

Jobs

Many more veterans come home in search of jobs, jobs which can sometimes prove elusive.

“Some of them find a minimum wage job or something like that to hold them over, but it’s definitely not enough to really keep them going in the long-term,” said Uchytil. “It’s tough to see veterans struggle like that, especially since they worked so hard for so long and did all that training.”

At last count, 9.1 percent of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan were listed as unemployed.

Though that percentage has declined over the past two years, it is still higher than the national unemployment rate.

Doug Meissel works with veterans in the Wabash Valley and says many have returned to an economy that cannot provide jobs.

“They didn’t have jobs before they went, so they joined the service to have employment,” said Meissel, a veteran himself. “Now that they’re having the draw-down, they’re bringing the reservists back and the reservists are coming back to an economy that … the arms aren’t open for them.”

Meissel said that the emotional struggles of job loss can be particularly tough for those returning from service overseas.

“A lot of them are traumatized in some way or another. It’s quite a shock when you come back to an economy where there’s no job either,” Meissel said. “Trying to keep the veterans off the street and care for them properly … is part of the goal.”

To meet that goal, Meissel has started the Terre Haute Veterans Expo, an event in its second year which hosts services for veterans along with potential employers.

This year’s expo is scheduled for March 6 ^th and will be held at VFW Post 972 at 1111 Veterans Square in Terre Haute from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Regardless of the ways veterans find jobs, Meissel said many of them are set up for success in the workplace.

“Because we learn management skills in the military, you also can walk into an organization and be an asset just because of your military service,” Meissel said. “You carry a lot of ability to self-start and to self-supervise. You don’t need somebody to supervise you.”

For more information about Veteran's services, click here.