College, vets vow to help Giunta in transition - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

College, vets vow to help Giunta in transition

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Medal of Honor recipient Army Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta will find a comprehensive array of services in Fort Collins to smooth his transition into civilian life, from advocates and colleagues at Colorado State University to the veterans administration and fellow returned soldiers.

Giunta, the nation’s first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War, will end his Army career in June and move to Fort Collins to pursue his education, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

Giunta and his wife, Jenny, plan to move to Fort Collins, where he will attend school. The spokesman said he didn’t know what school Giunta will attend, and Colorado State University officials said they couldn’t comment on any prospective student because of privacy laws.

Giunta received the medal following heroic actions to save a fellow soldier during a firefight in Afghanistan. Giunta, 26, made his decision not to re-enlist before he received the Medal of Honor, his public affairs officer, Todd Oliver, wrote in an e-mail Tuesday from Italy.

Giunta told the Army News Service in late January: “I hopefully will find my way to Colorado, and I’m looking at hopefully Colorado State. I’m looking at either of two things, business or natural resource management. I don’t really know, but I know knowledge is power, and I’ll just see where it takes me.”

CSU is well known for its business and natural resource management programs, and it has also been recognized for the services it provides returning veterans.

For instance, CSU has been named as a top military friendly school in the nation, according to G.I. Jobs magazine. The 2011 list of Military Friendly Schools honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s veterans as students.

Criteria for making the Military Friendly Schools list included efforts to recruit and retain military and veteran students, results in recruiting military and veteran students, and academic accreditations. Schools on the Military Friendly Schools list also offer additional benefits to student veterans such as on-campus veterans programs, credit for service and military spouse programs, the university said.

CSU also offers special programs that help veterans struggling with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder integrate into the campus community. The New Start Program is being implemented by the Center for Community Partnerships, a service and outreach arm of the Department of Occupational Therapy in the College of Applied Human Sciences.

New Start tailors a re-entry system for veterans to help them begin local career and educational pursuits. New Start pairs returned veterans with a buddy who can help negotiate pitfalls that might trigger PSTD such as large crowds and noisy places, arrange internships to help determine job compatibility, or coordinate with university officials about class schedules and credits.

The program is free to the veterans, paid for by the referring agency, such as the VA or the state vocational rehabilitation program.

CSU even offers a veterans-only first-year composition course.

While the course requires students to meet the same written communication objectives as a “regular” composition class, the course provides veteran-students with a cohort of fellow veterans who share experiences and perspectives; supportive, veteran-friendly faculty who have experience with the military and veterans; and opportunities to develop materials for the “Veteran Students Survival Manual,” an information packet distributed to student-veterans at the ALVS Veteran Student Orientations each fall.

Jan Rastall, director of adult learner and veterans services at CSU, said the university has long believed that veterans deserve support and encouragement in light of their service. “And when they desire to make a career change, it’s up to us to help ensure they are successful in whatever path they choose after service,” she said.

CSU senior William Denton, who served in the Army Reserve as a military police officer, said the veterans’ community at CSU is already abuzz with talk of Giunta’s possible arrival. Denton, 28, returned from combat in Iraq two years ago this month. He said the military community of Fort Collins will respect Giunta’s likely desire for a “quiet exit to civilian life.”

According to CSU, approximately 700 student veterans are enrolled at CSU, a number that increases by 10 percent each semester. CSU created the veterans service office, under the auspices of the adult learning department, as a way to provide support while also helping integrate veterans into the greater campus community.

A new state law also grants military veterans who move to Colorado in-state tuition starting in their first semester, regardless of prior residency.

Said Denton: “He won’t have a problem flying under the radar, if he wants to. Everyone’s just honored that he picked CSU, like they did. The veterans’ community is there for him.”

Denton said he struggled to transition back to civilian life after spending a year in Iraq worried about roadside bombs and being shot at. He said his wife, Lauren, has been “my rock, my biggest fan,” and that having her support helped him shift his focus from combat to college.

Denton, who is also the junior vice commander of VFW Post 1781 in Fort Collins, said the locally based Veterans Administration clinic will save Giunta from driving far for health care, and that the VA advocate at CSU will help navigate the reams of government paperwork necessary to access GI Bill benefits.

He said Giunta’s Army experience and combat training will likely help him keep focused on his goal of graduating with a degree, even while surrounded by the distractions of civilian life and 18- to 22-year-old classmates who are living on their own for the first time.

“Who is more deserving of pursuing a college education than someone who has served and sacrificed so much?” Denton said.