With the recent announcement by the Obama administration of plans to bring our military stateside after eight years in Iraq, is the mid-Hudson region ready to welcome these returning soldiers? And how is it dealing with those who have already come home?
Rockland Community College has done its part by opening a new Office of Veterans Affairs. The school offered a special health clinic and resume writing/transferable skills workshop for former military in October and has a career expo planned for Nov. 7 on the U.S.S. Intrepid. Transportation to and from RCC for its student veterans only and will leave the campus at 9:30 a.m. for “Be a Hero, Hire a Hero.”
Back on campus, while their classmates are looking at job prospects on the Intrepid, fellow students will hold a panel discussion, “War and Remembrance,” at the Ellipse in the Technology Center, free and open to the public, which begins at 10 a.m. It will also debut the school”™s art therapy exhibit, highlighting the work veterans have captured on canvas and paper, which will remain on view until Nov. 18.
The college will hold a special memorial service Nov. 11, Veterans Day, with a Marine Corps color guard, beginning at 9 a.m. After college President Cliff Wood gives opening remarks, student veterans will be afforded the ability to address the attendees.
“We are certainly doing everything we can to help,” Wood said. “We need to be prepared and do a better job in helping them adjust to civilian and student life.”
In September, a new Veterans Lounge was dedicated at RCC”™s Fieldhouse. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, members of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 333, announced five new annual scholarships endowed at RCC for veterans and their families, saying “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.” RCC has also received scholarship funds from Jewish and Korean War Veterans”™ organizations to help defray costs not covered by military benefits, including books and child care.
The college has enlisted the support of former Marine Jerry Donnellan, director of the Rockland County Office of Veterans Affairs.
“Jerry is an alumni of the college and also sits on our board of directors … he really understands what these young men and women are facing as they come back home,” Wood said. “I hope our student vets will make use of the Veterans Lounge … it will give them an opportunity to talk to others who have shared similar experiences and challenges readjusting to civilian life.”
For information about RCC”™s Office of Veteran Affairs, Jonathan  Barnwell can be reached at 574-4105. For information about veterans scholarships at RCC, please contact RCC Scholarship Chair Elissa Silverstein at 574-4403 or esilvers@sunyrockland.edu
“We want to provide a cushion,” Wood said. “Our returning vets have been through a very traumatic experience and we want to help make the transition from soldier to student as easy for them as we possibly can.”
Reading this story about returning vets, I recall when the troops came home from WWII-I lived in Tappan, and Camp Shanks (which was nearby) was converted to housing for returning vets who, with their families resided there while attending Columbia U. I babysat many of those children.
Pat Gilchrest