By: Conner Williams Editor in Chief
Western’s Veteran Success Center has a new coordinator and is looking to revamp its image and purpose amongst the WOU community.
“I want to help reintegrate student veterans into society while still accommodating where they’re coming from,” said Andrew Holbert, coordinator for the department. Holbert served in the Marine Corps for four years and did a tour in Iraq in 2008 and 2009. He graduated from Corban University in Salem and became the coordinator for the veteran’s services office at WOU shortly after.
“We provide an academic setting to vets coming from different backgrounds than traditional students, as well as advising for veterans,” said Holbert as he spoke about the functions of the department.
Holbert said that he doesn’t want student veterans to have to ditch their identities as veterans during their education and reintegration into society. Cody Knight, student veteran liaison for the department, reiterated the notion of helping veterans acclimate to everyday social environments without sacrificing their backgrounds and identities. Knight served in the Army for five years and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011.
“I think the environment here used to be that you would come here and hide in the hole away from people before you went to school,” Knight said. “We’re trying to be more inviting to students […] If somebody wants to come and talk to us, we are more than willing to talk to people […] We don’t want to be looked at as crazy veterans that are separate from society.”
Knight noted that while the individuals at the department are not certified counselors, they want to make themselves available to have conversations with those that need to talk.
“It’s more of a veteran-to-veteran type of thing,” said Knight.
“You know that when you come here, you’re coming to an area of shared experiences,” added Holbert.
“I’m trying to be focused in on the pulse of the vets on campus,” Holbert said. “This program is trying its best to make sure that [veterans’] time here at WOU is successful.”
When asked about the recent incident in Hawaii involving the reported death of 12 Marines after two helicopters collided, Holbert and Knight spoke about the relative frequency of training accidents and how they compare to other events that affect the military community.
“While we in no way want to take away from the memory of Ty Hart and the grief his family feels, the reality is that these things do happen,” said Holbert.
He then noted that an average of 22 veterans commit suicide every day.
“There’s a lot of groups out there trying to be proactive in helping veterans,” said Holbert.
Knight noted that the widespread media attention that the incident in Hawaii received was probably due to it being reported by a civilian and the fact that it occurred stateside.
“[Training accidents] do happen and they are often less acknowledged,” said Knight. “A lot of times it has to do with poor equipment or training, or guys that haven’t slept in 36 hours.”
“The reality of it is that if a bug hits a propeller, it might throw you off to the right or something,” said Holbert about possible variables that could cause accidents to occur.
Holbert and Knight did not speak about the incident in Hawaii in an insignificant manner, but they showed concern that widespread media attention might take away from the value of the lives of other service men and women around the world that lose their lives every day.
The Veteran Success Center is located in WUC 108 on the bottom floor.
For more information, follow the department on Facebook at facebook.com/wouvets
