Almost every new student that matriculates at Dartmouth walks through College President James Wright's office and learns about several items in his office that are particularly meaningful to the president of the College. One of these objects -- a small knife used by Wright when he was a member of the United States Marines -- will hold particular significance for three students, all veterans of the war in Iraq, who will enroll in the College this coming fall.
The matriculation of these three men, all of whom served as U.S. Marines in Iraq, is in part the result of Wright's efforts to provide college counseling to wounded veterans of the war in Iraq. In conjunction with the American Council on Education -- a Washington-based organization that conducts research and public policy advocacy related to higher education -- Wright began a pilot program that serves as an academic advisory service to support and develop the educational and career goals of severely injured veterans.
The idea for the initiative came during the summer of 2005 on Wright's first visit to the Walter Reed National Army Medical Center in Washington D.C., the army's largest medical center on the East Coast. The visit, inspired by heavy casualties incurred by the Marines in Fallujah that summer, opened Wright's eyes to the need for a program that could answer the veterans' specific questions about their educational future.
"I realized as I was talking to these young men and women that they had specific questions about college," Wright said. "What we needed to find was someway to tie these wounded veterans to specific programs."
Though service members are provided with extensive resources through the Department of Defense Voluntary Education program, veterans often lose access to these programs when they leave active duty. In recent years, advances in medical care and the speed with which care is provided greatly increased the survival rate of those injured on the battlefield.
"With the threshold for medical-related discharges from military services having been raised, many veterans returning to civilian life have sustained significant injuries and they often face difficult transitions in many aspects of their lives," James Selbe, the director of program evaluation at the ACE told the New York Times.
The program is now in place at Walter Reed, Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland and Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas and so far has provided college counseling services to over 40 wounded veterans since its inception in Feb. 2007. For his part, Wright visited the three hospitals nine times, and his fundraising efforts have raised almost enough money to cover the costs of the pilot program.
"I go bed to bed when I am there and try to talk to them and ask them what their ambitions are for the rest of their lives," Wright said. "It has been an inspiring experience for me. I am not sure how much I inspire them, but it has been a very moving experience. Sometimes I walk out of the room nearly in tears because of their absolutely positive attitudes."
Of the three former Marines that have been admitted to the College, two participated in the ACE program. Wright encouraged one of the Marines, Samuel Crist, who he met during one of his first hospital visits, to enroll in classes at his local college. Crist later applied as a transfer student to Dartmouth. The second Marine, who may defer enrollment due to necessary physical and emotional adjustments, was identified through the program. The third applied to Dartmouth on his own accord. Wright invited the three men to Hanover in May to ensure that they are familiar with the campus.
"These guys have already proven they can adapt to pretty tough situations and I think that they will adapt well to Dartmouth and that Dartmouth will adapt well to them," Wright said. "Inside and outside the classroom these guys have had some life experiences that will be of interest to people, and I don't think they will mind being called upon to share these experiences. I don't expect them to be known as the Iraq veterans, but I do expect they will have interesting views and opinions and that they will share those."
