Frontline combatants in Iraq are scheduled to come home by the end of 2011 and the Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing for their return with a program called Operation Welcome Home.

“I like being at this school and this organization, because we are part of a greater good,” said Nicole Gim, Student Veterans Organization (SVO) Vice President and US Air Force loadmaster.

“We are helping the new student veterans find what they need within the school as far as benefits go,” adden Gim.

“Operation Welcome Home is on a bigger scale and I’ve never been involved directly with it, but I feel really good about it.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs has called on many of the other veteran groups to give a helping hand to Operation Welcome Home by doing fundraisers and displaying small advertisements, according to Student Veterans Organization (SVO) President Christopher Palisoc.

Among those groups is the SVO at CSUEB, who is raising money and awareness for the troops that come back and plan to attend CSUEB.

When troops come home they usually go through two weeks of debriefing classes that teach them how to blend back into civilian life.

When these troops return, some are sick with mental illness and physical injuries, and there are patient advocates at the VA hospitals that help guide these men and women as far as access to benefits and treatment.

The money that is collected from the fundraisers all go to a fund set aside for Operation Welcome Home, and places more patient advocates into the healthcare system as one of the benefits, according to Gim.

“I know a great deal about the medical benefits available for veterans, and getting involved in Operation Welcome Home is a great opportunity for me to get involved with the VA and assist these veterans—especially the ones coming home to our school system at CSUEB,” said Gim.

The state also gives substantial benefits for disable veterans.

These benefits include fully paid tuition for their children and many more, according
to SVO Secretary Sam Lao, a Navy Reservist and assistant training officer.

It is important to raise as much money as possible so that the information and guidance these troops need is readily available, said to Lao.

“I had a friend that got out in 2004 and he didn’t know anything about the Post 9-11 GI Bill that assists with school a great deal,” said Lao. “He started school in 2009 at the same time the Post 9-11 passed and he still didn’t know about it, because the information was not passed to him.

The main goal of the Operation Welcome Home and the SVO’s involvement
is to make sure this doesn’t happen anymore.”