2008 Woodie Awards
Veteran student works on college benefits
By J.A. Garcia
Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: News
Originally published: 4/19/07 at 6:30 PM CSTLast update: 4/19/07 at 6:30 PM CST
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If you happened to be watching the news at 6:30 p.m. April 13, on KSAT-12, you would have seen Jim Joslyn, the station's vice president and general manager, deliver an editorial on veterans deserving benefits at the end of the news segment.
"From health care to disability, veteran benefits are falling short of where they should be and leaving vets with broken promises," Joslyn said.
Marketing freshman James Sutton, a student at this college, will add educational services and funding as another area of benefits veterans are falling short on.
Sutton is a former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps who has come up with ideas to provide more benefits for war veterans returning from active duty who are pursuing a higher education - especially for those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Sutton served in the Marine Corps for eight years and was deployed to Iraq three times, serving seven month long tours.
He also worked as a senior urban assault instructor in the Urban Warfare Training Center at Marine Corps Base 29, in 29 Palms, Calif.
There he trained combat Marines preparing for deployment to Iraq.
If necessary, he would follow units that needed additional training to Iraq for two- to three-week periods.
Sutton explained that after returning to San Antonio upon leaving the military, he enrolled at this college for the spring semester and began his first class, SDEV 0170, Orientation to College, a week before the semester started, but immediately felt out of place.
He felt awkward being around people he couldn't identify with.
"When I was in freshman orientation and we had to give examples of things we've done in the past, all my examples were military stuff and everybody looked at me like 'he is crazy,'" Sutton said.
He got so discouraged at one point that he started talking to local recruiters to see when the next unit of Marines would be going to Iraq so he could join them, he said.
"I wanted to go back to Iraq because that is where I felt comfortable," Sutton said.
"From health care to disability, veteran benefits are falling short of where they should be and leaving vets with broken promises," Joslyn said.
Marketing freshman James Sutton, a student at this college, will add educational services and funding as another area of benefits veterans are falling short on.
Sutton is a former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps who has come up with ideas to provide more benefits for war veterans returning from active duty who are pursuing a higher education - especially for those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Sutton served in the Marine Corps for eight years and was deployed to Iraq three times, serving seven month long tours.
He also worked as a senior urban assault instructor in the Urban Warfare Training Center at Marine Corps Base 29, in 29 Palms, Calif.
There he trained combat Marines preparing for deployment to Iraq.
If necessary, he would follow units that needed additional training to Iraq for two- to three-week periods.
Sutton explained that after returning to San Antonio upon leaving the military, he enrolled at this college for the spring semester and began his first class, SDEV 0170, Orientation to College, a week before the semester started, but immediately felt out of place.
He felt awkward being around people he couldn't identify with.
"When I was in freshman orientation and we had to give examples of things we've done in the past, all my examples were military stuff and everybody looked at me like 'he is crazy,'" Sutton said.
He got so discouraged at one point that he started talking to local recruiters to see when the next unit of Marines would be going to Iraq so he could join them, he said.
"I wanted to go back to Iraq because that is where I felt comfortable," Sutton said.
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