10A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FEATURE
MONDAY,APRIL14,2003
LEFT: Andy Burton (left), assistant dean of architecture, drafting, engineering and railroad technology at Johnson County Community College teaches a railroad class with Bill Parks, manager of safety and rules. Along with teaching railroad courses, Burton educates students by using locomotive simulators.
RIGHT: Burton helps to teach a class for domestic violence offenders at the Jackson County Courthouse. "The Defendant Education program was initiated four years ago because most social services are for the victim and not the defendant," Burton said. "Society needs to treat the problem, not the victim, to stop the cycle of violence."
Vietnam veteran faces disability, lives life of community service
ABOVE: Sergeant Andy Burton poses with his M-14 rifle at Nha Trang firebase South Vietnam in 1969. Burton was stationed in South Vietnam for 26 months from 1968 to 1970.
RIGHT: Doctoral candidate Andy Burton talks with graduate Linda Heitzman-Powell about his research project at the Applied Behavior Analysis conference at Dole Center on March 22. Burton's research concerns behavior modification with clients at the Leavenworth Veterans Administration campus.
BELLOW: Leavenworth graduate student Andy Burton (left) talks with a client at the Veterans Affairs complex in Leavenworth. Part of Burton's course work involves working with veterans who live in a group home at the complex.
Story and Photos by Dan Nelson
Before his fellow doctoral classmates were even born, Andy Burton was serving his country in Vietnam. But being a disabled veteran hasn't kept him from pursuing a degree in Developmental and Child psychology at the University of Kansas.
Burton graduated from Tavares High School in central Florida in 1967. Soon after graduation, he volunteered for the army and was sent directly to South Vietnam.
His clerk/typist job description did not mean he was immune from combat. The firebase where he was stationed near the coast of Vietnam was frequently attacked by the Viet-Cong.
"In the heat of battle you hear screaming, you hear gunshots, you don't hear anything, you hear your heartbeat, you hear everything," Burton said. "It's not like what it is on TV."
But he did compare the experience of combat to the beginning of the movie Saving Private Ryan. Ordeals such as going out to pick
up the bodies after a firefight still give him nightmares. He said the daily life-and-death struggle still affected him and how he saw the world.
"I think I was robbed of my youth." Burton said.
He said he thought his combat experience was largely responsible for his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Other problems Burton has include degenerative arthritis in several joints and skin rashes he believes were caused by Agent Orange; a defoliant used by the American military in Vietnam.
He is in charge of a sprawling complex at Johnson County Community College dedicated to training engineers for jobs with the railroad.
American military in
When he is not working on his
doctorate at the University of
Kansas, Burton is assistant dean
of Architecture, Drafting, Engineering and Railroad Technology
at Johnson County Community
College. He has a family history of
railroad workers, as his great-
grandfather was an engineer on
steam locomotives and his father
was a conductor.
Burton also helps out with the Domestic Violence Victim/Witness Assistance Center in Kansas City, Mo. Every other Saturday morning, he helps teach a class for people who have been arrested for domestic violence offenses. Burton was recruited as a presenter four years ago when the program started.
Part of his practicum includes working with veterans at the VA complex in Leavenworth. He assists veterans who live there with hygiene, money management and other living skills.
Burton is working with the VA and Catholic Community Services to renovate dormitories on the VA property that will be used to house veterans and families who need assistance with addictions and other problems. Once the program begins, Burton will have an office on the VA property where he will be counseling veterans after he earns his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University. He said he had about two more years until he graduated.
- Edited by Anne Mantey
Burton counts out one of the many medications he takes for conditions such as degenerative arthritis and a skin rash possibly caused by Agent Orange. Burton is a disabled Vietnam veteran.
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