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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2009
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VOLUME 121 ISSUE 75
"School is incredibly hard for veterans." Matt Stroh Wichita sophomore and Iraq War veteran
Matt Stroh, Wichita sophomore, displays his Iraq war memorabilia, including the book of Edgar Allen Poe's works to his left. Stroh often read while he was in Iraq to pass the time.
Challenges await veterans returning to college
BY ANNA ARCHIBALD aarchibald@kansan.com
Underneath his blankets, a cold sweat interrupts his sleep. That single, life-altering day two years ago still haunts his dreams — well, nightmares.
The Marine unit was on a routine mission in Fallujah, Iraq, at 2 a.m. Everything seemed normal. Matt Stroh was on top of the Humvee keeping a lookout with his M240G machine gun, which was attached to the top of the vehicle. He sat down. Not a second later, he heard a loud bang, followed by a bright flash of light. Stroh's head slammed against the side of the vehicle. His body twisted and he landed in pain. They'd been hit.
He jerks himself awake. Heart racing, he
realizes where he is, or more importantly, where he is not.
Before returning to Kansas in Spring 2008, Stroh was stationed in Fallujah as an active duty machine gunner with the Marine Corps' 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, Golf Company. While on a mission, he was hit with an improvised explosive device. He suffered severe back injuries and has difficulty hearing out of his right ear.
Alone in his parents' basement, Stroh, Wichita sophomore, remembers what his dad told him days before; they could hear him yelling while the nightmare played in his sleep.
"At first, I drank all the time so I didn't really have to deal with anything. It didn't really hit me until this spring." Stroh said.
"I feel like a 42-year-old in a 22-year-old's body."
Since his return, Stroh has faced a slew of emotional and psychological problems, but that hasn't stopped him from being a full-time student at the University of Kansas since Fall 2008.
Betty Childers, the University's Veterans Affairs certifying official, said that Stroh is one of more than 325 students currently certified as veterans at the University.
"More veterans are enrolling in universities because of the GI Bills," Childers said. "It's great, but it can be really hard for them to go to class with other students who haven't had quite the same experiences when they get back."
Like Stroh, many student veterans face
Stroh waits at an observation post in Iraq. He said he picked up a variety of habits while in Iraq, including smoking.
SEE VETERANS ON PAGE 4A
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