VA loans have proven to be resilient since the start of the recession in 2008. When mortgages issued under other loan programs came to a virtual halt, VA loans seemed to continue progressing at a steady pace.  Factors leading up to the 2008 mortgage crisis had little effect on the VA loan guaranty program.   

Just before Thanksgiving 2008, the Federal Government announced its $700 billion plan to bail out Wall Street.  Some were quick to blame the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan programs.  Understanding what part these loan programs played in the big picture can help explain why veterans’ mortgages appear bullet proof to one of the biggest mortgage impacts in history.

Fannie Mae was created in 1938 under Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.  In the wake of the Great Depression, the national housing market collapsed and private investors were reluctant to invest in home loans.  Fannie Mae provided local banks with federal money to finance home mortgages in an attempt to raise the levels of home ownership and the availability of affordable housing, as well as jump start the depressed economy.    

For thirty years, Fannie Mae operated like a national savings and loan, allowing local banks to charge low interest rates on mortgages to benefit home buyers.  This lead to the development of the secondary mortgage market.  Within this secondary market, companies such as Fannie Mae are able to borrow money from foreign investors at low interest rates due to the financial backing that they receive from the U.S. Government.  The ability to borrow at low rates allows Fannie Mae to provide fixed interest rate mortgages with low down payments to their borrowers. 

Until 1968, Fannie Mae held a veritable monopoly over the secondary mortgage market.  Under Lyndon B. Johnson, and due to economic urgencies created by the Vietnam War, Fannie Mae was privatized in order to “delete” the item from the national budget.  It was then that Fannie Mae began running the agency as a government sponsored enterprise (GSE), generating profits for stock holders and reaping the benefits of tax and oversight exemptions as well as implied government endorsement.   

To eliminate further monopolization of the market, a second GSE known as Freddie Mac was created in 1970.  Thereafter, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac controlled about 90 percent of the nation’s secondary mortgage market.  They both made their profits from the difference between the interest rates charged to homeowners and the lower rates that foreign lenders charged the agencies. 

During the last three decades of their existence, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s combination of private enterprises and public backing yielded them tremendous financial growth.  Their assets totaled 45 percent more than that of the nation’s largest bank. But, with unprecedented assets came greater liabilities equal to 46 percent of the national debt.  It was the combination of rapid growth and over leveraging, in part, that delivered the critical wound to the government-sponsored mortgage behemoths in the final quarter of 2008.

Incidentally, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the only two Fortune 500 companies not required to inform the public of any financial trouble.  Yet, in the event of a financial collapse within either or both of these companies, U.S. taxpayers would potentially be liable for the hundreds of billions of dollars in outstanding debts.

Certainly, part of the responsibility can be put on individual borrowers for stretching themselves too far financially and living beyond their means.  But, it’s this government-sponsored debt, and who held it, that completes the equation for the 2008 crisis experienced by the agencies.  In 2003, $654.8 billion of this government-sponsored debt was held by foreign investors.  With each passing year, the amount of this debt held by foreigners rose.  By the first quarter of 2008, foreign investors held $1.54 trillion in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt – 21.4 percent of which was held by official foreign authorities.  These official foreign investors were perhaps the most badly burned by the U.S. financial sector – and the U.S. stood to lose big in foreign relationships if something wasn’t done.   

With foreign investors much more cautious about gobbling up American debt, the bailout liability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be sold and marketed in an effort to heal the U.S. housing market and repair our damaged international financial standing.

Since the end of December 2008, bailout funds from the Fed have been pouring into the lending system, and banks are lending again.  For non-VA loans, this means borrowers can again get money to buy homes. The general belief that mortgages are again on the rise is a good thing for both non-VA loans and VA loans.

Understanding how VA loans work can help explain why VA loans faired so well in the mortgage crisis.  A portion of VA loans are guaranteed by the Federal Government, which means that the government will cover some of the lender’s losses in case of default.  This is why many lenders deem VA loans stable in an otherwise volatile mortgage world. 

At the beginning of December 2008, it was the general belief that mortgages of any kind were impossible to get. Many lenders had put such stringent qualification requirements on mortgages that most borrowers had to have 20% down and excellent credit to qualify. Because most borrowers don’t apply with perfect credit or 20% down, the natural result was an unofficial “hold” on lending. 

VA loans have their own set of qualifying standards; therefore, the VA loan program resisted the effects from this temporary hold on mortgages.  Zero down and 100% refinancing are standard for VA loans, and lenders typically able to obtain the same low rate they would normally award a non-VA borrower with excellent credit and 20% down.  VA-eligible borrowers can get a competitive rate whether their credit score is 605 or 810.  Separate qualifying standards, unique loan benefits and a strong federal guaranty have proved to be an effective combination in withstanding the recent mortgage crisis.

Fred Rendon Jr. was born in Dallas Texas and served in the United States Marine Corps as a Lance Corporal. E-3.  He served in Camp Pendleton California, Camp Lejune North Carolina, Camp Butler Okinawa, and DaNang Vietnam.

Stacey Chillemi: So tell me about yourself.

Fred Rendon: I enlisted in the Marine Corps at 16 years of age to report to training on my 17^th birthday. My father had recently moved us to California and I was not doing well in school due to all of the moving around we were doing. I knew the Marine Corps had a very difficult boot camp and I wanted to get into good shape, I wanted to fight for my country and I liked the Dress Blues.

My arrival at Marine Corps Recruiting Depot was like the beginning of a long nightmare. Boot camp is a very intense training program where the recruits are in the presence of a Drill Instructor every waking hour. The exercise is almost ever whelming. Just when you think, you cannot go any further you, exceed your own limits. There is no time to think about what you did or what you wish you had done, your focus is getting through the moment. The Drill Instructors in the sixties were very physical with the recruits. Yes, they would beat us. If you were not liked and you messed up, they would beat you even more. For punishment, the Drill Instructors would sometimes wake us up at 3:00 am and have us get into our tennis shoes and go out and run. We would run for a while and then we would head back to our barracks all of us thinking we were finally going back to sleep but the Drill Instructor would run us right by our barracks and keep going.  That was very upsetting to say the least. I thought it would never end but if you just do what you are told and push your self to your limits you can do anything. On completion of the course, I was probably in the best shape I had ever been in my life. I remember one instructor in particular Sgt. Salter, he was the only one of them to be half way human.

Stacey Chillemi: I heard you just wrote a book.  What is it about and what motivated you to want to write the book?

Fred Rendon: Yes, I wrote a book about my experiences with life after my time in Vietnam. I had a very difficult time trying to adjust back to my life, as I knew it before. I could no longer fit in with any sector, I felt very uncomfortable at home as well as the Marine Corps. I felt like everyone could see what I had done in Vietnam by looking in my eyes. I began wanting to be alone at home or at base I felt out of touch. I started having thoughts of worthlessness and desperation. I began hating being alive, I knew there was something wrong with me but I did not know what. After many years of problems, I started to check with the Veterans Hospital in Dallas Texas and they had a combat veterans group.  Veterans would describe their problems and when I heard their problems, I knew the same thing was wrong with me. However, I was not like those Veterans because they had done real scary things and been out in the jungles I did not do that, I had killed perhaps three people and that was the only combat I was involved in. I was scared quite often. I had a few friends killed one from my boot camp platoon Hawkins and one I met there in Vietnam Wayne Reece. The public does is unaware about PTSD.  They need to learn about it. There have been many movies about Vietnam the war, but not about Vietnam after math of what it does for veterans. I have seen a few movies about Vietnam and only one with Charlie Sheen called “Coming Home”, but it deals mostly with flash backs to the war. I want the public to see what PTSD is on a daily basis and how it evolves aver a period making the Veteran a hopeless victim where no one can see the scars. I wanted to show the ramifications of how the alcohol induced problems could tear a life apart. To this very day, I have not read a book about daily living with PTSD.

Stacey Chillemi: What is PTSD?

Fred Rendon: Posttraumatic stress disorder is the human minds reaction of witnessing death and destruction of life that is not a normal part of life. Often the events are so overwhelming that the human mind refuses to accept the event going on and it erases the memory so that the veteran cannot recall the event. Sometimes it starts many years after the trauma or many years later after a reunion of friends from the war, the death of a loved one, exposure to a similar stimulant. I get a strange feeling when I smell diesel fuel because we sued to use it on the roads to keep the dust down. The sound of a helicopter is also a trigger for many veterans. Isolation is a symptom that seems to be prevalent to PTSD, I began to hate being in a crowd.  I felt like a looser and a coward, I hated that I could not control my emotions. I would often cry for no reason. I hated being alive, I did not deserve to be alive when the real heroes had died over there. Why had I came back I did not deserve it, I did not fit anymore why was I being punished. Death would have been many times better than living this way.    

Stacey Chillemi: Did you have PTSD?

Fred Rendon: I knew while I was still in Vietnam waiting for the jet that would take me home that I did not feel normal anymore. I was going home but I felt different. After a few months in the States, I began to feel like I was going crazy I began having problems talking to people in the Marines and civilians. I felt like a looser a good for nothing Marine, I asked several times to see the base Psychiatrist while I was stationed in Camp Pendleton and I saw him and he said my problem had nothing to do with Vietnam it was that my parents had separated while I was in Vietnam. Doctors tried to hide the fact that it was the war that caused the PTSD.  I went along with, but it was not the case. I only kept thinking that this was going to be a horrible way to live. With destruction and chaos in my mind all, the time and I thought maybe everyone feels this way.  

Stacey Chillemi: How did PTSD affect your life?

Fred Rendon: PTSD affected my life from the time I was 19, in ways that were not visible to everyone. I could not concentrate I could not sit still I could not sleep at night. I was very uncomfortable all the time. I felt like people wanted to get me all the time. I could not feel good about myself. I had no self-esteem and in order to be sociable I had to drink alcohol. I did not drink like other people.  I drank to get drunk and I could act like normal people for a while, but then I would get very obnoxious and people did not want to be around me. I could not hold jobs because of the alcoholism, lateness to arrive at a job.  I would forget where I was going or I started to feel as though I was loosing my mind. I would have to pull over and cry and get my thoughts together and then try to get to work. No one would believe what was wrong with me and I did not know either so my life was like a roller coaster. I would have bursts of rage and anger that I did not know what to do. I had so much anger that I was afraid I would kill someone. I used to drive around in Mc Allen TX looking for people to shoot, I would have my pistol loaded and I would call to people and then point my gun at them, I wanted to kill some one and then I felt I could relax?????. I had many one-car accidents when I initially returned. I was arrested for DWI many times, which did not help my quest to get jobs with the government or anywhere else.

Stacey Chillemi: Did you get rid of PTSD?

Stacey the glory has to go to GOD if not for Him I would have committed suicide many years ago. I finally got rid of PTSD when I went through a program my daughter Debbie and Judy went through while getting rid of second hand PTSD. They went through the program and I could not believe the difference in them, so not long after that I decided to go through it also. I cannot get into the details of the program because each individual has to work his own program; the only thing I can tell you is that it worked a miracle for my daughters and me. When you hit rock bottom you become aware that the life you are living is unhealthy and change has to occur.  Once you accept it then it is up to you if you want to walk the right path to a road of recovery that leads to a healthy, happy and productive life.  The one thing I can definitely tell you is that I am rid of all of the symptoms, no more anxiety attacks, no more nightmares no more feelings of worthlessness, or thoughts of death. My mind cleared up and I am able to think more clearly my self-esteem came back and made me proud of myself for the first time in my life. I suffered from PTSD symptoms for 39 years, if I can get rid of it any one can get rid of it.

Stacey Chillemi: What are your strengths?

Fred Rendon: My strength is my ability to think things out and look for the best solution in situations I believe I can handle. Another part of my strength is being able to say I do not know when I do not know how to resolve a certain problem.  I am level headed and an optimist and very kind hearted.

Stacey Chillemi: What are your weaknesses?

Fred Rendon: My weaknesses are that I have a very giving heart; I try to buy love and friendship. I wish I could help everyone and sometimes I neglect my family when helping some one. I constantly ask someone for his or her opinion of a decision I have to make.

Stacey Chillemi: Which adjectives would you use to describe yourself?

Fred Rendon: Conscientious, loving, big hearted, happy and serving.  I am always very conscience of how someone else may be feeling about a certain situation. I have a sister in law who has Alzheimer’s and is getting worse, today when I saw her getting nervous and confused I began to cry at how scared she must feel. I can empathize with her because I used to feel like that when I felt like I was loosing control. I am a very loving father and I tell my children often that I love them so that there will never be a doubt in their mind about my love for them and my wife too. I am big hearted in that I will see a child in the store with the mom or dad and if the child wants a candy and I can see the parent cannot afford the item I will ask the parents permission to buy it for the child. If I see some one pushing a car, either I will use my vehicle to push or I will if I can get out and push.   I will usually be very happy to do a friend or a stranger a service like run an errand or do a favor.

Stacey Chillemi: Do you remember arriving in Vietnam and what was it like?

Fred Rendon: When I arrived in Vietnam I got my gear and got the assigned duty station and I got on the back of a passenger carrier and on our way out to my unit were shot at and that is when I knew this was to be a very serious situation, not just an adventure. It was strange that men walked down the street and held hands and that men and women if they needed to move their bowels they would stop on the side of the road and take care of business. I had been in Okinawa for several months so I was used to the Oriental part of the country.

Stacey Chillemi: Did you see combat?

Fred Rendon: I saw combat on hill 357 and engaged in combat. I never knew what reaction I would have until that afternoon.

Stacey Chillemi: Did you see combat?  Tell me about a couple of your most memorable experiences.  Were you a prisoner of war?  Tell me about your experiences in captivity and when freed.  Were you awarded any medals or citations?  How did you get them?

Fred Rendon: My most memorable experience in Vietnam was not a bad memory; it was the Bob Hope Christmas show in 1966. Mr. Hope brought his entourage of stars including Joey Heatherton and singers, beautiful women, comedian Phyllis Diller, singer Vic Damone and I think my all time favorite was Anita Bryant’s version of Silent Night. For me as well as for many others it was our first Christmas away from home and still for others this would be their last Christmas. The crowd arrived early in the sprinkling rain and waited for several hours for the arrival. What a great show Mr. Hope put on for us, the entire cast will live in the hearts forever.

Stacey Chillemi: How did you stay in touch with your family?

Fred Rendon: In 1966 we could stay in touch with our family be mail only and it was a wonderful yet sad time when mail came in. I would immediately imagine being at home again, so it was always bittersweet receiving mail.

Stacey Chillemi: Did you feel pressure or stress?

Fred Rendon: For me the stress was the reality of where I was. I was a jeep driver and so I was on the road quite often and especially a lone jeep it was stressful. We had old jeeps and they had bad tie rods and often time due to the bad roads and potholes they got very bad treatment and the tie rods would break down in the middle of nowhere. Many times, I would break down outside the compound and that was a very dangerous place to be alone waiting for a tow truck.

Stacey Chillemi: How did you get through it?  Was there something special you did for “good luck”?

Fred Rendon: I have never been one to have “good luck items” but my faith and trust in God was my good luck peace. I did wear a cross around my neck.

Stacey Chillemi: How did people entertain themselves?

Fred Rendon: Drinking beer and playing cards, we had a shed that served as a “bar” but there was nothing to do. We did have a view of a mountainside where often time’s firefights were taking place, napalm would be dropped, and that would be beautiful in the night.

Stacey Chillemi: Were there entertainers?

Fred Rendon: The only time we had entertainers was as I mentioned earlier the Bob Hope Show and then once Nancy Sinatra appeared at our small make shift stage and sang her new release of “These Boots Were Made for Walking”, great song and great lady to go over to entertain the troops. 

Stacey Chillemi: Do you recall the day your service ended?

Fred Rendon: After all the trouble I went through after my return to the United States I remember very well the day I got out of the service. It was January 9 1969. The time was about 9:00 am. I got my gear together and was signed out and then I began walking towards the gate until I got a ride. As I was going past the guard, I thought to my self, I hope they do not write saying I forgot something and bring me back. I thought my nightmare was over, so I thought.

Stacey Chillemi: What did you do in the days and weeks afterward?

Fred Rendon:  I knew right off I was not well mentally. I had problems being around people, the base psychiatrist had told me repeatedly there was nothing wrong with me so I suffered with all of the symptoms of PTSD but I did not know that. I thought that was just the way I was. I would try to work but the depression and my mood swings were overwhelming, I could not sleep at night, I stayed drunk and high on weed.

Stacey Chillemi: Did you work or go back to school?

Fred Rendon:  I tried to work I tried to go to school but I could not be around people. When I say I could not be around other people I mean I could not. It was a horrible feeling, which would last me about 20 years. The first ten years were a total… well the best way for me to describe it so that you can understand it is that I was naked for the world to see me all the time. I could not talk to people.  It was like being shy a thousand times over. When I was by myself, I would cry because I was sick but I did not know what to do. There was no one in the world I could talk too about the obstacles in my life that I was facing. I did not know anything about talking to a counselor or any one else. I had been to a psychiatrist in the Marine Corps and they dismissed me so I thought I was just in for a very hard time in life. I was always scared to talk to anyone about my problems because I felt like I was nobody. 

Stacey Chillemi: Did the G.I. Bill support your education?

Fred Rendon:  My schooling was supported for a while but before I knew it my 10 years time limit was gone. I wanted to but I could not do it. I could not concentrate. My hands would shake uncontrollably when I was taking a test and I literally could not write. Please understand there is no exaggeration.

Stacey Chillemi: Did you make any close friendships while in the service?

Fred Rendon:  In my mind, I made close friendships but the reality was that I did not. My last two years in the Marine Corps I was in and out of trouble and I was too ill to care about forming friendships.

Stacey Chillemi: Did you join a veteran’s organization?

Fred Rendon:  I joined the Disabled American Veterans and the Vietnam Veterans of American, Veterans of Foreign Wars and other similar organizations.

Stacey Chillemi: What did you go on to do as a career after the war?

Fred Rendon:  After the war, I went on to work in whatever place I could work at. I wish I could have gone to school but I could not because of an illness I did not understand and no one else could help me either. 

Stacey Chillemi: Did your military experience influence your thinking about war or about the military in general?

Fred Rendon:  My military service showed me that the military was not for me it was just Too difficult taking orders from career guys that were not too bright.

Stacey Chillemi: If in a veteran’s organization, what kinds of activities does your post or association have?

Fred Rendon:  Most service organization have a bar inside and many guys go there for shooting pool and dancing some have bingo games and then barbeque outings during Veterans day celebration.

Stacey Chillemi: How did your service and experiences affect your life?

Fred Rendon:  I want to tell you that I cannot be emphatic enough about the difficult life I lived due to PTSD.  I lost my life just as sure as if I had been in prison. I will never recuperate my time. I do not know if I have told you but ever since I learned to cope with PTSD, it is as if I am a new man. The problem now of course is how I fill the empty space left by PTSD. I do not know how to explain it but it is a strange and sometimes a sad feeling. I love life but at the same time, I lament what I lost.   I want to share my story with everyone who my life story can help. I will not tire of giving you thanks for the opportunity you are giving me.

This is an interview with Fred Rendon Jr. who served in Vietnam. This interview is by Veteran Journal on the following date: April 22, 2009.  The interviewer is Stacey Chillemi.

The Mission:

Give an Hour is a non-profit organization that is putting an amazing effort to develop national networks of volunteers who are qualified professionals that are able to treat both acute and chronic conditions that occurred from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Purpose:

A large group of U.S. troops and families are being affected by the current military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Give an Hour is asking mental health professionals nationwide to literally give an hour of their time each week to provide free mental health services to military personnel and their families.

Research during this timeframe will help determine the development of additional services needed by the military community, and appropriate networks are in the process of development to respond to those needs. Individuals who receive services will be given the opportunity to give an hour back in their own community.

How They Can Help You:

Give an Hour is reaching out to the military community in several ways.

The Services Give an Hour Provides:

Counseling services are offered to:

• Individuals
• couples and families
• children and adolescents

They offer treatment for:

• anxiety
• depression
• substance abuse
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• traumatic brain injuries
• sexual health and intimacy concerns
• loss and grieving

Did You Know…?

Besides the physical injuries sustained, countless servicemen and servicewomen have experienced psychological symptoms directly related to their deployment.

Over 18 percent of troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan — that’s nearly 300,000 people — have symptoms of post-traumatic stress or major depression. At the same time, about 19 percent of service members reported that they experienced a possible traumatic brain injury while deployed.

This means that millions of Americans including the spouses, children, parents, siblings, and unmarried partners of military personnel are all being harmfully affected by the stress of the wars.

The Facts…

• Since September 11, 2001, more than 1.6 million troops have been deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf. Nearly 550,000 of these troops have deployed more than once.
• As of May 2008, over 4,100 American troops have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Roughly, 31,850 U.S. troops have been injured during these conflicts.
• More than 100,000 combat veterans have sought help for mental illness since the start of the war.
• As of late 2006, 20 to 25 percent of the soldiers who have served in Iraq display symptoms of serious mental health problems, including depression, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
• The number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder from the Department of Veterans Affairs jumped by nearly 20,000 — almost 70 percent — in the 12 months ending June 30, 2007, VA records show.
• There are 400,000 licensed mental health professionals in the United States.
• The average licensed mental health provider charges $100 per hour for services.
• As of May 2008, Give an Hour has nearly 1,200 providers nationwide.
• Twenty percent of U.S. combat troops who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan leave with signs they may have had a concussion, and some do not realize they need treatment.
• Seventeen percent of the soldiers returning to war (for another tour) could have a traumatic brain injury.
• Women accounted for 14 percent of a total 27,000 recent veterans treated for PTSD in 2007.
• About one in every five married service members has filed for divorce since September 2001.
• More than 27,000 service members filed for divorce in 2004, a 44 percent increase over 2001.
• Reports of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and child neglect peaked during the main deployment of troops to Iraq in 2007.
• Across 45 states in 2005, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 every week, in just one year.
• There is an average of 18 suicides a day among America’s 25 million veterans, with more than one- fifth of those being committed by patients undergoing treatment by the VA.
• According to the 2008-RAND study, mental and brain disorders from the war could cost the U.S. economy more than $6 billion over the next two years. RAND predicts $2 billion of that could be saved if treatment is provided to the U.S. troops.

The Problem the US Military Faces:

Our military leaders are fully aware of the human cost of this campaign. The military is trying to attend to the psychological needs of the troops through a variety of programs offered by the military.

Unfortunately, due to the tremendous number of people affected makes it virtually impossible for the military to respond effectively to everyone due the massive amounts of peoples in the military community who require help.

Scary Facts to Consider:

• Forty-three percent of troops reported ever being evaluated by a physician for their head injuries.
• Returning combat veterans are suffering from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder and they are not routinely seeking the mental health services they need.
• Reports show that only 53 percent of service members with PTSD or depression sought help over the past year.

The Reasons Why Military Personnel Avoid Seeking Help:
A major barrier preventing military personnel from seeking appropriate treatment is the perception of stigma associated with mental health care. Many fear that seeking mental health services will jeopardize their career or standing. Others are hesitant to expose their vulnerabilities to counselors who are often military personnel themselves, given the military culture’s emphasis on strength, confidence, and bravery.

Servicemen and servicewomen might be more inclined to seek help if they know that the services provided are completely independent of the military. By providing services that are separate from the military establishment, we offer an essential option for men and women who might otherwise fail to seek or receive appropriate services. We are also offering services to parents, siblings, and unmarried partners who are not entitled to receive mental health benefits through the military. Although these individuals may have access to mental health services through other means, they are less likely to seek the help they need and deserve if that help is difficult to find or costly.

Give an Hour provides easy access to skilled professionals for all of the people affected by the current war. The participating mental health professionals offer a wide range of services including individual, marital, and family therapy; substance abuse counseling; treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder; and counseling for individuals with traumatic brain injuries.

What They Plan to Accomplish:

Give an Hour will focus will always be to attend to those in need by linking them to individuals in our society that can help them make a positive difference in their lives – change for the better.

For more information visit them at http://www.giveanhour.org or E-mail them at info @ giveanhour.org

Their mission:

·       To develop student veteran groups on college and university campuses and coordinate by region between existing groups.

·       Connect student groups with resources.

·       Advocate on behalf of student veterans at the state and national level.

Thousands of veterans exit military service every month only to find an overwhelming combination of emotional, financial, and cultural obstacles standing between them and a college education. SVA is dedicated to ensuring these veterans do not slip through the cracks on their journey through higher education toward a better quality of life.

How it began:

M Ann Arbor student Derek Blumke founded the organization in January 2008. Over the last year, Blumke has been lobbying Congress to improve the current GI Bill to increase the amount of aid that student veterans receive.

What are Student Veterans Groups?

Student veterans groups are student groups that have formed on college and university campuses to provide peer-to-peer networks for veterans who are attending those schools. These groups coordinate campus activities, provide pre-professional networking, and generally provide a touchstone for student veterans in higher education. These local groups are an important part of ensuring that every veteran is successful after their service.

Other services they provide are:

·       Informal social meetings that serve as peer support groups

·       Benefits seminars and counseling in conjunction with other organizations

·       Publication of newsletters and brochures

·       Local service projects and volunteer work

·       Pre-professional networking

·       To coordinate campus activities

·       Provide a professional networking

·       Continue advancement of veterans

·       Provide open communication.

Did you know that Over 520,000 veterans are currently using their education benefits? These local peer support groups are an important part of ensuring that every veteran is ultimately successful in higher education.  They are advocates on behalf of the student veterans at the local, state, and national levels. 

Who is the executive staff?

The executive staff creates various types of communication between groups, connecting these groups with resources from outside their campuses, and organizes these groups to advocate at the state and national level for the common needs of student veterans.

However, that is not all the Student Veterans of America are trying to accomplish. The SVA chapter in Michigan will soon be lobbying the state Senate to recognize all student veterans as in-state students and remove out-of-state tuition rates for student veterans at public universities.

Through paid staff and dedicated volunteers at military hospitals, the Severely Injured program provides support and educational guidance to disabled veterans and their families.  Student Veterans of America is helping the Severely Injured program by providing student veteran advocates on campuses and a volunteer staff at military hospitals nationwide. SVA strongly believes that all student veterans, including the severely injured, can learn lessons from each other’s experiences and struggles during their transition into higher education.

How can you get involved…?

Student Veterans of America is comprised of member groups. In order to become a member of SVA, you must be a registered student organization at your college or university.  To become a member is providing SVA with your primary points of contact, an academic advisor, and your group’s constitution.

How you can start your own veteran’s organization…

If you are, an individual interested in starting a student veterans organization, contact SVA office and they will put you in contact with your Regional Director. This individual can help you get started on how to start a chapter of SVA on your campus—including sample constitutions and other informative resources.

Contact Information

For more information on how you can be apart of this great organization contact John Powers, Executive Director, at  202-470-6100 or email John Powers at john.powers @ studentveterans.org

Online go to http://www.studentveterans.org

Other helpful links on their web site:

·       If your student veterans organization would like to become a member of SVA, go to http://www.studentveterans.org/chapterinfo/member_signup.php

·       If you would like to find a student veterans organization at a campus near you, go to http://www.studentveterans.org/chapterinfo/chapterlocator.php

          For many service members, the return from an overseas assignment can be bittersweet.  Reunion with wives, husbands, children and other family members is sweet, but some of the emotional baggage brought back is bitter.  This is even more the case for those who are the survivors of childhood sexual abuse.   For many, the exposure to violence related to military service, magnifies and aggravates the pain he or she experiences related to the childhood sexual abuse.   Both during and after military service, service members are often left with overwhelming emotional responses relating to multiple sources of trauma.  

            Unfortunately, childhood sexual abuse is very common in the U.S.  According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 4 girls is sexually abused and 1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before age 18.  Between 80 and 90% of victims are sexually abused by a family member or by a familiar trusted person, such as a member of the clergy.  It is not surprising that these crimes almost always go unreported until the survivor is an adult, if at all.  Nevertheless, the child victims continue to have to live with the psychological consequences of the abuse throughout his or her life.

            Fortunately, help is available.  According to the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center in Charleston, South Carolina, psychotherapy, among other treatments, can be a very effective way to treat the symptoms associated with childhood sexual abuse.  Similarly, according to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs – National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, the same type of psychotherapy, among other treatments, is also recommended for PTSD related to military service. 

            One problem that service member survivors of childhood sexual abuse often face is how to afford the treatment that they need once they return from active duty.  For the most part, the U.S. system for making an injured party whole is to use the civil justice system to force the perpetrating party, and others who may have assisted him or her, to help pay for the needed treatment as well as other pain and suffering damages. 

            It is here that there is an advantage available to a service member.  Often, years have passed since the sexual abuse occurred and state time limits for filing civil lawsuits, called statutes of limitations, may have expired.  There is one major exception to these time limits.   Under the Service members Civil Relief Act, the period of a service member’s full-time active military service cannot be included in computing any of the statute of limitations period.  (See www.soldiercsa.com.)  For example, if the statute of limitations in a state provides that a victim of childhood sexual abuse has until he or she is 25 years of age to file a civil lawsuit for damages relating to the abuse.  In the case where the survivor of the sexual abuse is 28 years old, but with 4 years of full-time active military service, the Service members Civil Relief Act would allow the 28 year old to file the lawsuit, where other non-service members would not be allowed to file a lawsuit.  This is because the 4 year full-time active military service period could not be used in the calculation of the expiration of the statute of limitations period.

            The Service member’s Civil Relief Act has recently been used to help a service member get the help he needed.  In St. Paul, Minnesota, our law firm handled a case where a 20-year Naval officer was sexually abused as a child by a Roman Catholic priest (See Jeff Strickler, “9 Minnesota clergy abuse cases being settled for $1.7 million,” Star Tribune, February 6, 2009; Emily Gurnon, “Nine men to share $1.7 million from Catholic order that admits sex abuse,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, February 6, 2009).  In this case, the Catholic religious order of The Crosiers Fathers and Brothers attempted to get the abuse lawsuit dismissed claiming the statute of limitations had expired on the Naval officer’s claims.  Relying on the Service member’s Civil Relief Act, the Court refused to dismiss the claims because the survivor/Naval officer had been a full-time active service member for 20 years and thus, the statute of limitations did not begin to run until he left full-time military service.  Similar applications of the Service member’s Civil Relief Act to sexual abuse lawsuits involving other Catholic clergy is occurring across the country to help service members get the help that they need. 

            Even though the pain associated with childhood sexual abuse can be overwhelming, there is help available.  The first step is to consult with an attorney who practices in the area of sexual abuse.  This consultation (as well as all communications thereafter) is by law completely CONFIDENTIAL.  By hiring a qualified attorney in the area of sexual abuse, a service member survivor may be able to pursue justice in the civil court system by using the Service member’s Civil Relief Act. In most states, a survivor can also keep his or her identity confidential during the lawsuit because the action involves criminal acts when the survivor was a child.  Sometimes, a lawsuit is not even required to pursue a claim for sexual abuse.  When money damages are collected from a claim or a lawsuit, that money can be used for the treatment that the service member survivor needs and deserves in order to recover from the traumas of his or her life.   

Patrick Noaker is an attorney with the law firm of Jeff Anderson and Associates which has represented courageous survivors of childhood sexual abuse nationwide for 25 years.  www.andersonadvocates.com.