11/19/2015

Veteran group helps transition to college life | The Butler Collegian

Veteran group helps transition to college life

News

November 2, 2015

ANNIE WEBER | CO-NEWS EDITOR

Cooper Dinges, 25, said he lives under the motto the few, the proud. After high school, he spent
four years in the Marines as an amphibious assault vehicle crewman. He continues to be one of
the few as a veteran at Butler University. Dinges is president and founder of BU Military
Veterans, an organization that connects Butler veterans and organizes service projects.
Very few Butler students have gone through what Dinges has. There are nine veterans at Butler
who are certified for some type of Veterans Affairs benefits.
Dinges said he created BU Military Veterans to help incoming veterans cope with the same
problems he had coming to Butler three years ago. Now in his senior year, Dinges has come to
terms with initial struggles.
I didnt know any vets at Butler, Dinges said. I was close to leaving because I didnt feel like I
could really relate to anyone.

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11/19/2015

Veteran group helps transition to college life | The Butler Collegian

Not being in a classroom for more than four years, Dinges needed a refresher on how to be a
student again.
Having not written anything in a long time, FYS was a big help, Dinges said. And you kind of
have to figure that out. Everyone comes to Butler and needs to figure out how to be a college
student, but I feel like for vets its a little more challenging.
The Marines provide a program for those about to leave military life. However, Dinges said it was
not that beneficial.
They teach you kind of how to be normal again, he said. You do mock interviews and they tell
you how to use your benefits for college. People dont take it very seriously, I dont think its that
effective.
Dinges said the disciplinary nature of the military helped him in the classroom.
I always went to class, I always did the work on time, I paid attention, he said. Other students
do that too, but coming out of the military, you think that thats what you should do and what you
have to do so that helps.
Dinges still has military tendencies. He sits up straight, stands up straight and walks like he has
somewhere to be. In class, he sits front and center and stares at the teacher.
My girlfriend asked me why I do that. Thats just how I show Im paying attention, he said. I
had trouble just relaxing after I got out and just enjoying myself in just regular social situations,
but I think college has helped a lot with that.
Another challenge Dinges and many veterans face is connecting with their civilian peers.
Being in a class, youre probably going to be older than everyone, Dinges said. So its been
tough to relate to people and its been hard to warm up to that. Ive gotten better at it. Now I have
a lot of friends who are in my major, who are students that I met over time. It helps to accept
being a student instead of being a veteran and being different.
Dinges said once he accepted the student identity, it helped a lot.
I always encourage that to some of our newer vets because as long as you keep separating
yourself, youre not going to be successful here, he said. I feel like Im better than Ive ever been
since I got out, and I think itll only get better, I hope.
Justin Wilson, 24-year-old first-year finance major, is vice president of BU Military Veterans.
Wilson also served in the Marines as a combat engineer. After sweeping for mines and
improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan for nine months, Wilson is struggling to fully adjust
into civilian life and connect with peers.
Both Wilson and Dinges are at least four years older than most of their classmates.
I dont want to hate on non-veterans or anything like that, Dinges said. But it took some time to
get used to people complaining about things, but stress is all relative and Ive learned that. Its OK
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11/19/2015

Veteran group helps transition to college life | The Butler Collegian

to be stressed about school work, and Ive figured out after a while that it is stressful, too. But in
the beginning, I was like people are complaining about stuff that doesnt even matter. And Ive
gotten a lot better about it.
Commuting an hour to class everyday from Belleville makes creating connections that much more
difficult for Wilson. In the Marines, Wilson was constantly with the same guys in his unit.
Wilson became accustomed to spending everyday with the same people while in the Marines.
Not having anything like that, you get kind of lost, Wilson said.
Wilson is often frustrated by peers but said he was the same way when he was 18 or 19 years
old.
They just kind of dismiss someone who is not the same age and not doing the same things like
going out or whatever they do, he said.
He said he feels like they dismiss his experiences.
Slamming doors and loud noises take him back to his time in Afghanistan.
Ive talked to VA counselors about it, and they kind of explained it the best way, Wilson said.
They call the flight or fight response part of the brain a name, like Sally or something like that.
Well, Sally is never going to make your decisions unless you get put in those types of situations,
and your frontal lobe for the most part will make the rest.
So when youre exposed to something like an improvised explosive device going off for
instance, my best friends vehicle got blown up right in front of me so when I experience a loud
noise or something, Sally likes to take over the frontal lobe, he said. Even though I know where
Im at, youll still get that feeling for that split second until your adrenaline comes down.
Wilson is working on a veteran committee at Butler to improve the lives for future veterans that
attend Butler.
Weve been having a lot of issues, Wilson said. Its not just me, because when someone gets
out, even if you didnt deploy or anything, its still very hard to transition from military life to civilian
life.
Even before the Marines, Dinges knew he wanted to attend Butler. The GI Bill helped him get
here. The bill provides a range of benefits for veterans, including funding for tuition and living
expenses. However, since Butler is a private institution, the bill only covers about half of the
tuition costs. The Yellow Ribbon Fund is a provision to the GI Bill that helps veterans attend
private universities without paying out of pocket.
Private universities enter a voluntary agreement waiving a certain amount of tuition as the Yellow
Ribbon Fund and the VA matches that amount.
Butler agreed to provide $7,500 for up to 24 students per year. The VA then matches that,
bringing the out-of-pocket expense for Butler veterans who qualify to just under $1,000. When
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Veteran group helps transition to college life | The Butler Collegian

Dinges was a first-year student, Butler only gave the Yellow Ribbon Fund to 12 students.
We basically kept bugging them and bugging them about it and eventually they increased it to
24, Dinges said. So at this point, any veteran here has it all paid for.
Dinges said a lot has changed at Butler since he first enrolled.
Theyre trying to bring more veterans here, and I think thats because they want to make Butler
more diverse. Having more vets can be a part of that, he said.
He said Butler President James Danko wanted to meet with the veterans and talk about potential
improvements.
I think overall, Butlers doing a really good job, he said. There arent many colleges where you
can get this much attention because there are so few of us. So we want more veterans, but at the
same time, were kind of lucky to be some of the only vets and we get a lot of attention.
Wilson said BU Military Veterans wants to make life better for veterans.
We want to see how we can use our strengths, Wilson said. We are an asset, were trying to
implement our strengths and also fix the struggles were having transitioning.
Every December, BU Military Veterans organizes a care package drive for deployed troops. They
set up in Starbucks and collect supplies or money to buy supplies, package them and then send
them out to the troops.
BU Military Veterans have veterans representing the Navy, Army, Marines and National Guard.
Their next meeting is Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Pharmacy and Health Sciences Building room 15.

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