A new service at Ozarks Technical Community College will cater to military veterans and their families. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more.
The Springfield Vet Center, an arm of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, will provide readjustment counseling services to eligible veterans and bereaved family members on the Springfield campus beginning September 10th.
"It gives the veterans at OTC a place that, if they need to talk to someone, they don't have to drive across town. Some of them are on limited budgets and so they have a place where they're already at, and they can get help with issues adjusting from being a soldier to civilian, they can talk about some of their problems, they can get some help with PTSD," he said.
According to Peters, OTC has around 1,000 veterans enrolled each semester. And some have recently returned from deployment.
"Every semester we have people who were in Afghanistan just a month ago or two months ago. I actually had one this semester who started online classes who's in Afghanistan right now, and he's coming home this October, and so, the transition from being a soldier they understand the importance of getting new skills and to provide themselves with a better opportunity to be successful in the workforce," he said.
OTC is holding an open house today (8/27) to allow its students and employees to meet the Springfield Vet Center staff and learn more about the counseling services available to them. Another one is planned for September 3rd both from 1 to 4 in the Farmer Conference Room in Information Commons West.
The Vet Center will be open on Wednesday afternoons from 1 to 4.
