Programs unite vets

ACC is providing a series of events in order to give veterans who are looking for a chance for support, understanding, educational awareness and possible leadership opportunities.

One event is a relatively new community-sponsored peer to peer support group that meets every Monday from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Cypress Creek Campus in building 2000.

The group started meeting in November of last year. According to event facilitator Mitch Fuller, a veteran who served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005, the goal is to give veterans the opportunity to come together and talk about their previous experiences while serving in the military.

"I am very passionate about ensuring that veterans get all the help they need. The best people to help veterans are veterans. I want to identify the need for a peer to peer group so that veterans can talk about specific issues including family issues to post traumatic stress disorder, or if there is still some anger, resentment, or any guilt that we all bring back," said Fuller.

Fuller hopes to eventually start a veterans organization on every ACC campus, that way the outreach group can cater to the 3,300 veterans who are currently enrolled at Austin Community College,  according to Vanessa Garza, ACC's financial aid technology supervisor.

Through the college, Fuller would like student veterans to start volunteering for training courses so that they can become facilitators for the organizations.

"As veterans we have an obligation to be leaders on campuses," he said.

Their first official meeting for the spring semester, titled Veterans Day, met on Jan. 24. Conversations included topics such as women in combat, convoy operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and touched on stories about fallen soldiers and friends who were shot down in the line of duty.

One Marine, Sergeant Michael Mansfield, who finished serving his active duty in December 2010, drew a map of Afghanistan highlighting the different base camps located there.  

Mansfield plans on taking classes at ACC this semester for the first time since serving in the Marine Corps. He wants to eventually transfer to a four-year university and obtain a bachelor's degree in business.

"Veterans are the most underpaid and unappreciated Americans who work in this country," said Mansfield.

"We do the most work and put ourselves in harm's way every single day. Groups like this bring us together and show us that we are there for each other."

The peer to peer facilitated support group isn't the only event catering to veterans that's getting ACC recognition.

According to Louella Tate, the Dean of Student Services for Round Rock Campus,  approximately one hundred students showed up at the campus to attend the ACC  sponsored event Veteran  Round-Up, held on Jan. 25.

"We wanted the students to know about the available services that will better ensure their chances for success," said Tate.