News

by Maya Meinert

At a gathering at the USC School of Social Work of government officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, military veterans and representatives of organizations that serve them, a female veteran stood up and recounted the difficulties she encountered when she returned home from two tours of duty in Iraq.

Though she excelled in college – double majoring in international studies and Spanish – she couldn’t find a job. Then she received a letter informing her that it was time to start repaying her student loans. She had $2 left in her bank account.

“I looked at my bank statement, […]

by Maya Meinert

Lt. Col. Stéphane Grenier returned home to Canada after serving in Rwanda for nine months in the mid-1990s with the Canadian Forces. Though he didn’t experience combat while he was there, he wasn’t the same when he came back. Grenier soon descended into a deep depression and became suicidal.

It turned out he had post-traumatic stress disorder, but since he hadn’t seen combat, was he even allowed to have those feelings?

“There’s fatigue, wear and tear, that happens on the body when you’ve been on the front line for months,” said Grenier. “It wasn’t what we did but what we […]