VETERANS: A journey between two worlds
Continued from page 1
returning to school where he is
pursuing a major in psychology
while reacquainting himself with
the relatively mellow lifestyle of
a student.
Weikel graduated from high
school in 1999 and amidst the
situation he was in, decided
to enlist in the United. States
military. As a naturally gifted
individual, Weikel excelled in
school and translated that success
to the military where he served in
Fallujah with the Echo Company
2nd battalion 25th regiment. After
serving in an infantry unit for two
terms, he faced strong emotions
when he learned he would be
returning home.
"First thoughts, how am I going
to adjust? Who is going to do this
job?" said Weikel. "When I left
Iraq for good, the unit taking over
Fallujah lost eight Marines before
we left theater."
"It doesn't matter who you are,
you always come back changed,"
said Jerry Chronister, a Penn
State Harrisburg student who also
served in the war in Iraq.
Chronister first volunteered to go
into Iraq in 2003 and served two
terms of infantry service, also as a
member of the U.S. Marines with
the Echo Company 2nd battalion
25th regiment. He enrolled in
Penn State Harrisburg in 2007 and
has made adjustments in returning
to the lifestyle of a student.
"Over there it's 'go go go',
and when you come back, it's
really hard to wind down," said
Chronister. "I welcomed the
transition. This campus here is
really mellow."
Pa. vote said to go smoothly despite long lines
BY MARC LEVY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)
Voting in Pennsylvania ran
smoothly, despite some long lines
at universities and complaints
about poll workers struggling to
handle a flood of first-time voters,
election officials said.
"There's no such thing as a perfect
election," said Pedro Cortes, the
Pennsylvania secretary of state.
But, "it was a very good election
for our voters."
The Philadelphia district attorney's
office, which was responding to
election-related complaints in the
state's largest city, fielded far fewer
phone calls than it did during the
2004 presidential election.
Chronister recalls the excitement
that was felt when his company
initially learned that they would
be leaving the conditions of war
to return home.
"My company found out about
one week before we would start
leaving our area of operation,"
he explained. "Everyone was
excited. The heat and operational
tempo made days seem like weeks
and weeks like months."
From that point on, Chronister
made another change in his
life that has proven for many
to be significant and difficult.
It is commonplace for veterans
returning from war to face
significantphysical, emotional and
relational disruptions, as a result
of what is known as Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD).
In addition to the casualties and
physical injuries, the hardships
that continue to affect veterans
after military discharge exemplify
how war can damage or destroy
lives. Veterans must face the
battle of returning to the lifestyle
they once lived while coping with
the horrors of war that remain in
their memories.
With Chronister, the once
familiar feeling of everyday took
time to readjust to. He explained
how he felt when he returned
from war for the first time.
"Major culture shock," he said.
"It took awhile just adjusting to
being state side and being able
to walk around without my rifle
and body armor on. Being able
to sleep in a bed and do what I
want. In Iraq, besides on a base or
patrol, you can't go anywhere!"
He cited sleep as one of the
biggest changes, saying that in
combat, it is impossible to get a
Many were minor scrapes between
partisans at the polls, although
the office did restore a handful
of Republican election observers
after they had been kicked out
of polling places by Democratic
election officials, spokeswoman
Cathie Abookire said.
Long lines cropped up around
the state, and voter rights groups
repeated complaints about hours
long waits at many university
polling stations, including Penn
State and the University of
Pittsburgh, and at some minority
heavy precincts in Delaware
County.
Cortes said reports by voter
rights groups that many university
students were being forced to
vote by provisional ballot were
r .I 7WWIW•UM . M
regular sleep pattern. Sometimes,
he said, he went for days without
sleep.
Jerry realizes the damaging
effects of PTSD in veterans and
emphasizes how important it is
that help is available for veterans
returning from war. While studying
at PSH, he is pursuing a major in
psychology and is considering
a potential career in that field
as a counselor for veterans.
There are a wide range of factors
that make it impossible for a
civilian to imagine how the life of
combat must feel, and it is for that
reason that assistance programs
for veterans must include other
veterans who have faced the same
struggles.
Programs to help veterans deal
with these struggles are available
in a variety of forms. One
program, Battlemind Training 11,
was designed to help veterans
understand certain emotions or
instincts they might be feeling
after returning from war. Covering
topics from anxiety related
symptoms such as aggression and
hypervigilance, to the need to carry
a weapon at all times, to alcohol
abuse, this program is designed
to help veterans understand why
they may be feeling or behaving
in certain ways or patterns.
Other programs assist veterans by
taking a more personal approach
and providing direct counseling.
Vet centers, which are located all
across the United States, assist
veterans and their families by
allowing them to express how
exaggerated or unfounded.
Some polling places, however,
were handling long lines of first
time voters well after the polls
closed at 8 p.m. At West Chester
University and Lincoln University,
the wait stretched for hours because
poll workers were stuck double
checking the registrations of many
people in line whose names were
entered in the state database after
the voter lists were printed, said
Agnes O'Toole, assistant director
of Chester County voter services.
In Bucks County, two polling
stations were kept open an extra
hour after a construction crew
caused a gas leak that stopped
voting for an hour during the
afternoon.
Elsewhere, poorly trained poll
col bstlitiched vut r.thtme at 717-782-3954
site: h Vivowvv.battlemind.army ml!
they are feeling and adjusting.
Jan Yupcavage, a veteran of the
Vietnam war, has been working
with the veterans administration
for over 26 years. After earning a
masters level counseling degree,
Yupcavage has specialized in
therapy for war veterans and now
works as a therapist at the Vet
Center in Harrisburg.
"The vet center and the Veterans
Administration work together
to provide a safe setting where
the veteran can express their
experiences and their emotions
related to their experiences,"
said Yupcavage. "Our goal is to
diminish the emotions that are
related to the experience."
Yupcavage, who served in the
Vietnam war in 1968, understands
the struggles that veterans face
when dealing with PTSD. He
explained that in war, the human
body begins to react naturally to
the life or death scenario, and
with adrenaline pumping in the
body all day every day, instincts
begin to change.
"When you are in a war zone,
your senses are in full alert,
whether you are aware of it or
not," said Yupcavage. "You get
rest, but you don't get sleep. You
are up instantly, as soon as there
is an odd signal."
Therein lies the obstacle that
veterans must overcome; reverting
the body and mind as closely as
possible to a pre-war state.
"The challenge is, for the
individual, to transit from a war
zone mentality to a more peaceful
workers failed to give provisional
ballots to some people whose
names should have shown up in
registration books, but did not,
voter rights advocates said.
Philadelphia also fended off a
lawsuit that sought to order it to
immediately count its emergency
paper ballots, which are distributed
when voting machines malfunction.
Instead, the city will start counting
them on Friday, as it normally
does.
The Philadelphia district attorney's
office did not get a complaint about
one incident that drew a lot of
attention: a man in Black Panther
attire holding a night stick who
stood at the doorway of a polling
station.
Fox News reported that a
Nov. 5 2008
society at home," he explained.
Yupcavage, like Chronister,
stresses the importance of
programs like the Vet Center.
"I'd like to see more veterans,
especially the newer veterans
from the Iraq and Afghan wars
take part in a debriefing process,
even if it is for one or two sessions
to express themselves and to
be aware of how helpful the vet
centers can be to them and their
families," said Yupcavage.
Having served in that particular
war, he holds another thing in
common with veterans of out
current war; he has participated in
a battle that created much public
dissent in the United States.
Both the war in Iraq and Vietnam
have been questioned by our
public, yet Yupcavage believes
that our men and women serving
should always be respected, by
both supporters and opposes of
the war.
"One of the lessons learned from
the Vietnam War is to separate
the war from the warrior," said
Yupcavage. "We must honor the
participant, the veteran."
To do otherwise would be to
ignore how much our men and
women of service have sacrificed
in the name of out country.
Parents, spouses and siblings alike
have dedicated themselves to
protecting our country by fighting
bravely and following orders that
have been given for the safety of
our country. Our collective debt
to them is beyond measure.
Republican election observer called
police and that officers escorted
the man away from the area. A
Philadelphia police spokeswoman
confirmed that police responded,
but would only say the officers
took no official action.
Still, the scattered problems were
such that Pennsylvania should
adopt an election system that either
includes early voting, Election Day
registration or no-excuse absentee
ballots, said Bany Kauffman of
Common Cause Pennsylvania.
"There are certainly some
glitches within the mechanics of
the system, but I think there are
also some systemic problems,
especially when you have this large
of a population voting," Kauffman
said.