The OU Combat Veterans Club, which meets weekly in Bentley Hall, includes 25 student veterans who served in a combat zone.
For students who came to Ohio University after serving in the military, the Combat Veterans Club is a place where they can connect with others who have similar interests and experiences while giving back to the community.
The Combat Veterans Club, which meets weekly in Bentley Hall, is for student veterans at OU who served in a combat zone. The club is a way for the 25 veteran members to transition into student life.
“I didn’t really find out about the club until this semester,” Brendan Hunstad, a senior studying psychology who served in the U.S. Air Force, said. “It seemed like a great thing to get involved with. When you go through something like we have, you share that experience with few of the people around.”
The club's president, Tyler Daniels, a senior studying political science and war and peace studies, updated members on their efforts to raise money for donations to veterans' families at the club's meeting Thursday night. Members also talked about their shared experiences during their time serving.
The money the club raises this year will go toward buying Christmas presents for four families of local veterans that are having financial difficulties. All of the members will come together to help wrap the presents.
Last year, the club gave two winter coats from the Rocky Boot Outlet to children whose father died in Iraq. Earlier this year, the group worked with Habitat for Humanity to build a home for a local veteran, and over 200 OU students helped with the project, Daniels said.
Lately, the club has worked to find better connections for veterans at OU and to make the club's fundraising efforts more cohesive, he said.
“In previous years, we’ve always come up with random ways to make money for it,” Daniels said. “But now we’re working for Prime Social Group. We work several events in the area doing security and then put the money toward philanthropy events.”
The club’s weekly meetings in Bentley usually last about 30 minutes, but Daniels said this is the first year that the club was able to have structured meetings in a classroom.
“It’s nice to meet in a regular atmosphere that’s not like Pawpurr's (Bar) or something where the music is blasting and you have to yell in order to hear over everybody,” he said.
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For those who don’t live in the dorms, veterans' groups offer a way for their members to network, Jorma Hake, a senior studying political science and the president of OU's Student Veterans of America chapter, said. Student Veterans of America is a coalition of student veterans groups on college campuses, according to its website.
“It’s a big change going from being on active duty to being a civilian and a student,” Hake, who served in the U.S. Navy and is also a member of Combat Veterans Club, said. “It really helps to just have a group of friends to hang out with, especially guys who have similar experiences to yours.”
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