Boston Globe: tainted smallpox vaccine

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Boston.com

The Associated Press

Veteran wants more ex-military people in college

January 19, 2008

HANOVER, N.H. --Ex-Marine n Hart is on a new mission -- to get

more veterans to college, especially those have been injured.

The Dartmouth College student is one of three ex-Marines on campus.

He's working with a program of the American Council on Education that

reaches out to recent veterans to try to get them into college.

" Our country has an untapped resource in the service members who are

transferring out " of the military, said Hart, who served in the

Marines from November 2003 to November 2006.

World War II veterans were called the Greatest Generation because

" when they came back they were educated, " Hart said. " Now these guys

transferring out have to fight tooth and nail to get into schools they

may not want to go to. "

With hundreds of thousands of troops circulating through Iraq and

Afghanistan, " we have the same opportunity now " as the country did in

the 1940s, Hart said. Not getting more veterans into school, he said,

is doing the country a disservice.

Only about 10 percent of veterans go back to school, Hart said. As of

last month, the American Council on Education had helped nearly 200

military personnel seriously injured in Iraq or Afghanistan and their

families get into institutions of higher education.

The ACE program got off the ground with help from Dartmouth President

, who began visiting hospitalized veterans in 2005.

, an ex-Marine himself, has raised $350,000 for the program,

which is running at Walter Army Medical Center in Washington,

Bethesda Naval Hospital in land, Army Hospital in Texas and

Balboa Naval Hospital in California.

Although Hart, 25, wasn't wounded in combat, health problems he

contracted in the military have stayed with him. A tainted smallpox

vaccine he and roughly 50 other Marines were given in Virginia induced

anaphylactic shock.

" The vaccine systematically destroyed my systems, " he said, affecting

his respiratory, immune and skeletal function. " It was kind of an all-

encompassing problem, " one that still has him making regular visits to

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

While he was being treated at Walter , Hart enrolled at the

University of land. He started a program there to bring in more

veterans.

He met during his hospital stay.

Hart and said the country needs to do more to get veterans to

continue their education.

" The current GI Bill is not as generous as the World War II GI Bill

was, " said. Servicemen have to enroll early in their enlistment

and have to sink $100 a month into a fund, not an easy decision on a

military salary, he said.

Most of those who enlist don't plan to go to college, so they don't

sign up for GI Bill benefits, said. Even those who apply get

only $1,000 a month, far less than it costs to attend even most state

universities.

" I think we need to find better ways to make this investment, "

said. The country could significantly bolster education benefits for

veterans with an annual infusion of the amount of money currently

spent in a week on the war in Iraq, he said.

Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., have sponsored

legislation that would furnish today's veterans with GI Bill benefits

similar to those the World War II generation enjoyed -- full tuition

and fees and a monthly stipend.

There are natural barriers between service members and higher

education, Hart said. Many have outdated SAT scores, or have never

taken the SAT. " A high school transcript is not exactly a fair

representation of someone who has served four years or eight years in

the military, but that's the standard that higher education uses, " he

said.

Some schools such as Dartmouth pride themselves on using a " holistic "

evaluation of applicants to make up its incoming classes. Under such a

system, a veteran might receive a small boost. " I would hope so, "

said, adding that a recent veteran can bring a unique

perspective to campus.

Hart said he feels an obligation to veterans, and hopes he can be an

example.

" I felt that if I came to an Ivy League school, performed well

academically, participated in student affairs, that I would be able to

set a trend that others would be able to follow, " he said.

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Information from: Lebanon Valley News, http://www.vnews.com

© Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Meryl Nass, MD

Mount Desert Island Hospital

Bar Harbor, Maine 04609

207 288-5081 ext. 220

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