Delegate Chris Peace (far left) visits with Germanna students (left to right) Kristeen Hadeed, Allen Allegro, Betty Hubbard-Jackson and Ashley Overholser yesterday at the General Assembly.
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Marine Corps Sgt. Chuck Vroman didn't flinch during the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
But the idea of returning to college as a civilian father of four in Spotsylvania County gave him pause.
The Marines consider Vroman, president of Germanna Community College's Veterans Club, 70 percent disabled.
During a Monday trip to ask to Virginia legislators to go easy on cuts to funding of Virginia Community Colleges, Vroman said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, which can develop after surviving a traumatic event in which a person is physically threatened or injured.
He said he also experienced concussions while surviving a number of explosions during duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the close-range blasts have left him with brain damage, causing short term memory problems.
"I have to write things down over and over," he said, to remember them. And he said his father has to drive him to a place repeatedly before he can remember how to get there.
Lauren VonHerbulis of the VCCS writes of Vroman's legislative visit:
“My wife suggested I return to college but I knew that I couldn’t survive the lifestyle of a four-year college. Germanna ... was the best choice I could have made. Not only did I receive the special considerations I needed, but I was taught how to be a student again,” Chuck tells Delegate Ed Scott at the Virginia General Assembly building.
For more, go to the VCCS Blog.
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