"It was a big incentive to go back to school," said Kevin Deighan, 31, a Dongan Hills resident and Marine
studying information systems, who said the one problem is the lag in payments.

Like many colleges and universities, CSI administrators looked for ways to ease the transition from bullets
to books, from soldier to student as the ranks of veterans increased on campus.

At CSI, much of the framework was already in place: The Veteran Center has been streamlining the
application and financial aid process, aiding with VA benefits and providing counseling. The New York State
Small Business Development Center was offering a Veterans' Business Outreach Program. And an Armed
Forces Club was serving as a support group.

New this semester is a special section of CORE 100 -- one of the required general education courses all
freshman must take -- created for veterans only, and with their input. Thirty-five are enrolled.

Urszula Echols, a licensed social worker and coordinator of the Veteran Center, said combat-weary troops
often experience drastic changes when leaving the structure of the military behind for the freedom of civilian
life.

"They're in a different environment, with different people and different exceptions," she said. "It's an
entirely different lifestyle. My goal is to give them a place where they can feel somewhat safe."

At 26, Umair Zaman feels old among his fellow freshman.

"One of the main challenges is relating to people who just got out of high school last year," said Zaman, a
Marine with two tours in Iraq under his belt. "I have had such a different experience for the last eight years,
interacting with military people. They don't relate to the same things I do."

Richard Acevedo -- a New York Army National Guardsman simply known as "Top" to his classmates because
he bears the rank of a first sergeant -- is most bothered by the questions from the non-veterans, both on
campus and off.

"Did you kill anybody?"

"How many dead bodies did you see?"

"If they do ask my experiences and I try to give them the details, there's an uneasiness in the room, like
they almost regretted they asked," said Acevedo, 43, who for months after he retired in 2006 would dream
about the Iraqi soldier who died as he held his hand.

The first time Lee Siegfried -- a freshman at 40 -- publicly discussed his wartime experiences was in his CSI
CORE course, which is as much a classroom as it is group therapy.

"It's like our own fraternity or sorority," said Siegfried, a Huguenot resident who was exposed to chemical
weapons when an ammunitions depot was blown up while he was with the 82nd Airborne Division during the
first Gulf War. "What CSI has done for us is great."

Maria Durham served stateside in the Marine Corps from 2000 to 2005. She left her job with the
Department of Defense in Virginia and moved back in with her family in Tottenville when her Marine
husband, Brian, deployed to Afghanistan.

"We're from a different world, we're older, we should have done this 10, 15 or 20 years ago," said the 28-
year-old computer technology major about the veterans. "I go to my other classes, hand in my assignments
and leave. In our class, we sometimes stay for two hours, just talking."
 
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