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When United States President George W. Bush officially declared war on  

Iraq

  and its dictator, Saddam Hussein, "Operation Iraqi Freedom" included college students-turned-troops, some as young as 18. Regardless of their age, though, these young men and women upheld their promise to protect and serve the freedom of our foreign friends -- even if it cost them their own lives. Their show of courage under fire not only proved that they truly believed in the oath they recited for their respective military branch, but that these were indeed selfless individuals who put their lives on the line so all could enjoy the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Read what CB Teen learned about these young soldiers' thoughts on waging war on Iraq, how participating in the fight affected their studies, as well as what other college students have to say about the United States Armed Forces trekking to the Middle East.

The Reality of Leaving Home
"At first I had fears, and to be honest, I had nightmares for a while," Shane A. Meyers told Pipe Dream, Binghamton, NY-based Binghamton University's (BU) campus newspaper. The sophomore history major was referring to the fact that his Army National Guard Unit, the 427th Forward Support Battalion, received the deployment call. However, Shane eventually came to grips with his assignment, viewing it in a positive way. "It's my duty," he said. "It's what I was trained to do, what I'm supposed to do." For Daniel Batt, a sophomore history major and infantryman with the Marine unit at University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (UB, Buffalo, NY), he didn't have to leave his family, friends, and school behind -- his military unit's high state of alert for active duty never went into effect. He was, however, more than prepared to fight for the rights of others. "It [would have been] a sacrifice, but you know the possibilities when you sign the piece of paper [enlisting in the reserves]," says Daniel, who's currently on active training.

The Scholastic Sacrifice
Aside from leaving everything familiar, Shane had to walk away from the classroom, too. But, while students like Shane had to totally withdraw from school, Joe L. (who has requested anonymity) was able to continue his education. That's because he's an informational technology major at American Intercontinental University Online (AIU), which has distance learning programs that allow him to hit the books from anywhere in the world, so long as he has a computer with Internet access.

While in Iraq, Joe says he was able to not only complete the courses he was taking at the time of his deployment, but was also able to register for fall classes. "Even with the security firewall set up at my camp," says Joe, "I could access functions on AIU Online's Web site and the Virtual Campus." The only exception was periods of limited e--mail time or delayed chat session activity because of the time difference. In other words, Joe didn't let anything stop him from feeding his brain -- not even being on the other side of the world. It showed in his online class performance, too. "Joe completed the [Network Operating System Administration] course as one of the top students in his class," says his instructor. "His individual work, as well as his group project, was of high quality."

Supportive School System
Many active students found their schools particularly supportive, allowing them to cut through the red tape and long wait that withdrawing from school usually involves. At UB's Student Response Center, for instance, soon-to-be deployed students were granted leave-of-absence requests, and administrators arranged that those who use federal loans to pay their way through school wouldn't be penalized for early withdrawal, which normally would force them to start making repayments. In addition, class cancellations, tuition refunds, and prorated reimbursements for room and board were handled in an expedient manner. "We did our best for each and every student on a case-by-case basis," says Joanne Plunkett, associate vice provost and director of UB's Student Response Center.

"If a student was called up and had to leave the next day, filling out forms at the university was usually not his/her first order of business. It might [have been] a week later or much more when we heard from him/her, so we modified our procedures to help."BU was also adamant about making the transition from school to battlefield as smooth as possible. According to Katie Ellis, a BU spokesperson, the university provided full, prorated refunds for student soldiers' fees. "The entire State University of New York system has a uniform policy for students withdrawing for active military duty," she explains. "They forgive everything if students are called up beyond their control."

These days, college students in Iraq continue to fight for their lives, and many look forward to returning home to finish what they started -- their education.


Jackie A. Bondanza is a former writer for The CollegeBound Network. Learn more about finding a school that's right for you.

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