Vet, KSU Student Gets Surprise on HLN

Richard Sisk was deployed to Afghanistan in 2006.

Army vet Richard Sisk is usually helping others transition from military life to civilian life at Kennesaw State University's Veterans Resource Center. But this week, HLN thanked the KSU sports managament and communication major for his service, which included a deployment to Afghanistan in 2006. Not only did the network surprise Sisk with an internship at Turner Sports, HLN officials got in touch with Carousel Designs, a veteran-owned baby bedding company that gave Sisk and his expectant wife $700 worth of baby bedding and accessories. Click here to watch the video. Related content

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Iraq Vet Graduates as War Ends

Kennesaw State's David Carper is helping other veterans join him in making the long journey back from soldier to civilian.

Iraq war veteran David Carper graduated from Kennesaw State University with his degree in human services Wednesday on the eve of Thursday's formal end to the war in Iraq. Now he plans to pursue a career helping other veterans as the transitions coordinator for Kennesaw State's Veterans Resource Center. "What makes the center unique is that everyone is a veteran," Carper says. "We’re not Army-specific or Marine-specific or Navy-specific. We have a very diverse culture. In the military, you only have one ethnicity, and that’s green." Carper says veterans are used to taking classes, following orders and working hard, "but we're not used to having to do it on our own with little guidance. We’re not used to doing it without support of fellow …

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Gaetana Pipia

11:56 am on Sunday, December 18, 2011

Members of our community are making national headlines. Our story on Iraq war vet David Carper is currently featured on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/kennesaw-ga-iraq-vet-grad_n_1154035.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false   more ›

Daily PatchCast

PatchCast: Chicken Dreams Pecked Away; Vets Come Home to KSU

Here are some of the highlights from Kennesaw and nearby Patches for Nov. 22.

For more on these stories, click on the following links:

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War Veteran, Katrina Survivor Helps Others

As a war veteran and a survivor of Hurricane Katrina, the KSU student suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I’m a very complicated person these days. I never wanted to be a complicated person," says John Breckenridge, a cool Louisiana accent sliding off the tongue. Breckenridge, 40, is a former member of the U.S. Navy. He currently works as transitions coordinator at KSU's Veterans Resource Center where he counsels fellow veterans looking to pursue college educations. In addition to a number of physical ailments, Breckenridge suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. As both a war veteran and a survivor of Hurricane Katrina, he represents two groups at a significantly increased risk of developing PTSD. There's nothing like the smell of the bayou water, says Breckenridge. The single father lives in Woodstock with his 17-year-old daughter but …

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Gaetana Pipia

4:51 pm on Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Many thanks to John for all he has done for our country. It was a pleasure getting to know him, and I look forward to sharing the stories of more student veterans at KSU in a series of profiles. You can learn more about the university's Veterans Resource Center here: http://patch.com/A-nKDJ   more ›

Kennesaw State Helps Vets Come Home

Student veterans at the university are leading the way in defining what it means to be a veteran-friendly campus.

Kennesaw State University’s Veterans Resource Center, the first of its kind in Georgia, is making strides to address the needs of a growing population of student veterans. As the state's third-largest university, KSU has seen its student veteran population double the past two years. The center's director, Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Frank Wills, says the largely student-run center aims to serve as a "one-stop shop" for veterans as they transition into college. The center is helping to put Kennesaw State on the map as a leader among veteran-friendly campuses. G.I. Jobs' 2012 list ranks the university in the top 15 percent of military-friendly schools nationwide. “The Veterans Resource Center is a need,” Wills says. “We’re in a wartime …

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