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♪ KU chant ♪
My name is Nathan Dehnke, and I'm a Political Science
graduate student at the University of Kansas.
I was in the United States Army from September of 2004 until October of 2008.
I was wounded in action in Iraq, near Baghdad, in June of 2007
and it was an improvised explosive device that
resulted in my injuries, that caused my injuries.
I'm significantly older than everybody else and getting
back used to the college lifestyle took some time for adjustment.
Finding myself having to organize my own time again,
but overall it wasn't as bad a transition because the students
that were in my classes, the teachers, the advisors,
other administration officials here at KU made it very easy.
They were open minded to things.
Sometimes in the military, people like to think,
"Oh man, you're going back to a college campus, it's going to be
people who were just going to hate you because you were in
the military, and so on and so forth."
No, its not necessarily that way, at all, in my experience.
Whether or not they agree with what's going on in Iraq or
Afghanistan, or whether or not they agree with the policies
of the army, or anything like that, they've taken a very
open minded perspective, at least with regards to veterans.
My name is Kortney Clemons.
I'm a grad student in the School of Education.
I was in the Army from 2001 to 2006.
I was injured February 2005, in Baghdad, and I was injured
while carrying an injured service member to the Black Hawk.
An IED exploded next to me, and in result I lost my right
leg above the knee, and we lost three service members on that day.
My teachers have been really good.
One that stands out is Ms. Susan Rice.
She has been just real enthusiastic everyday in class.
She's always like, "Look if you have a problem with anything,
you know, don't hesitate to call or come by."
The learning environment in class is real good.
You know, no one is afraid to ask the wrong question.
You know, its helped me deal with school here on another
level, because I've never been in a master's program before
so I had a lot of anxiety coming in to this.
I really enjoy learning.
I really feel like when I'm not learning I'm kind of like falling behind.
Currently training with the KU track team for the
Paralympic World Championships in January 2011, in New Zealand.
And my events I'll be doing there are 100 meters, 200 meters, and the long jump.
Its been awesome getting the chance to get back in a team environment.
A lot of times, by my injury being so physical, you can see it,
it inspires people without even saying a word.
And therefore the people that do have the nerve to say something, or ask,
"Okay, what happened?"
At that time I get a chance to share a story with them.
Some of my life, I kind of try to use it as a tool to help
others, and if I'm able to do that it would be awesome.
There's a very strong network set up through Fort Leavenworth,
set up through KU, on a kind of professional basis.
Being around other folks who you can just, if you
want to share great, if not, not a big deal.
Just being around people who understand.