Day after day, the soldiers march into Catherine Morris's office at Sierra College in Rocklin.
They bring the familiar baggage of student life: Worries about whether they are majoring in the right subjects. Concerns about juggling work and classes. Questions about how they might improve their English grades.
They also bring Iraq.
Most of the young men and women who visit Morris have done time in combat. Their scars run deep, but are not always visible.
Looking into their eyes from behind her neatly organized desk in the school's campus center, Morris sees more than most. A former Marine who keeps a photograph of her younger self in uniform on a shelf, she runs a year-round program specifically designed for veterans going to school under the GI Bill.
About 350 veterans are studying on Sierra College's sprawling campus, Morris said, and more than 200 of them served in combat zones in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Statewide, about 22,000 veterans are going to school under the GI Bill, including 300 at Sacramento City College and 575 at American River College. Each of the schools offers a range of veterans services.
But few colleges in the country, Morris said, have a program like Sierra's with a counselor dedicated full time to helping veterans navigate life after combat. Sierra even has a social club for veterans, and courses in English and physical education adapted for men and women who survived the war zone.
When fall classes begin later this month, Morris will see new faces, but many of the same problems. Besides helping veterans map out an academic path and untangle the red tape of military benefits, Morris, who herself went to school under the GI Bill, guides them through the emotional fallout of coming home.
"Readjustment is not like a light switch that comes on automatically when they get home," said Morris, who spent 15 years in the military and is trained to counsel veterans who suffer traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress. "It's phenomenal for them to be home, but they don't feel connected anymore."
Getting back on track
Terry "T.J." Boyd sought out Morris after he returned from the battlefield in 2005.
The former Marine sergeant, who spent 18 months fighting in Iraq as part of an elite counterterrorism unit, came home to a hero's welcome in his small Midwestern town. But after the parties ended, he was a lost soul.
"I thought, 'OK, the ticker tape's over,' " said Boyd, who is 28 years old, with broad shoulders and a disarming smile. "What do I do now?"
Boyd was haunted by images of mortar fire and shrapnel wounds, yet he missed the adrenaline rush of battle and the camaraderie of his fellow Marines. His college classes and bartending job in Illinois seemed meaningless. He fell into a deep depression.
During a night of heavy drinking, a suicidal Boyd got a phone call from a friend in Sacramento. Within a few weeks, he had packed his bags and headed west. He met with Morris, who helped him choose a career path and deal with his stress.
Now Boyd lives in Roseville, works as a personal trainer and is pursuing an exercise science degree at Sierra.
"I still have my 'spells,' " he said, "but I'm doing OK. I have my life on track."
Like Boyd, Cody Conway found life after Iraq to be strange and disorienting. Morris and Sierra College are helping him find his way in the civilian world.
Conway, 25, enlisted in the Marines before the terrorist attacks of 2001. "I absolutely loved everything about it," he said.
In 2003, he was called to Iraq, and his unit faced immediate resistance in the form of flying bullets and mortar fire. During a fierce sandstorm one day, he and his men were using a crane to lift the engine from a damaged assault vehicle. The sand beneath the crane shifted, and the engine smashed into his right shoulder as he tried to steer it away from other Marines.
Conway put off surgery and finished his tour, and his shoulder has never been the same. He also has memory lapses and sleep problems, and gets jumpy at the sound of backfiring cars or popping balloons.
Call The Bee's Cynthia Hubert, (916) 321-1082.
