Green Zone training at Miami shares the struggles of student veterans

By Kristal Humphrey, university news and communications

A training program offered to Miami University employees aims to help student veterans.

Miami’s Green Zone training helps faculty and staff understand and empathize with veterans by educating them about military culture and the struggles that veterans face as they transition from active duty military service to becoming a college student.

Green Zone is the commonly used term for an area of central Baghdad, Iraq, — officially known as the International Zone — that was the governmental center of the Coalition Provisional Authority. It remains the center of the international presence in the city. Because it is heavily fortified, it is considered a “safe space.”

The Green Zone training is based on the Safe Zone training that was created to support the LGBTQ+ community. Miami’s program was created in 2016 by student veterans Adam Rose and Phillip Carr, with help from Miami staff members. Rose and Carr have since graduated from Miami.

Training aims to educate and provide assistance

The training shares the background of veterans and the cycles they experience when they are deployed. It gives faculty a better understanding of how veterans may act in class and handle themselves in class discussions.

For instance, in discussions about war and the military, veterans may feel attacked and uncomfortable enough that they need to remove themselves from the room.

The training also includes the services available to student veterans at Miami so faculty and staff know where to direct those who need help with coursework, learning disabilities and/or housing, family or medical issues.

Lincoln Walburn, adviser to the Student Veterans Association, and Emma Wott, president of the association and a senior theatre and religion double major, are currently the two people at Miami who present the training.

“The main difference I have found between Miami and other institutions is that the presentation has been mainly done by students here,” Walburn said. “Other institutions have professional staff who do the majority, if not all, of the training.”

The training is available to departments and individuals. The staff in Miami’s Center for Career Exploration and Success recently completed it.

Matthew Yepez, an assistant director in the center, said. “As a career adviser who meets with hundreds of students per semester, this training has been instrumental in increasing my effectiveness in helping student veterans.”