10 students, nine from New York's Syracuse University and one from University of Texas, Austin, are spending 6 ½ weeks exploring veterans’ issues around Ferry and Okanogan counties from the end of May through the beginning of July.

The students, along with one professor, are reporting from a newsroom at the K-Diamond-K Guest Ranch in Republic and are currently working on stories in Republic, Tonasket, Chesaw, Oroville, Nespelem, and Coulee Dam. The reporters are exploring such veterans' issues as living in isolation, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, military suicide, VA benefits, military healthcare, the impact of war on women and families, and teens in the military.

Following are excerpts from two stories the students are working on. Additional snippets are currently available on the project's website, www.apartfromwar.org, and the completed stories will eventually be available there as well.

 Jerry Middleton, Chesaw, Wa

Vietnam War Veteran

Text and Photos by Juliette Lynch

I have never seen buds grow. I have never nurtured a plant from a seedling to a tree. I have never harvested my own peaches or cherries. I have never tasted fresh horseradish dug from my own garden. But Jerry has.

He says being connected to the earth through gardening and growing and taking care of the forest centers him, and that in turn gives me a sense of who he is. It is too easy, he says, to get disconnected from one's soul, to forget to stop and watch a bud turn into a flower, to listen for a cricket as it sings a tune in the tall grass.

"The trees saved me," Jerry said as we walked up the hills into the forest. As I listen to more of Jerry's story, a theme of disillusionment with the war and with the morals of America continues to emerge. Jerry didn't consider himself to be soldier material, he didn't have the desire to fight and he wasn't mentally equipped for any of it. When he got back from Vietnam, he felt "warped in all the wrong directions."

Wandering around in a mental desert, he decided to seek help from the VA, but like so many veterans from the Vietnam era, Jerry was turned away. So Jerry set out to help himself. "The only thing I could think of was to go hitch-hiking‚ that rounded things out and led me to where I needed to go," he said.

These travels and his subsequent adventures changed his life and brought him to the mountains. The mountains were freedom and gave Jerry space, both physical and mental, to reconnect with himself and with the earth. Thirty years later, Jerry feels more at peace with himself.

Jared Starkel, Oroville, Wa

Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran

Text by Sierrz Jiminez, Photos by AJ Chavar

It's been almost four months since Jared Starkel first applied for his medical benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. And last week, Jared got his first sign of aid: a letter in the mail acknowledging his application.

But in the 24-page packet were statements asking for proof of Starkel's medical disabilities. "It came about three of four months earlier than I thought it would," Starkel said. When he sent in his claims, Jared notified the VA that his hearing and back were affected from his time in Iraq. Now that the VA has acknowledged his claims, Starkel must go to the VA Medical Center in Spokane to verify that his claims are true—even proof of his PTSD.

Spokane is more than 180 miles from where Starkel lives in Oroville‚ about a three and a half hour drive. And with a brand new baby to take care of, Starkel is crunched for time to reply to the VA. In the letter, officials from the VA stated that Jared had 30 days to send proof of his injuries sustained in Iraq. "If you don't fill out one thing right, it could throw everything off." Jared said.

Starkel, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, has been out of the Marine Corps for nearly four years. After leaving the military, Starkel struggled to find a job that would utilize his military experience and accept his lack of a college degree. The pickings were slim. And Starkel soon ended up working at a local grocery store to support his wife and four kids. Neither Jared Starkel or his wife Cassie have permanent health insurance.

While the two have managed to get by on what Starkel said is a less than appealing salary, money is still tight in the household. The couple lives with Starkel’s mother in law, as well as their four children.