Veterans service center organizes paintball events for awareness
Photo by Rylee Lingenfelter
LARAMIE, Wy. — Paint was flying this past weekend at Two Chicks Paintball park, where, throughout the field, University of Wyoming Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets and veterans from the UW Veterans Service Center (VSC) played.
This paintball event is just one of the events that the VSC, which works to build a community and provide resources to veterans attending the university, put together for team building and general awareness of their services.
“The number one purpose for anything that the Veterans Service Center does is just so people know we have a Veterans Service Center,” said Director of the VSC Ted Griffith. He explained that what the organization’s trying to achieve is “that top level of awareness of the veteran service center being in existence, so that people can take advantage of it.”
This paintball event acted as preparation for the larger event Griffith has planned for Nov. 14.
At the same paintball park, VSC will host a true “veterans vs. cadets” match, where experience is tested against enthusiasm.
“There’s an enthusiasm gap between cadets just going into the military and veterans who have come out of the military,” said Griffith, “so it should be a really good match between enthusiastic theory versus veterans who have done it, but tend [to be], you know, four years, six years, 20 years older in some cases. So, we don’t move quite as fast, but we know what a flank is and how to move it up and move to contact.”
The event will be open to ROTC cadets and student veterans, with Griffith’s chain of command and university leadership in attendance, including University President Shane Reeves.
But paintball events aren’t the only service the VSC provides.
The main goal of the VSC is to provide resources to a vulnerable population.
“Here in Wyoming, we have a high-risk state, and the veterans are a high-risk population, for self-harm,” Griffith said. “Having a Veteran Service Center, it would be great if it was a silver bullet, but it’s not. It’s a place where veterans can do activities, hanging out, study, have lunches and do events.”
The services provided even extend to counseling with a VA psychologist who makes the trip from Cheyenne to the UW campus twice a week.
Levi Westberg, who currently serves in the National Guard and has previously served overseas, explained that the points of connection within the VSC can come down to relatability.
“Just knowing our humor, not everyone gets it on campus,” Westberg explained. “We also don’t relate with regular college kids, since most of them are fresh out of high school.”
The VSC is open to students Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be found on the third floor of the Student Union in room 300.
