Patrick Hannah, 48, of Wyandotte joined the Marine Corps after he graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1981.

"The economy was a lot like it is now," said Hannah. "There were no job prospects."

He spent seven years in military service, first in North Carolina, and then he spent three years in Okinawa, Japan. During those years he also got to travel to Korea and the Philippines.

For his final four years of service, Hannah was stationed in Colorado, where he served as an armorer, in charge of the base's weapons.

He was a peacetime soldier. Hannah never experienced combat. When his time with the Marines came to an end, he settled in Pennsylvania

He married and had four children after he left military service. All four of his children are now in college.

"I worked for Wonder Bread as a machine repairman for about five years until my dad got sick," he said. "Then I came back to Michigan."

After spending 11 years at Frito Lay and two at Better Made Potato Chips, Hannah learned he would need a knee replacement to correct an old injury from his Marine Corps days.

After his surgery, he was no longer able to work with machines as he had before.

"When I was going to rehab at the VA Medical Center in Detroit, I went to see a counselor for help finding a job," he said.

Hannah took many tests and answered a lot of question before the counselor told him that he was qualified to go to college.

"I took a bunch more tests and ended up at Wayne State University," sad Hannah.

He is now in his junior year at the school working toward a bachelor's degree in social work. After that, he plans to stay for the social work master's program.

"I felt the desire to work with people," he said.

Not long after beginning his college career, Hannah found the Student Veterans Organization.

"Back at the end of the Vietnam-era, probably in the mid-1970s, there was a large Student Veterans Organization here," he said. "It all but ended after all the veterans came home from Vietnam."

Until about two years ago, the organization had only about four members. It was primarily a social club when Hannah first joined.

However, with many veterans now returning from tours of duty all over the world and from combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need grew for an organization to support veterans in college.

When the former president of the SVO left to pursue her master's degree in Washington State, the group's faculty advisor, Matthew McLain, thought Hannah would be just right for the job.

"I wasn't so sure about it at first," said Hannah. "I wanted to think about it. But it turned out that I only had about two and a half hours until the former president left.

So he agreed to become the new SVO president.

"I was basically handed a stack of files and that was it," he said.

He was left without much of an idea how to run a Student Veterans Organization. "I really had to start researching what a Student Veterans Organization was and what it could be," he said.

Hannah began by changing the SVO from a strictly social club to a social organization, with a focus on community service.

And he learned a disturbing fact. He found that, according to the Department of Defense, the national failure rate of student veterans is 87 percent.

"To me, that was just unacceptable. I saw the problem and the need, and it really touched me," said Hannah.

Many veterans returning home today come from combat situations. If they decide to go to college when they return, it is usually within a month of the end of their service.

"When you have that kind of structured environment and come from that to college, it's very hard to assimilate back to civilian life," he said.

"I think veterans struggle because the services available to ensure students' success don't necessarily meet their needs."

So Hannah submitted a proposal to the university to establish a veterans' resource center run by the SVO. The process of applying for and developing the resource center took about a year and a half.

"We moved into our office in January," he said. "We are the only student organization with our own dedicated space."

One thing the SVO has focused on under Hannah's guidance has been community service work.

"I have a serving personality," he said. "For a lot of the guys, myself included, just because we take our uniforms off doesn't mean we want to stop serving."

The organization tries to do one service project a month. In the past .they have visited Piquette Square, a veterans home in Detroit, distributed Christmas cards at the VA Hospital and sent them overseas, and sold remembrance ribbons for veterans.

Though not all of their service projects are veteran-related, the goal of the organization is first to assist veterans.

"The organization has done other things, like collecting for Toys for Tots last Christmas," Hannah said.

The Student Veterans Resource Center also offers many services for the 350 student veterans receiving benefits, and the 200 student veterans not receiving benefits at Wayne State.

"The No. 1 thing we do for student veterans is peer-to-peer mentoring," he said.

When a new veteran student comes in, he or she will be paired with a junior or senior veteran to help navigate the unique experience of being a college freshman.

The resource center also offers supplemental instruction, similar to tutoring, in almost every subject taught at the university.

"We do really similar instruction, but it's in a smaller environment," said Hannah. "I think that really helps student veterans be successful."

Within the next year or so, Hannah would also like to see the resource center offer a faculty training program.

"Sometimes faculty just doesn't know what to expect from student veterans," he said.

Hannah gave an example of a student veteran who was asked to leave a class because he got up from his seat during class to go stand in the back of the room.

"In the military, you're taught that if you're tired or your attention is wavering, you need to get up and go stand in the back," said Hannah. "It's a sign of respect to the instructor that you are still trying to learn and pay attention."

Though situations like this one don't happen often, Hannah still believes it is important for faculty and staff to understand what they might come across with a student veteran.

"We're trying to build a veteran-friendly campus," he said.

Though a major part of the SVO is helping student veterans who might be struggling, Hannah says there are definitely advantages as well for all students with a military background.

"Discipline, discipline, discipline," he said. "Even the guys who are failing have it. This and other things I learned in the military still help me today."

Having a place to go with other veterans has helped Hannah through college immensely.

"I know from experience, being a non-traditional student is hard," he said. "Before the SVO I knew maybe 10 people here. Now I know 350."

Before he finishes his college education, Hannah hopes to see the SVO continue to grow.

After his degrees are completed, Hannah wants to continue his work with veterans.

"My hope is to go work at the VA Medical Center in Detroit," he said

The Student Veterans Organization accepts donations. They can be mailed to: Student Veterans Organization, c/o Matthew McLain, 1600 Undergraduate Library, Detroit, Mich. 48202.

The SVO office is located in the Wayne State University Student Center on the 6th floor, room 687.