vets' clubs

[DeltAlum]

Saw this on Fraternal News and remembered this thread...

Associated Press
October 29, 2005

Pueblo CSU group forms fraternity for veterans

PUEBLO, Colo. -- A group of veterans at Colorado State
University-Pueblo have formed a fraternity and are hoping the idea
will catch on nationally.

"We've done our duty. We did it with honor and it was for our
country," said Robert Murphy, a former Marine and president of the
Omicron Delta Gamma fraternity. "That's what we want to employ as a
fraternity that's dedicated to military veterans," Murphy said.

Twenty-nine veterans have applied to join and as many as a hundred
more have expressed interest, said Murphy.

The university gave the fraternity a charter in September, and
organizers hope to begin the lengthy process of getting a national
charter soon. "Right now, we are the only Omicron Delta Gamma
fraternity that I know of," Murphy said. "But we're hoping that some
day, we'll have chapters all over the country."

Murphy, who recently transferred to CSU-Pueblo from Pueblo Community
College, had started a successful veterans club at the community
college. Told that no such club existed at CSU-Pueblo he set about
creating one.

"I was a little surprised when they told me they didn't have one,"
said Murphy. His focus quickly changed to starting a new fraternity
because three existing military fraternities had problems of one kind
or another.

"We're not 18-year-olds and we're not out looking to drink beer," he
said. "What we were looking for was more of a service-oriented
fraternity."

Members wanted to focus on helping veterans on campus, said Steve
Nichols, vice president of the fraternity.

"Many times when a veteran walks on a campus for the first time, they
are very lost. Even a 24-year-old who has spent four years in the
Army and has been in combat, they don't know what a college campus is
all about. We are here to help them," Nichols said.

(c) 2005 The Associated Press.