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05/04/2009
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Staff photo by Joe PhelanWhen he returned home from his stint in the service, he wasted no time enrolling in classes at the University of Maine at Augusta. But the transition was difficult.
"I guess I didn't fit in. It's very individual," the 30-year-old said of college life, "while the military is very structured."
Moody, of Manchester, credits helpful UMA professors and staff members for easing his shift to college life, which was complicated largely by the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Now, as Moody prepares to graduate from the 5,000-student college on Saturday, UMA staff members are crediting him with playing a key role in the college's efforts to appeal to veterans.
"He sees the power of education after having served in the military," said Jon Henry, UMA's dean of enrollment services.
As the coordinator of the college's Veteran Peer Mentor program, Moody has helped fellow student veterans adjust to college life. He's also taken charge of efforts to market UMA to service members returning from stints in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And even after he graduates with a social sciences degree, Moody plans to continue helping UMA cultivate its veterans support network.
Moody, who grew up in Chelsea, has lent "credibility" to UMA's efforts to appeal to veterans, Henry said.
"This is a man who has seen real combat action, who's had some trauma, and has risen beyond those challenges," he said. "He's just a delightful and cordial guy."
Moody joined the Army in 1998 after earning a General Educational Development, or GED, degree.
"I was going in the wrong direction in a lot of ways," he said of his impetus to leave Gardiner Area High School and sign up for military service.
Moody trained in Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Bragg, N.C., where he earned top marks on physical fitness tests before he served stints overseas in Kosovo and Germany. He was in Iraq from Sept. 2003 to Oct. 2004, spending some of that time training Iraqi National Guard troops.
"I just didn't go there and come back," Moody said. "I left something there. I did my part."
Veterans who enroll in classes at UMA after their service will be taking advantage of a support infrastructure Moody has helped to set up, said Phil Watkins, a retired Marine and UMA's coordinator of support services.
"He's emerged as a quiet leader," he said. "George is a guy who doesn't make a lot of noise, but he gets a lot of things done."
Moody, for example, developed a t-shirt to advertise UMA to the members of a Maine Army National Guard unit at an event for them 60 days after they returned home from Iraq, Henry said. The shirt read: "UMA + Veterans = Operation Forward March."
"He's definitely got a mindset for marketing," Henry said.
Moody, one of more than 200 veterans enrolled at UMA, also collaborated with staff members to apply for a $100,000 grant UMA recently received from the American Council on Education and Wal-Mart Foundation.
Moody says he'll remain working at UMA until winter 2010 as the Veteran Peer Mentor program coordinator. He's at work converting a television lounge in the Richard Randall Student Center into a space for veterans.
After UMA, he plans to pursue a masters degree in social work or counseling. He'll stick around central Maine, he said, with his fiancée, Jillian Dearborn, and two children -- a 10-year-old daughter, Raeghan, and a seven-year-old son, Dakota.
Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435
mstone@centralmaine.com
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