Richard Brautman knew it was coming for weeks.
When the time came, however, he was given 48 hours to pack up his life at UB and prepare to head to the other side of the world.
Brautman, a member of the National Guard, was called away from his classes in March 2003 and deployed along with the rest of his unit to bases in Europe and the Middle East.
When the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, it altered the course of many lives, including Brautman's, who was in his first semester of industrial engineering courses at UB after spending two years at Niagara County Community College.
"It was too much to do in too little time," said Brautman, who fixes aircraft for the 107th Air Refueling Wing of the National Guard at the Niagara Falls Air Force Base.
While Brautman cannot disclose exactly where he has been stationed previously, he did say UB was very helpful in making the leaving process as easy as possible so could concentrate on more important things.
With the help of a strong support structure that included the Student Response Center, his engineering advisor Jane Sinclair and the Office of Veterans Affairs, Brautman, 23, was able to withdraw from his classes and receive full tuition and fees reimbursement.
"A lot of students were being called up and the university wanted to make that as seamless as possible," said Sinclair, senior academic advisor in the engineering department. "The actual process was very simple."
To accommodate the departing students, Sinclair said some of the rules that usually apply to withdrawing students were relaxed. For instance, she said the university allowed student's parents to notify the school, which is usually not permitted.
One thing that was required of all deployed students, according to a checklist provided by UB, was a written statement that indicated their call to military duty and their need to leave the university. Also, if the student was collecting money from the Montgomery GI Bill, like Brautman, they had to notify the Office of Veterans Affairs to cancel that money. The GI Bill provides educational benefits to veterans.
"(The GI Bill) program stops, and active pay starts," said Ronald Dollman, director of UB's Office of Veterans Affairs.
The U.S. armed forces do not usually like to pull soldiers from classrooms, according to Dollmann, but many times it is unavoidable.
"It all depends on the unit who goes. If the unit has 52 guys and they need 50, there's very little flexibility," said Dollmann.
The Office of Veterans Affairs helps student veterans and students who are on active military duty get their GI Bill benefits.
Brautman said leaving school was inconvenient, but he will go wherever his country sends him.
"Basically way up high, like Pentagon level, they decide what they need and decide what unit is going over," said Brautman. "It was just our turn."
Brautman was called home by the end of April 2003, a tour of duty he and Dollmann said they considered atypical.
Regardless of the length of duty, Brautman says he considers time overseas time well spent.
"It's all what you make of it," said Brautman. "I never came across a person who said 'I need to get out of here.' I think I'm a better person because of it."
Brautman recalls an incident at a base in the desert where he found himself standing almost on top of a camel spider, which is a strange mix between a scorpion and a spider.
"I look straight down and it's right at my feet," said Brautman. "It's not venomous, but it can take chunks out of you."
Brautman's deployment last March was his second tour of duty for the U.S. armed forces, and he says there will most likely be a third in the near future, although this time it will not interfere with his studies.
"I know for a fact I'll be going back for a few weeks over the summer," he said. "I know what it is going to be like, I just can't say much about it."
