Warren/Washington County Veteran’s Peer-to-Peer Coordinator: Jeremy Duers

United States Marine Corps Veteran Jeremy Duers is the Adirondack Peer-to-Peer Coordinator for Warren and Washington County. This Veterans’ program promotes outreach and holds events to help Veterans achieve and sustain personal health, wellness, and purpose in their post-service lives. The Peer-to-Peer program serves Veterans through the support of peers, and with social events.

This program has been in place since 2012, and it was inspired by the service and sacrifice of Joseph Patrick Dwyer; Dwyer enlisted in the army shortly after the events of 9/11, where he served as a combat medic in the 3rd infantry division. Dwyer became famous because of a photograph taken of him carrying an ailing Iraqi boy while his unit was engaged, as seen below – this photograph was taken during the push into Baghdad and the boy was hit with shrapnel in his leg. Although instantly a hailed hero, upon returning home, Dwyer was diagnosed with PTSD and struggled with it, passing away in 2008 and leaving behind a wife and child… Dwyer had spent 91 days in Iraq. 

There were signs that Dwyer was not doing well during his transition out of the military – weight loss was an early sign that friends noticed, and later, Dwyer was prescribed antidepressants and referred for counseling. His condition worsened, and Dwyer began to answer his apartment door with a pistol in his hand… On one occasion, he was driving and swerved to avoid what he thought was a roadside bomb, causing him to crash into a convenience store sign. His wife confided in friends that Dwyer was seeing imaginary Iraqis all around him… Friends, family and the military tried to intervene to help Dwyer as he suffered from these setbacks that would occur without warning. Dwyer’s symptoms and his erratic and dangerous behavior caused his wife and daughter to relocate for their safety… When Dwyer opened up to his parents about his experiences, he talked about the volume of gunfire he had experienced and the grisly wounds that he had treated; he said that he could still smell the odor of rotting flesh and metallic tang of blood from the battlefield… Dwyer had come home from the war, but was still fighting the war in his head.  

The Adirondack Peer-To-Peer Program demonstrates that the peer-to-peer model holds tremendous value for helping veterans transition and reintegrate into civilian life – through this program, Veterans are able to come in contact with other Veterans to deal with their problems and become stronger… It’s important for Veterans to be able to gather and share their experiences and help one another.  

Jeremy Duer recently took over the role as coordinator for the Adirondack Peer-To-Peer Program: “The military is very good at training us at how to be effective, but not necessarily so good at training us to re-acclimate and deal with some of the things that we have to deal with… There are serious problems with trying to get back into society. Joseph (Dwyer) came home, and was self-medicating to deal with this stuff and accidentally overdosed. So, we instituted the program as a way to help veterans reintegrate and get access to different services,” Duers said. 

Duer – a USMC Veteran who served for five years – currently has an office on the campus of SUNY Adirondack, from which he covers both Warren and Washington Counties… When he previously re-enlisted, he found out that he had Crohn’s disease: “One of the best lessons that I learned in the Marine Corps is that it can always be worse. I was sick for a while, then I used my GI money to go to school, and I got an Associate’s Degree from SUNY Adirondack and got my Bachelor’s from Skidmore, and I did my graduate work and got a couple of Master’s Degrees from Union College. I was a teacher for about a decade,” Duers said. 

Duers joked a bit about his role as coordinator of the program: “What I do is plan the events… I deal specifically with Veterans and I’m like a ‘Veteran’s camp counselor’ so I wear two hats,” Duers said. “Some Veterans of a particular generation want to go to the VFW, others feel they have spent enough time away from their kids and want to bring them along… With that in mind, we schedule different types of events.”   

When Duers was ready to move on from teaching, he thought of how he could make a difference: “I was talking about changing jobs. I had worked at the college as a tutor and had a strong relationship with the college… It seemed like a good opportunity. When I first took over the program, it was a bit overwhelming because we didn’t have a template… The program had previously failed, and the state gave me some guidance because the program had ‘failed to launch’ so there wasn’t a precedent to lean on,” Duer said. “Marines get along well together, and I have leaned on friends I have in the community and asked the question, ‘How can we get veterans better integrated?’ When it comes to the social work part, it really is as a peer, because I am not a social worker… I let the Veteran determine what success looks like, set their own goals, and I take pride in the fact that our goal is to get them across the finish line and then follow up.”

Duers has support through an advisory board – Cindy Roberts is a “gold-star” mother who has been a tremendous resource for Duers: “Cindy is so well connected to the Veteran community. One of the programs that she championed was free fishing licenses for Veterans plus one, and it’s extremely popular… Fishing can be very therapeutic,” Duers said.   

Duers has a passion for his work with Veterans, and would like to see the program continue to grow… To help make that a reality, Duer has established a good relationship with the VA in Albany to help get the word out about the program. He utilizes technology to connect with the veterans, but also goes door to door to invite the Veterans personally… He wants the Veterans to know that these services exist, and that there is no charge, or fine print.

For more information about the Adirondack Peer-toPeer Veterans Program, or to reach out to Jeremy Duers, Email duersj@sunyacc.edu, or visit www.adkpeertopeer.org; or call (518) 681-5680.