Law students, faculty teach veterans their rights

The Miami Herald reports on a program called "Project Salute" in which students and faculty from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law provide free legal information and assistance on federal benefits issues to low-income veterans.

The Herald says, "the free service -- traveling non-government counsel to help veterans understand what they are entitled to through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs -- is one of a kind."

The law students say many veterans disabled by war may not know their rights to benefits.

''The most compelling thing I see are Marines from the Vietnam era toughing out mental illnesses,'' said Andrew Calcutt, 26, a second-year law student. "For Marines and for men of that era, they just have a tendency to tough it out. You have to pull it out of them and tell them, `Hey what you saw and did may have caused this.' ''