LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Life after the military can be tough for many war veterans who struggle to adjust to life after combat . John Raftery accepts his Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year award . But a scheme at The Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University aims to provides business training for U.S. war veterans that will make that transition easier . The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities ( EBV ) teaches valuable skills that enable veterans to become self-employed and make their business ideas viable . The EBV was the brainchild of Mike Haynie , a military veteran who spent 14 years in the air force before becoming an entrepreneurship professor at Syracuse , where his Dean is a Vietnam veteran . `` Self-employment is a powerful path forward for people with disabilities , who may not have a way to plug in to traditional jobs , '' he told CNN . `` We recognized that this was an opportunity to teach entrepreneurship to serve those who have served all of us . '' John Raftery , 30 , was in the Marine Corps between 1999 and 2003 . He left with post-traumatic stress disorder and told CNN that after leaving the military he endured a two-year `` desolate period '' when he was in and out of work . Raftery attended the first EBV at Syracuse in 2007 . Two months later he quit his job and started his Dallas-based business Patriot Contractors , Inc. Patriot is now a thriving enterprise , with five employees and a projected revenue of $ 1 million for the year . He returned to Syracuse this year to collect the EBV 's inaugural Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year award . `` It 's been a lot of hard work but the program gave me the tools to do it , '' he told CNN . `` Coming out of the military you lose part of yourself . I was a Marine for so many years , and then I found myself back in the civilian world . The big thing about the course is that it gave me the confidence to go out and do it . '' The courses are open to veterans with a `` service-connected disability '' who have served since September 2001 . Haynie is proud of the fact that the program is funded entirely by donations from alumni and partner businesses with a stake in local communities . There is no charge for attending the program , but places are limited . Haynie said there were more than 400 applications this year for 115 places across the five schools , but there are hopes to expand the program . Former U.S. marine Joshua Pitcher is another beneficiary of the program . On his first tour of Iraq , with the Marines in 2005 , Pitcher suffered a gunshot wound . He returned for a second tour , but in February 2007 his team came under attack from insurgents and a grenade exploded inches from his head . Surgeons in Iraq removed half his skull to relieve swelling in his brain , but the injury brought an end to his army career . Pitcher 's bravery earned him two purple heart medals . Now 24 and living in New York State , he is trying to adjust to life after the military . Pitcher told CNN he has found an alternative career in furniture making and now has a workshop behind his house . Last week he attended his first session to help him on his way to building his furniture business . The EBV has three stages -- an online module where students get up to speed with business fundamentals , an intensive nine-day `` bootcamp '' at a university , and a year-long mentorship from the EBV and successful local entrepreneurs . Having completed stages one and two , Pitcher was impressed with the program . `` You learn a lot on the course , '' he told CNN . `` I had a business plan mostly set up before I went , but you 're able to refine it , and that means you can actually hit the ground running when it 's all done . '' Syracuse University introduced the EBV in 2007 . Since then the EBV Consortium of Schools has been launched and UCLA Anderson , Florida State University 's College of Business , Mays Business School at Texas A & M University and Purdue University all run the EBV program developed by Syracuse . Elaine Hagan , executive director of Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA Anderson School of Management , told CNN that veterans possess many of the qualities the school tries to instill in their MBA students , such as leadership , discipline and teamwork . Haynie told CNN that a key part of the EBV is to instill belief in the veterans . `` The program is designed not only to teach , but to inspire the students , '' he said . `` We bring in world-class faculty , entrepreneurs from all over the country and business leaders . We 've had senators , congressmen and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies participate in the program . It 's sends out the message to the veterans that we believe they can really do it . ''
Founder Mike Pitcher was wounded in Iraq and had to rethink his career . He took part in the first Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities . The program is run by several universities and teaches business skills to war veterans . ` ` It is designed to inspire the students , '' says program founder Mike Smith .