Most members of the Penn State University Veteran's Organization (PSUVO) have gone off to war in Iraq.

Between deployments, veterans struggle to maintain PSUVO's club status, but they have faced problems because of Penn State rules, low membership and high turnover rates.

Last year, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) told the group it had to either boost its membership or lose its status as a student club.

Since PSUVO did not have the 20 members required by USG rules, it lost its HUB-Robeson Center office and received several letters from USG. Before the war started, the club had about 50 members; now it has about 15.

"The higher-ups only look at the numbers and they don't realize that all of our members are overseas. They're not here. They've been deployed. They're activated," PSUVO Vice President Doug Ninkovich said.

Emily de Mers, USG Supreme Court chief justice, does not remember dealing specifically with PSUVO.

In September, the power to make decisions concerning club status switched from the Supreme Court to the Student Activities Office.

"If we did send letters or e-mails, it's because we were following standard rules that the administration set for us," de Mers said. "If they did have an issue they could have appealed and had a hearing ... but the membership rule was something, a problem, that the court recognized and was trying to fix."

The Student Activities Office plans to continue with the same guidelines as USG, but might make exceptions for clubs like PSUVO, Director of Student Activities Stan Latta said.

He said the Student Activities Office might be willing to bend the rules because PSUVO draws from a smaller group than other clubs.

"There are not as many veterans on campus as, say, Democrats who could join College Democrats," Latta said.

If a group similar to College Democrats could not find 20 members, the Student Activities Office would be less likely to compromise, he added.

William Ames, the PSUVO Webmaster, said veterans need a group of their own.

"Certainly when all these people that are off fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq come back, they're going to need some help," he said.

The group feels strongly because PSUVO has been a club since the Vietnam War ended. It is the oldest veteran's organization on any campus.

"PSUVO is just too important an institution to let wither on the vine," Ames said.

The group is having trouble because most members of the reserves and National Guard have been called up to serve at least once.

"The military police unit in Johnstown -- they were never called up," Ninkovich said. "That's about the only one I know of."

Some 106 students have taken military leaves of absence so far this year, Kaye Keith, administrative assistant in the Office of the Registrar, said.

Because of this, PSUVO does not have any continuous leadership, Ninkovich said.

"People have been yanked and the people who have been yanked are the people who hold offices," he said. "I was yanked when I was vice president the first time and I didn't turn over my vice presidency to the person who replaced me. All the folders I had, all the addresses of alumni -- I have no idea what happened to that stuff."

The veterans said they hope the pace of the war will slow so they can finally graduate and their club can do what it was set up to do: provide peacetime services.

They also said they hope the Student Activities Office will let them stretch the rules a bit so they can retain their club status.

"The club is very good and it is full of good people and I'd hate to see it get ruined," Ninkovich said. "It provides a good service whether they realize it or not."