When Staff Sgt. Rick Robitaille received his first massage nearly 20 years ago, it was a transcendent experience.

"It was the greatest thing ever," he said. "After that I always said that some day I'd become a massage therapist, but it never occurred to me that I actually would."

Beginning next month, Robitaille will embark upon a 13-month certification program for massage therapy at North Eastern Institute of Whole Health. Usually an $8,000 program, it is free to Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans thanks to the institute's latest endeavor, Operation Healing Hands.

"Now the soldiers won't have fighting hands, they'll have healing hands. They'll still be serving the public, but a healing, more therapeutic way," said Institute Director Dr. Gabrielle Grigore.

Grigore, a former neurosurgeon who founded the Bridge Street school soon after immigrating to the United States in 1991, said the idea to offer free tuition to Iraqi veterans and their spouses, including the spouses of fallen soldiers, came from wanting to "give something back" to her adopted country.

It was her late father Emille, she said, who suggested helping America's soldiers. After he died in 2003, she began in earnest thinking of ways to do so. She first considered sending teams of massage students to U.S. bases at home and abroad. After much contemplation, however, she opted to offer the servicemen and women something more permanent.

In learning a new set of skills, she said, the returning soldiers will have an additional way to make a living. Or at the very least, she said, they can simply learn something new for their own personal benefit. Either way, she said, it's free of charge and there are no strings attached.

Students enrolled in the 750-hour massage therapy diploma program take a variety of academic and hands-on courses, including anatomy and physiology, massage career and equipment, and an array of massage-oriented classes like Swedish massage, sports massage and facial massage to name but a few.

In addition to online classes, the institute has day, evening, and weekend classes, a flexibility Robitaille will take advantage of. A guidance counselor at Memorial High School during the day, he will be taking classes two nights a week.

"This opportunity for me to learn another skill set and the more skill sets I have, the more money I'll be able to provide for my family--that's a big appeal," he said.

The part-time soldier, who served in Kuwait and Iraq from February 2003 to March 2004 with a Londonderry-based engineering unit, said he has no plans to trade in his job at Memorial to set up shop as a full-time massage therapist, but did say he could see himself giving massages over summer breaks or maybe when he retires.

Crystal Gibeau, on the other hand, said she hopes to use the skills she learns to open a full-service salon with a friend. Gibeau is eligible for the free tuition through her husband Corrie, a Marine sniper who served four stinits in Iraq before completing his active duty service in February.

"I think this is a nice way for [the institute] to give back. All of my husband's friends are excited about getting free massages when they come to visit us," she said

Classes for North Eastern Institute of Whole Health's upcoming massage therapy diploma program begin Sept. 20. Though it is designed as a full-time, 13-month program, those Operation Iraqi Freedom vetereans and/or their spouses taking advantage of the free tuition have up to three years to complete the program.

To learn more about Operation Healing Hands, call Grigore at 623-5018. ext. 12.