Veterans look to reconnect as students

VETERAN SCHOLARS: Robert Widell, University of Rhode Island assistant professor of history, speaks at a public forum at the university focused on the homecoming experiences of military veterans attending college. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
VETERAN SCHOLARS: Robert Widell, University of Rhode Island assistant professor of history, speaks at a public forum at the university focused on the homecoming experiences of military veterans attending college. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Veterans of the Middle East wars, now attending universities and colleges, have experiences that are sometimes unique among their classmates.

They tend to be of “nontraditional” college age, older than 18 to 23 years old, but beyond that, they have experiences in combat or in support operations that can make them feel different than traditional students. Many veterans say civilian life is a readjustment after discharging from service, and that includes transitioning to an identity as a full- or a part-time student.

Choosing a major, choosing which college to attend and understanding how to take advantage of veteran benefits for education all are part of the process.

Rhode Island colleges and universities have established veteran-services offices, as well as student-veteran organizations, to help ease the transition for former soldiers. But beyond the structural services, individual professors are encouraging veterans to share their perspectives in campus discussions. And student veterans also are helping each other to navigate the new systems.

- Advertisement -

A three-part symposium, which began Sept. 11 at the University of Rhode Island, highlights the homecoming experiences of current veteran scholars. In the first panel session, student veterans talked about how their homecomings differed from the experiences of previous generations of returning veterans.

The symposium, made possible through a grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, asked the student veterans to read several selections from literature, film and essays that expressed earlier visions of homecomings and compare their own experiences. Part of the purpose is to help students of similar backgrounds connect, said Rob Widell, an associate professor of history at URI, and one of three organizers.

The panel discussion will continue Oct. 16 at the Providence Public Library and Nov. 13 at the Community College of Rhode Island.

In the panel held Sept. 11, Ashley Aldarondo, a combat veteran in Afghanistan, said she identified most strongly with the World War II-era characters in “The Best Years of Our Lives,” a 1946 film that chronicled the difficult reintegration of three returning veterans.

Now a senior at Rhode Island College, Aldarondo is studying communications.

“A lot of the discussion is relevant to today,” she said of the film. “When the soldiers were on their way back, they all shared their fears, their anxieties about whether they were going to be accepted. I remember when I first came back, I was afraid of people pigeon-holing me, like, ‘Oh, you’ve been to war. You must need help.’ I wasn’t sure how I was going to be received by my friends, my family or even my classmates.”

Michael Steiner, 29, a U.S. Navy veteran who served two deployments in the Persian Gulf, is studying applied economics at URI. He identified with a reading that compared the uniform to a second skin.

“When you’re in the military for six years, and you’re living it, breathing it 24/7, you come to identify with that uniform,” he said. “When I got out, I kind of lost a sense of myself, really. I had to come back to Rhode Island and figure out, ‘What do I want to do now?’ ”

On the question of deciding what education to pursue, the panelists talked about how they arrived at their decisions.

Sometimes, in the service, the idea is expressed that once discharged, you should pursue what you did while enlisted, said Chad McFarlane, an Iraq war veteran. He served in the U.S. Army from 2002 to 2007 and was assigned to an armored vehicle in two combat deployments. Because of his “tanker” experience, he said he was told he could “drive a forklift” or work as a security guard once he got out.

Instead, he is studying applied economics at URI. McFarlane was among several of the panelists who had participated in the Warrior Scholar program, a two-week “boot camp” held at campuses, including Harvard and Yale universities, which gives veterans an intensive experience of college-level writing and academic expectations.

Steiner, who attended the program at Yale, said it helped him transition from the Community College of Rhode Island to URI, where the classes are larger and the environment is less personalized. Beyond that, he said, the program helped him connect with other student veterans.

Unlike previous generations, notably the post-World War II era, there aren’t so many veterans on college campuses that they are clearly visible. “We really are the 1 percent. How many people can really name a student veteran?” Steiner said.

Denny Cosmo, a nine-year veteran of the U.S. Army Airborne Infantry and military intelligence units, is now studying business and entrepreneurship at CCRI.

His initial academic experience post-service wasn’t a good fit. He enrolled at Auburn University, a more traditional experience, and found he needed something better suited to his interests. He returned to Rhode Island, and at 33, is preparing to pursue a startup that matches his interests in underserved communities and sustainable agriculture.

CCRI has been “incredibly supportive” of the needs of veterans, he noted. It has a veteran-services office at each of its four campuses, said Cosmo, a past president of the student veteran organization.

He had always wanted to be a soldier, Cosmo said, and joined the Army the summer of 2001. When he left the service, he had to reposition himself. That transition is easier if the soldier enters the service with realistic expectations.

“At some point, you have to take the uniform off,” he said. •

No posts to display

1 COMMENT