featuresNovember 5, 2013
The transition from soldier to student
Veterans share their experiences at Southeast and how being on campus helped them to cope with the mental and physical isolation of combat.
He could walk out his front door and see the Hindu Kush Mountains. They were astounding to look at in every way, yet the mountains were more than just something to look at. For Alvin Hillis, they meant isolation in a war zone.
"In the U.S., I could hop on the truck and go riding," Hills said. "You couldn't do that there because the mountains were hot zone, so you could not even visit those mountains. I mean you could look at them every day, but that was about it."
Hillis, a Southeast Missouri State University student and military veteran, was deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan in April 2012. For the year that Hillis was there, he worked at a detainee prison for insurgents.
Hillis said that he felt isolated in his camp. He missed his family and more specifically, the talks he had with his wife. To cope with the isolation, Hillis developed relationships with the others stationed at the camp and talked to them about what was happening in his life.
"You can't go into that environment and be closed-lipped and isolated from everybody," Hillis said. "You'll go stir crazy."
Ryan Barker, a Southeast student and sergeant in the National Guard, was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and Qatar in 2012. Barker said he enjoyed the camaraderie among the troops while on base.
"You really spend a lot of time with the same people for that entire year," Barker said. "Due to it being a war zone, you don't get to leave each other's side very often. So, if you're going to work out or you're lucky enough to be able to go do something on the post, like watch a movie, then it's always with the same group of guys.
The Return to School
Hillis and Barker returned home after serving and did what many veterans do. They used their G.I. Bill, a benefit that assists veterans with education tuition, to get a degree.
The transition between active military duty and returning to the university can be difficult to manage for some veterans.
Southeast student and veteran Curtis Moore said he had to learn the university's style of teaching. In the military, Moore was used to more hands-on and auditory-based teaching.
"By coming in straight out of the military and into the university, it took me pretty much the whole semester to figure out good ways to study, how to study, how to take tests because military testing and learning is completely different than what you do at a university or institution," Moore said.
Moore also said that having a more open schedule was something new to him.
"I'm used to having a schedule, working 16-hour days, but when you go to school and you have class for an hour and then you have class for another three hours, well, what are you going to do for that three hours, you don't know," Moore said. "It's just figuring out what to do with your time for the rest of the day."
When Barker first started at Southeast, he was excited about the opportunity he had been given. However, his struggle transitioning began with figuring out the processes for enrollment, financial aid and meeting with advisers. There were no guides to tell him exactly what to do. Something the military had always provided for him with every task.
Moore, a criminal justice major from Cape Girardeau, Mo., faced a similar issue when he started at Southeast.
"In the military it's step by step, you have a checklist -- this is what you do, this is how you do it," Moore said. "Here you really don't have that guidance, so when you go to talk to people and they don't have your stuff even though you've done it, it just kind of stresses you out a little bit because you're not really used to it."
Some veterans also experience a culture shock when they return home. Barker said when he first began school, he had to assimilate to the average student life.
"My first semester here, I would read everything in the text that we were told to read and then some," Barker said. "I would work to get every task done before the due date, and I would see other students not doing that. My peers would just kind of not turn in an assignment or not even open their book, and I would just think how could you not do that? We were told to do that, how could you not do that?"
Barker said he was able to understand the student culture over time and adapt to it.
"I just tried not to be so overbearing, tried not to pull all the stuff like the military wants you to be, like strong and involved," Barker said. "I just tried to see what the other students were doing and do what they do."
Some veterans will come home and need to take time to transition from a war zone to civilian life. After returning home from Afghanistan, Hillis had to get used to being in crowds of people.
"You've got to learn to let your guard down," Hillis said. "When you come back over to the U.S you can't be so uptight, but when you're in a combat zone like that you're always on the lookout.
Hillis, who is from Sikeston, Mo., and getting his master's in technology management, said that becoming a student at Southeast assisted in overcoming this issue.
"Going to Southeast, being on the campus, actually helped that transition because it got me around people," Hillis said. "It got me to trusting people because when you're in Afghanistan you don't know who to trust.
Help with the Transition
Jeremy McBroom, director of military and veteran's services at Southeast, works with veterans to help them transition from military life to everyday life.
"If you are on active duty, and that's all you've really known is active duty, and then you transition, that's one of the things our office helps with too, is transition from an active duty mindset for that service member to being in an academic setting," McBroom said. "It is a culture shock, and sometimes without that structure, they'll fall apart. That happens, it happens here. They want something that's uniformed. They want something that's just reoccurring. That's comfort for them. That's routine."
McBroom also works with veterans to help them get their benefits for school from Veteran's Affairs and helps disabled veterans get the assistance they need.
Money can be a barrier for some veterans when getting their education.
"Some of them come in with lofty expectations because all throughout their service they wanted to go to school," McBroom said. "Sometimes it might not be the best fit for them if they are trying to provide for their family."
Some veterans also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Although not all veterans have this condition, McBroom feels that it is important to recognize the signs of PTSD because there is alarming suicide rate among veterans.
"It's mainly because people don't pick up on the signs that their peers or someone that they love has changed or is basically not being as engaging as they once were," said McBroom.
Along with approximately the 250 veterans he helps, McBroom also has served in the military. He enlisted before college and also served after Sept. 11, 2001.
"When that hit, I actually saw it on the television live," McBroom said. "It just infuriated me so much that I was ready to go back on active duty."
In his office sits a picture of an American flag drawn by a veteran and another American flag drawn by his 5-year-old daughter.
"I did this so when veteran students who do come to visit the office see that I am a veteran, it sort of legitimizes the conversation," McBroom said. "When veterans see and they know that I have been in the service and I have been deployed, they understand that I've had similar experiences. I've been there done that. I've got the T-shirts. They'll open up and they'll talk to me more. This bond between veterans allows me to assist the military and veteran population."
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