Role Exit from the Military: Student Veterans' Perceptions of Transitioning from the U.S. Military to Higher Education

This paper presents a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with eleven student veterans about transitioning from the U.S. military to civilian life and to a midsized, public university. The U.S. military and American institutions of higher education are significantly different, and these differences make adaptation for student veterans more difficult. The purpose of this research was to understand what this transition was like for student veterans and the factors that affected how they negotiated the move back home. Using framework analysis (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994), we noted five themes of student veterans' military service that impacted their transition: (a) task cohesion; (b) military structure; (c) military responsibilities and release anxiety; (d) combat experience; and (e) social cohesion in combat units. We describe each of these themes and explain how they influenced student veterans' experiences in school. We conclude with suggested policy implications for institutions of higher education. Keywords: Military, Combat, Student Veterans, Higher Education, Total Institution, Role Exit, Framework Analysis.Since 1944, the U.S. government has provided U.S. military veterans with financial assistance for attending college through the GI Bill of Rights, and these educational benefits have been a popular incentive for military enlistment ever since the end of the draft in 1973 (McMurray, 2007; Olson, 1973). In fact, "educational benefits" was the most commonly cited reason for joining the military in the beginning of the Global War on Terror (GWT; U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001). The passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill in August 2009 improved educational benefits for veterans, and over half a million veterans of the GWT and their dependents have used these educational benefits (Cook & Kim, 2009). Forty-five percent of all GWT veterans under the age of 30 have attended college as either full-time or part-time students since 2011 (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2011). For many of the 2.3 million veterans returning from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, going to college has been a popular method of reintegration (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, 2010).However, the military and higher education vary in several respects that can make the transition more difficult. Whereas military personnel lack control over their daily lives and must comply with military authority figures' orders, college students have much greater choice over how they live their lives. And while the military expects service members to meet institutional goals by banding together through task cohesion, college typically involves working independently to meet individual goals.Thus, the nation-wide entrance of military veterans onto college and university campuses has introduced a new kind of experiential diversity into higher educational settings. Because student engagement and integration predict student success in college (Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, & Whitt, 2010), researchers have directed their attention toward the adjustment of veterans in higher educational settings and toward ways of minimizing any possible culture clashes (Glasser, Powers, & Zywiak, 2009). Student veterans often have different sets of life experiences than most college students, which engenders their unique perspective both inside and outside the classroom (Cook & Kim, 2009; DiRamio, Ackerman, & Mitchell, 2008). In addition, student veterans with combat experience often suffer from emotional or physical injuries, leading to increased alienation on campus (Elliott, Gonzalez, & Larsen, 2011).The transition from the military to higher education institutions presents a number of challenges, including adapting to a new environment and new role expectations, and incorporating the identity of student into the identity of veteran (i.e., becoming a student veteran). This study elucidates these challenges via a qualitative analysis of eleven in-depth interviews with veterans who recently underwent the transition to college themselves. …