Abstract

The subsiding of American involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is resulting in an increasing number of veterans attending college. For many in the current generation of servicemen and women, wartime incentives created a path to education and upward social mobility that is incomparable in its scope and availability for those without any other access to educational resources. As their service concludes and they exit the regimented and violent environment of the military, veterans find themselves arriving in a world they find unrecognizable. Numerous veterans are attempting to re-integrate into civilian society while bearing the scars of traumatic events and suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In spite of the fact that so many veterans cite the desire for educational resources as their primary motivation for committing to military service, they are finding that civilian institutions like colleges and universities seem unprepared to handle the challenges that arise with the growing student veteran population. An ethnographic investigation of student veterans at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Western Michigan University reveals lingering effects of trauma and militarization that alienate them. Student veterans comprise a diasporic culture, estranged from their classmates and the traditional pedagogical approaches implemented in civilian classrooms.

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