Veterans bring ‘relevant’ experiences to college campuses

WASHINGTON--Iraq war veteran Patrick Campbell, a student at Catholic University's Law School in Washington, still feels badly about a comment he made one day on campus to a fellow student who innocently offered him a plastic "Save Darfur" bracelet.

"Without even thinking about it, I turned to her and I said, 'The last time I wore one of those, I left it in someone's cranial cavity.'" And he walked away

Campbell wore a similar bracelet when he was overseas as a medic, trying to save the life of a man who had been shot in the head and was bleeding out. Ultimately, the body was carried away, and unbeknownst to Campbell at the time, so was his bracelet.

The student, a young woman, knew nothing of the memories she would elicit from the former soldier.

"I feel bad to this day about that moment," Campbell reflects. "Not because I wasn't being honest. But she didn't deserve that."

And yet, Campbell says from his perspective, school is the best place for a returning young vet to be.

"That's what college really is. About questioning and challenging," Campbell says. "And when you come home from Iraq you're questioning and challenging everything you knew about life and about yourself."

With the return of so many veterans back to colleges, university officials are noticing how the presence of former soldiers can change a campus. They say that veterans, with their diverse backgrounds and added maturity, bring unique perspectives that benefit faculty and students.

That's why veterans are such appealing candidates for college acceptance, says George Washington University admissions officer Michael O'Leary says.

"Because of their experience, veterans have more of a desire to understand the world and have a bit more of a desire and a taste for education that really comes along with those added years of maturity and sacrifices that they've made," O'Leary says.

Surviving War... and Law School

A member of the Louisiana National Guard, Campbell interrupted his schooling to serve in Iraq. Campbell's age and background at times make it difficult for him to connect with his younger classmates. But the experiences that trouble him socially give him a unique perspective that he brings to the law school classroom. "When you can understand pretty well that at any point society can completely break down and be lawless," he says, "you now understand why laws exist."

Campbell, who now works as the legislative director for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, believes veterans bring something special to college. "Someone who is dedicated to their work and knows the value of sacrifice and will take what they learn at"¦college and go and change the world."

Vets, he says, tend to be more confident and participate more freely in class discussions. "We have an opinion. We feel like we've fought for the right to have one. So we share it with people."

And there's a reason for his confidence.

"In law school they like to yell at you," he says. "I'm like, 'if you can't make me do pushups, I'm not really scared of them.'"

The "calmness and assuredness" that veterans bring to campus, Campbell jokes, is particularly beneficial when exam time arrives.

"There's more to life than school," he tries to tell crazed classmates. "It's a final. It will come. You can get nervous. But life is still going to be moving when it's all done."

When the stress becomes too overwhelming for his classmates, Campbell is armed with stories sure to get a good laugh. "I'm one of the few guys to pee on an IED and live to tell the tale."

But Campbell says he must be careful when judging how much his classmates are ready to hear about his experiences. In fact, he spent his first couple months back in the United States being called Dr. Killjoy at parties.

"Invariably someone would be drunk and come up to me and say 'How was Iraq?' and I would make the mistake of thinking that that person genuinely wanted to hear how it was," he recalls.

As for what's next for Campbell, he must take the bar exam, a daunting task, even for someone who "spent a year overseas on a trash pile."

But he will approach it with the same confidence that helped him survive both war-and law school.

"I've surmounted bigger obstacles," he says. "If they're not blowing me up, it's okay."

Being 'Relevant'

Georgetown University student Ryan Groves knows all too well the difficulty of being a student-veteran. At age 27 he is older than most his classmates. And he is an amputee-the result of a rocket blast that blew off his leg when he served in Iraq as a sergeant in the Marine Corps.

"I'll be honest. I'm a loner," he says. "My natural tendency is just to study, go to class, go home."

And yet, from an academic standpoint, Groves too is able to add a unique perspective to classroom discussions. He recalls his international law professor, who would refer to the veteran as "relevant."

"Professors understand the value of having someone who's been there," Groves says. "It's academia. So firsthand, primary sources are crucial."

Tom Hennessey is chief of staff for the president of George Mason University in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington. He served in the U.S. Army for 28 years, retiring as a colonel from the Army's Intelligence and Security Command.

"Being a veteran translates into a person who is more focused, a better time manager, and more inclined to devote their energies, both physical and intellectual, to the task they are assigned," Hennessey says.

They participate more during discussions, a treat for professors. "It's a much more lively class, a more engaged class."

And they work collaboratively and offer to help their fellow students, a treat for their classmates.

"In the military, you learn to work as a team," Hennessey says. "You succeed when everyone succeeds. It's a work ethic they bring to the classroom."

Yet, Groves has met resistance, or at least hesitation, from his fellow Georgetown students.

"I think the students are still in that frame of mind that because they've read all these books they already know it all," he says.

And yet, it might be their unfamiliarity with the realities of war that make them reluctant to speak with Groves.

"It's not that I'm not willing to talk about it," he says. "I just think it's probably that students just don't know how to. They don't know the appropriate way. So they just don't."

Grove offers this advice for students who want to reach out to campus veterans.

"Start slow, start small. I definitely wouldn't get into the 'have you killed anybody' discussion. Since we're at a university a good way to start is, 'How does it fit into what you're learning now?' That opens the door and kind of puts the ball in my court."