The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how ten student veterans persist after entering private, 4-year institutions of higher education during or following their military service. The study's conceptual framework, drawing from Vacchi's Model of Student Veteran Support (2011, 2013), employs a narrative approach to spotlight the…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how post 9/11 military veterans described their transitions from military service to postsecondary education in the southwestern United States. The problem statement was: It is not known how post 9/11 military veterans describe their transitions from military service to postsecondary…

Critical events in Leonard Matlovich's life depict a reluctant activist for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/gender diverse, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) equality. He served in the US military and subsequently came to personify the broad social challenges to the military's homophobic culture and recruitment practices. Matlovich's experience of a series…

Unfortunately, not all civilian volunteers fulfill their military contracts due to failing to meet basic combat training graduation requirements or medical issues. As the primary trainers, drill sergeants (DSs) affect the completion of basic combat training and serve as gatekeepers for civilian volunteer's completion paths. Although the DSs…

Objective: To describe how veterans feel about disclosing their military status on campus and impacts on engagement with social and health-related services. Participants: Thirty-one university student veterans who participated in a student veterans' health study. Participants self-identified as White and male (90%) with an average age of 29.5…

Colleges may not be prepared to support veteran students transitioning from the military to higher education, resulting in more significant attrition levels for veteran students struggling to adapt to their new surroundings. This qualitative phenomenological study examined the experiences of post-9/11 veteran students as they transitioned from the…

Women are the fastest growing population of veterans in the United States. When asked why they joined the military, women have overwhelming indicated they were seeking educational benefits; as such, the number of women veterans attending higher education has risen. While women veterans face many challenges, including physical and mental health…

Objective: To examine how veterans resource centers (VRCs) and corresponding services influence student veteran transitions by applying the Schlossberg Transition Model. Participants: 12 student support staff and 6 junior/senior undergraduate student veterans at a four-year public university in California. Methods: In-depth semi-structured,…

Purpose: Many veterans struggle with the civilian world and the loss of identity associated with leaving the service. This research investigates the Building Heroes Charity's role in assisting service leavers transitioning to civil employment, in the United Kingdom (UK) and what can be learnt from the training and support.…

Military service members belong to a unique culture identified, in part, by their clothing, language, job requirements, and relationships. Their experiences within the military set them apart in ways that are unlikely to be understood by most in the civilian employment community. When transitioning into civilian employment, veterans navigate…

Much research has been conducted on student veterans, in general; however, research on student veterans in engineering majors is very sparse. There is national recognition of the importance of student veterans in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields as evidenced in the passage in 2020 of a bill investigating the lack of…

This study employs descriptive qualitative analysis to explore the experiences of eight Mexican American veterans utilizing Veterans Affairs education benefits to pursue baccalaureate degrees. Participants were recruited in Southern California at two California Community Colleges and three California State Universities. The findings suggest that…

While existing research recognizes the importance of transitions in military members' lives, there are few, and to my knowledge no micro-level discourse analytic, studies illuminating how military veterans talk about their transitions into and out of the military. Taking an interactional sociolinguistic approach (Gumperz, 1977, 2015), I examine…

Objective: This study examined the relationships among meaning making, military stressor severity, and adjustment to college among student service members/veterans (SSM/Vs). Participants: Participants were 128 SSM/Vs enrolled in postsecondary education from April to June 2016. Methods: Participants completed online self-report rating scales of…

Vocational identity may play a critical role in veterans' successful resocialization into civilian life, yet suggestions regarding career counseling for veterans (e.g., Clemens & Milsom, 2008; Rausch, 2014; Simpson & Armstrong, 2009) contain limited discussion of vocational identity. Understanding how vocational identity is influenced…