September 19, 2014

Emma Cox

Day after day, parks and recreation major, John Beckage, walks around Slippery Rock

University’s campus feeling like an outsider. While most students in their junior year are

walking to class with friends, meeting for lunch, talking with classmates or making plans to go

bowling at Coffaro’s or grab a few drinks at Ginger Hill Tavern over the weekend, Beckage feels

completely out of place.

Being a good eight to ten years older and having much more life experience than the

vast majority of his classmates, the 29 year old Army Reserve Veteran and Murrysville, Pa,

native struggles for a place of belonging in adjusting from military to civilian life.

“I feel like I’m trapped between two worlds,” a respectably reserved, tattoo-covered

Beckage explained. “It’s an extremely tough bridge to mend. I’m still searching for ways to

make things normal.”

Like Beckage, the majority of veterans struggle to fit back into society after completing

training, working in their field or returning home from deployment, especially in a college

setting. Though there are many positive ways that being a part of the military is beneficial to

students, the adjustments and difficulties they face upon their return aren’t always recognized.

Many veterans struggle in a college setting due to trauma, setbacks, social issues and personal

problems.

There are many reasons that individuals join the military, a decision that leads them into

a completely different life than the one they had before their enrollment, Beckage explained.

The Infantry Specialist enrolled in 2003 because it had always interested him and he said that

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the Army had exactly what he wanted. Slippery Rock Students, David Feyrer, 54 year old Army

Reserves Veteran, of Butler, Pa, and Susan Turek, 29 year old Air Force Veteran, of Grove City,

Pa, both enrolled in the military after graduating high school in order to avoid going to college.

Brittany Taylor, 23, of Carnegie, Pa, said when she joined the Army National Guard at the end of

her freshman year, it was to help in the cost of tuition as her parents were going through a

separation.

Though all of the veterans spoke of the difficulties they face, they were clear on the

beneficial financial aspects that are available to them. Being a student veteran means that your

schooling is fully paid for through the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, from your tuition to often residency

coverage, as well, Taylor explained.

“Being in the military has its perks,” Taylor said with a small smile on her face that

quickly vanished as she continued, “but there are a lot of things that people don’t understand.

Yeah, my college is paid for and that’s a huge plus but my college experiences are far different

from most because of it.”

One of the many differences that the accounting sophomore is referring to is the

setback of graduation that student veterans often face. Taylor began attending Slippery Rock

University in September of 2010 and is just now entering into her sophomore year, four years

later. Taylor had to take a total of two and a half years off of schooling while completing basic

and advanced training and serving a one year deployment in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013.

Like Taylor, Beckage, Feyrer and Turek have all had to set back their dates of graduation due to

their commitment to the military. Feyrer, Army mechanic and computer science major,

explained that he had only obtained an associate’s degree, an accomplishment that normally

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takes two years, from Butler County Community College after six years because he was

mobilized to Fort Dicks, N.J., for a duration of three years.

“It’s not something I’m ashamed of,” Feyrer said proudly. “Yes, it took me three times

longer than the average person to obtain a basic degree and I’m back in school as a college

junior in my fifties, but the way I look at it, there are many, many people I have served with that

aren’t able to do what I’m doing and for them, I’ll work for as long as it takes to get my

degrees.”

Feyrer and Turek are among those lucky enough to have avoided deployment; Beckage

and Taylor are unable to say the same. Serving overseas has the largest impact on those

returning to the civilian world, Feyrer explained. Beckage, who served a thirteen month

deployment in Iraq from 2004 to 2005, had an extremely difficult time returning back to school

after he was medically released from duty. After being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress

Disorder, Beckage dropped out of school after one semester at Georgia State University.

“I was constantly uneasy,” Beckage, who refuses to share stories of his deployment, but

shows the scars he holds from it in his eyes, explained. “I couldn’t go anywhere without feeling

that everyone was out to get me. Before I would go grocery shopping, I had the fastest route in

and out planned in my head. I was unable to sit in a classroom with someone sitting behind me

and I avoided crowds at all costs. I was a mess.”

Taylor slumped down in her seat and became uncomfortable as she explained the ways

she has been affected. The formerly outgoing girl who used to spend weekends out with

friends now finds herself up most nights after having nightmares from hearing loud partying

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outside of her bedroom window. She explained that it’s hard to focus on her grades after

memories of her deployment are triggered by things going on around her.

“I have a reoccurring nightmare of the time I watched a random Afghan man save the

lives of my battle buddies and myself when he drove a truck filled with explosives sent by the

Taliban away from our FOB,” she said. “There’s not a day that went by over there that I felt safe

and I hate when that feeling comes back.”

Though junior safety major, Turek, did not have to serve any time overseas, she

explained how she has been affected socially, even through training and the military standards

always in her mind. She was unaware of how she would be affected from entering the military.

After using the Air Force as a way to avoid going to college, she admitted that while in training,

she had wished that she had made her decisions differently.

“My friends and family joke about how serious I am, at times, but I don’t think it’s funny,

at all,” Turek said as she tightened her already too tight ponytail, “I’d like to feel like I fit in.”

The four veterans all agreed that due to their age, experiences and sense of belonging

within their branches, they aren’t able to fully fit into the college social norm, a point that

journalist Mike Stajura nails in his Business Insider article, “What Vets Miss Most Is What Most

Civilians Fear: A Regimented, Cohesive Network That Always Checks On You.”

“Gone, suddenly, is the cohesive structure that existed to take care of you. Gone is that

strong sense of social security. Gone is the sense that, wherever you go, you know where you

fit. Gone are the familiar cultural norms. Gone are your friends from your ready-made peer

group, who are just as invested in your success as you are in theirs,” Stajura states in his

November 2013 article that focuses on helping veterans adjust to normal civilian life.

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To help bridge the disconnect that Beckage felt between himself and other students

when coming to college, he started up a branch of the non-profit organization, Student

Veterans of America (SVA), at Slippery Rock. Beckage explained that there are over 950 of the

groups at universities throughout the United States to help veterans find a place of belonging.

Feyrer, Taylor and Turek were all in agreements that being a part of the SVA is beginning to

help them socially and educationally.

“Wherever you are, if you’re a veteran and can find a veteran, you’ll always have

something to talk about,” Turek explained.

Even though the SVA will not completely solve the problems or setbacks that student

veterans face, it’s a start toward making it easier. Feyrer explained that it’s a helpful hand that

they’ve been looking toward for quite some time. Taylor explains that there are difficulties she

didn’t realize she’d have, as she tries to lend some advice for those looking into joining the

military, before, after, or during schooling.

“Be cautious; it’s an extremely rewarding experience with many, many sacrifices. It’s

impossible to walk out the same way you’ve walked in. I joined to have my tuition paid for and

what I got was a deployment and a personality change but it has also helped me in a ton of

ways. Do your research, make sure you’re ready, and if you think you can handle it, then go for

it,” Taylor explained.

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Sources

John Beckage, President of Slippery Rock’s Student Veterans of America, Army Reserves

Infantry Specialist, parks and recreation junior, jcb1016@sru.edu, (724) 556-1358

David Feyrer, Army Reserves Mechanic/Military Pay, computer science junior,

djf1006@sru.edu, (724) 544-8454

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Brittany Taylor, Army National Guard Apache Helicopter Mechanic, accounting

sophomore, bat8667@sru.edu, (412) 443-7529

Susan Turek, Air Force Technical Sergeant, safety junior, set1006@sru.edu

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