Like a soldier’s camouflage in dense undergrowth, they are hard to spot among their student peers. With only a handful studying here, they’re easy to overlook on campus.
As of fall 2008, the Office of Academic Records reported 51 students who were or are still active in the armed forces and collecting veteran educational benefits such as the G.I. Bill while studying at Cal Poly.
Psychology senior Chris Alcocer is one of those using his veteran educational benefits to pay his way and he is the only student combat veteran currently in the campus Reserve Officers’ Training course (ROTC). A combat veteran is someone who has been involved in combat operations while in the service.
When his initial veteran educational benefits ran out after three years, he decided to put on the uniform again to cover the rest of his college expenses. He joined the Cal Poly branch of the ROTC to earn commission and serve as an officer in the National Guard.
“Serving your country, there is nothing like it. The soldier is still alive in me, and in the National Guard I can be a part-time soldier,” he said.
He credits his experiences in the military for his choice of major at Cal Poly. “Being in Iraq motivated me to study psychology. I realized how good we have it here and I wanted to help people understand that,” Alcocer said.
Other than his veteran status, Alcocer said he is no different from other students, “Most people, when they find out I’m a veteran, thank me for my service,” said Alcocer. “It feels good I guess, but I’m just a college student like them; I’m not any different.”
The veteran found it difficult to get back into study habits after spending four years out of the classroom when he started his pursuit for a college degree at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, Calif. “(Freshmen) might have a little more advantage enrolling in college right out of high school,” he said.
Prior to enlisting in the Army at the age of 17, Alcocer aspired to become a chef, but couldn’t afford culinary school or college.
In the Army, he worked as cook before attending airborne school and serving in the 82 Airborne Division. Six months before he was scheduled to be discharged, he was deployed to Iraq. While in Iraq he switched jobs and became part of a scout platoon where he was a spotter for snipers.
At Cal Poly, programs specifically aimed at aiding a veteran transition back to school are few, but student veterans have the same access to programs designed to help all Cal Poly students succeed, such as tutoring, advising, counseling and disability services.
Trey Duffy of the Disability Resource Center said he does work with some veterans, but couldn’t specify the type of disabilities the veterans seek help for because of confidentiality purposes. “Whatever disabilities that they have are the same as others students would have, but our program mostly provides academically support services on campus, but not beyond that,” Duffy said.
Director of Health and Counseling Services Martin Bragg also said veterans have come in for services similar to a typical student.
However, he did say if a veteran needs specialized care for issues like war related trauma, it might be best to refer them to a Veteran Affairs center specially suited to deal with those veteran issues.
Issues can develop “during the transition to civilian life or the stressors of war,” Bragg said.
But for Alcocer, the experience of war was moving and motivating.
“When you’re in battle all you think about is the guy next to you; it was an eye-opening experience. Culturally I was in shock,” said Alcocer about his time in Iraq. “(The guys next to you) depend on you and you depend on them.”
“I got a good feeling about the Iraqi people. It’s different from what you see in the media and what people think about them back here,” Alcocer said. “I had one guy hug and kiss me on the cheek and said ‘thank you for my freedom,'” he said. “Most of (the Iraqis) appreciated what we were doing while I was over there, and that made it worth it for me.”
After experiencing war, Alcocer said “coming back and having to hear people complain about the little stuff, like finding a Halloween costume, when there are people starving around the world,” was tough for him.
ROTC’s assistant professor of military science Capt. Michael Stone’s interest in the military was peaked by his desire to become a pilot.
His ambition became reality when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1999 from the U.S. Military Academy at WestPoint as an armor officer/platoon leader for an M1A1 tank unit. He later transferred branches to aviation and became a helicopter pilot with the army.
Now, he splits his time between overseeing third-year cadets and completing assignments handed down to him by the ROTC.
“Basically, what the professor of military science wants done, I get done,” he said.
Although he is not stationed on a base, Stone said he considers his assignment at Cal Poly to be just like any other assignment he’s had.
As a Chinook officer, he was assigned to provide humanitarian relief for natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and an earthquake that rattled northern Pakistan. Later, he was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While carrying out these assignments, Stone said he formed a brotherhood with his units.
“It’s a feeling that you get in just about every unit and it’s just an interesting dynamic that goes on whenever you have a group of people working together on anything in a challenging situation,” he said.
Upon completing his assignment here at Cal Poly, Stone will decide whether to make a career of the Army, or leave for civilian life. Currently, he is leaning towards staying.
Because of “the familiarity with the career field and the Army’s need for people who are competent at this job, there is sense of duty that tugs at me to stay in,” Stone said. “The military retirement system starts at 20 years of service; there’s another factor,” Stone said.
Although he hasn’t experienced enrolling in school after serving in the Army, Stone said, “a veteran might have the edge up on incoming freshmen because they would have experienced more and seen more cultures that would give them a broader perspective they can use here at school.”
But, he said, “the Army has greatly increased my abilities in leadership roles in general. And I’m not just being the used car salesman.”
To commemorate Veteran’s Day the ROTC’s Color Guard supported a veteran’s salute at a cemetery in Atascadero.