{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/benveteranstudent","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"slug":"ben.veteranstudent","excerpt":"UCLA is ranked as the fifth-best college for veterans – but what is the college experience really like for these Bruins?","headline":"Serving those who’ve served","author":"Benjamin Konold","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/ben.veteranstudent/1ben_cover-0729b41a303e2c430aa3db7f041e236e.jpg","covercred":"Ashley Kenney","coveralt":"Portrait of Henderson.","articleType":"article","updated":null,"content":[{"type":"text","value":"The sun had set almost an hour ago, and now the De Neve Gardenia study hall was illuminated by warm overhead lights. We had been talking for well over an hour at this point and while at first he was energetic, constantly getting up to act out all of his many stories from serving in the Navy, he was now sinking further into his seat."},{"type":"text","value":"Now he sat completely still. He had stopped shaking his knee and was looking away from me, staring at something far away."},{"type":"text","value":"“You can see people standing around ... on trucks or you could see them with guns,” he said. “And you’ll see the bomb drop, and they’re just gone.”"},{"type":"text","value":"He slowly shook his head."},{"type":"text","value":"Aaron Henderson, a fourth-year philosophy student, served as an aviation electronics technician while on tour in the West Pacific for Operation Inherent Resolve, a military intervention centered around combating the Islamic State group in the Middle East. Henderson worked 12-hour shifts, six days a week. For two years, he was in charge of the maintenance and outfitting of fighter jets in combat operations."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Portrait of Henderson.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/ben.veteranstudent/1B-c1f727e92ea31dd399bcb1b1f9fa16cc.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Ashley Kenney\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Henderson spent a total of four years serving in the Navy, achieving the rank of petty officer third class. Yet after his initial deployment, Henderson knew that the military wasn’t for him."},{"type":"text","value":"“It was like ... being trapped on this floating cage,” Henderson said. “I knew I wanted to get out (of the Navy) my first week in boot camp.”"},{"type":"text","value":"After the Navy, Henderson said he had his sights on higher education. He enrolled in Irvine Valley College in fall 2016. Three years after attending his first class, Henderson ultimately decided to transfer to UCLA."},{"type":"text","value":"“I went through all the colleges I got into,” he said. “I visited each campus and then I got to UCLA, ... and UCLA just ruined the others. There was just an energy at UCLA that wasn’t at other campuses. Everybody was smiling. Everybody was happier and outgoing.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Currently, the U.S. News & World Report ranks UCLA as the fifth-best college for veterans. According to the report, UCLA holds this distinction in part because it is certified under the GI Bill – which offers 36 months of paid tuition from the government to veterans. The university also receives high marks for being a top-tier public institution and consistently enrolls and graduates veteran students, with 452 veterans enrolled in the 2018-2019 school year. UCLA has the most veteran students enrolled out of the entire University of California system as of the 2018-2019 year."},{"type":"text","value":"Yet, even with these high rankings, Henderson said he still had difficulty initially finding his place at UCLA."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"What you have to understand is that it takes a village to get a vet through school,” Tossetti said.\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Henderson is unassuming at first glance. He looks much younger than his 26-year-old self."},{"type":"text","value":"“I still get treated like I’m a child,” he said, trying to stifle a laugh. “But as soon as I tell them (I’m a veteran), they treat me so differently.”"},{"type":"text","value":"When people learn he is a veteran, it is often met with a look of surprise and an air of discomfort."},{"type":"text","value":"He hates how being a veteran always goes hand in hand with an interrogation, he said. Henderson has answered countless questions, from “Are you proud of being a soldier?” to “Have you killed somebody?” But what particularly irks him is the phrase “Thank you for your service.”"},{"type":"text","value":"“What do you want me to say?” he asked. “Like, ‘You’re welcome?’”"},{"type":"text","value":"Henderson said he not only struggles to integrate with the student community on campus but also feels disappointed with the academic counseling readily available for veteran students."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Portrait of Henderson.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/ben.veteranstudent/1D-90a7b0367f35c256822782dcbf867103.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Ashley Kenney\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"He said he had his own counselor specifically for veterans at Irvine Valley College as well as a therapist who specialized in veteran care and was available for same-day appointments."},{"type":"text","value":"At UCLA, Henderson said his primary option for counseling is being referred to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a government program that offers various resources for veterans. Although the VA offers professional medical care, it serves almost 9 million veterans per year nationwide, according to the program’s website. Simply being able to see someone can take weeks, Henderson said."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"The idea that our government has placed a numerical value on a human life doesn’t sit easy with Henderson.\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Veteran students not only have to grapple with the transition to civilian life from a war zone but also have to compete against other students who have been better prepared for college, said Jesse Tossetti, the director of outreach and admissions for the Warrior-Scholar Project."},{"type":"text","value":"The Warrior-Scholar Project is a one- to two-week boot camp that introduces recent veterans to higher education. Henderson credits this organization with motivating him to pursue higher education. This training teaches students how to properly use their government benefits, how to develop the necessary skills to take college classes and how they should apply to highly ranked universities, Tossetti said."},{"type":"text","value":"For a veteran student to succeed in college, they need personalized care from a compassionate team familiar with the problems veterans go through, Tossetti said."},{"type":"text","value":"“What you have to understand is that it takes a village to get a vet through school,” Tossetti said."},{"type":"text","value":"UCLA funds many veteran programs run by faculty, students and veterans."},{"type":"text","value":"MOVE! Weight Management Program is a VA program that helps veterans stay healthy and active as they transition to civilian life. Veterans who participate in the program coordinate with a team of UCLA students and faculty on how to eat properly, exercise and where to find affordable therapy."},{"type":"text","value":"Through the UCLA School of Law Veterans Legal Clinic, a team of law students and professors provides legal guidance for underserved and marginalized veterans to receive their deserved benefits in Los Angeles."},{"type":"text","value":"Zack Sobel was previously involved in the Veterans Legal Clinic. Students who worked in the program helped veterans contest unfair traffic ticketing, whether it be in court or through court alternatives as well as helped veterans navigate legal paperwork to ensure that they were receiving all their due benefits, said Sobel, a law student at UCLA and an Army veteran."},{"type":"text","value":"In the 2017-2018 school year alone, the Veterans Legal Clinic closed 267 cases and secured $10,869 for veterans, according to Sobel."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"If I die, get blown up or get killed somehow, they already have an idea of what I'm worth,” Henderson said, “It’s dehumanizing.”\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"The UCLA Veteran Resource Center is where UCLA veterans students go for academic guidance and to socialize with other veterans. Trent McBride, a fourth-year political science student, is a student intern at the VRC. The center helps anyone associated with the military, whether it be a veteran student or their spouse or child, McBride said."},{"type":"text","value":"McBride served in the Navy for two and a half years as a ceremonial guard in Washington, D.C., performing ceremonies at landmarks like the White House and Pentagon, or performing military burial services for Navy soldiers. He then was a master at arms in San Diego for about three and a half years. He held the rank of petty officer second class before being honorably discharged from the military in 2018 after almost six years."},{"type":"text","value":"The VRC makes sure to reach out to every single student to answer questions about housing, classes, tutoring and whatever else incoming veteran students need, McBride said. The staff helps incoming students organize their class planner and shows them how to obtain all of their military benefits, he added."},{"type":"text","value":"Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic this year, he said that the staff is making more of a point to reach out to everyone and connect through their virtual office."},{"type":"text","value":"But despite the VRC’s efforts to help veteran students acclimate to UCLA, many still feel disconnected from the UCLA student community, McBride said. Out of the hundreds of veteran students at UCLA, he said only about 100 consistently engage with veteran resources on campus."},{"type":"text","value":"Henderson said he remembers when the VRC reached out to him, but he still hasn’t participated in any veteran services."},{"type":"text","value":"“There were a lot of community outreach programs, but I was never looking for that,” Henderson said. “There just wasn’t anything I needed, and they had a community already and I just didn’t feel like I was a part of it.”"},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Portrait of Henderson.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/ben.veteranstudent/1A-1bc62854dff02a81d1bc5496309e9924.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Ashley Kenney\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"The veteran community seems to be separated from the rest of the student body at UCLA, he said. The average age discrepancy between veteran students and students who attend UCLA straight out of high school is substantial, with most veteran students being in their mid-20s and early 30s, he said. Henderson said he feels like a kid around other veterans at times, but also faces trouble acclimating to an environment of mostly 20-year-olds in Westwood."},{"type":"text","value":"And because of expensive housing in the Westwood area, veterans almost never live in university housing, dealing instead with lengthy commutes and spending only brief intervals of time on campus for classes, Henderson said."},{"type":"text","value":"“The veteran community, I would say, isn't too big on campus. But even if it was, I would say most veterans don't really like to talk about their struggle,” Henderson said."},{"type":"text","value":"On a brisk winter morning in February while working on this story, I met Henderson at a hiking spot only a short drive from campus. We began walking down a trail, and at first, we conversed normally."},{"type":"text","value":"This time, he talked about the reality of war – how it comes quickly after one signs up. Every soldier in active duty has a price tag set on their head, he said. Henderson’s life, and the life of every soldier around him, is given a flat value of $100,000 dollars, according to the U.S. Department of Defense."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"They had a community already and I just didn’t feel like I was a part of it.”\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"This valuation, formally called the death gratuity, ensures that the families of soldiers killed in action are compensated. However, the idea that our government has placed a numerical value on a human life doesn’t sit easy with Henderson."},{"type":"text","value":"“If I die, get blown up or get killed somehow, they already have an idea of what I'm worth,” Henderson said, “It’s dehumanizing.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Gradually, we stopped talking and walked in silence together. All I could hear was the shuffling of our feet on the gravel. I thought back to our previous interview by Gardenia – and one thing Henderson had said that stuck out to me in particular."},{"type":"text","value":"“But one thing – what's cool is as a veteran, you can always recognize veterans,” he said. “They'll always have the scraggly beard ... always (have) clean, high and tight haircuts. And you can tell that, just in their face, they’re kind of motivated.”"},{"type":"text","value":"“Veterans can always recognize another veteran?” I asked."},{"type":"text","value":"“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “For the most part.”"}]}},"pageContext":{"term":"winter21","slug":"ben.veteranstudent"}},"staticQueryHashes":[]}