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You Served Us, Now Let Us Serve You

We are grateful to you and your family members for your service to our country! We understand that transitioning from military service to student life can be both challenging and rewarding, and we are dedicated to your success and wish to support your successful navigation of this transition.

Visit the SSU Veteran Services webpage for more specific information on benefits, contacts, and how to make the most of your military educational benefits.

Moving from Combat to Academic Zones

Returning home from deployment or service to a college environment produces a unique set of challenges and stresses. Some of these are observable and apparent: you get to pick your own clothes, there aren't any formations, and camouflage gives way to school colors. However, most transitional issues are far more subtle and complex.

• Difficulty relating to students who don't share your values or life experience. Age differences and trivial student concerns like grades, parties, and joining organizations seldom have the same significance to veterans, who are often more mature and focused on the mission of graduation.
• Navigating the cultural differences between the military and higher education bureaucracies (e.g., knowing the rules of campus, where to go to get things done, how to address professors and others in positions of authority).
• Feeling safe on campus (e.g., choosing classroom seats that allow for monitoring of others and rapid escape, such as sitting with their back to the wall and near a door).
• with your family (e.g. being a parent, daughter, and partner). As much as you love them, your military service and deployment has probably changed you in a manner that's difficult to understand.

These issues, when coupled with the challenges related to returning to general civilian life, place returning veteranÌýstudents at higher risk of dropping out.

Local Resources

• SSU Office of Veteran Services Ìý
• SSU Student Veterans of America Club
• Ìý(740) 353-3236 Ìý
• Ìý(877) 927-8387
• Troop & Family Assistance Center Specialist, Jody Birchfield, Region 2 Southeast Ohio, jodelana.e.birchfield.ctr@mail.mil
• Troop & Family Assistance Center Specialist, Erika McDaniel, Region 2 Southeast Ohio, erika.d.mcdaniel.ctr@mail.mil
• Troop & Family Assistance Center Specialist, Emily Mather, Region 3 Southwest Ohio, emily.a.mather.ctr@mail.mil

Ohio Resources

• Ìý
• : This program offers employment and training services designed to assist veterans and eligible spouses who are unable to obtain employment through basic services. Ìý
• : Education Opportunities for Veterans and Service members. Ìý
• : For active duty personnel and honorably discharged veterans who were Ohio residents atÌýthe beginning of their time in service.
• : Transition Assistance Information for Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom Veterans. Ìý
• Ìý
• : Affiliated with the VA, the NCPTSD aims to advance the clinical care and social welfare of veterans through research, education and training on PTSD and stress-related disorders. This site also contains many resources for readjustment to civilian life.
• Readjustment Counseling Services: This Veterans Administration site provides tools to locate nearby veterans centers, which provide free counseling for most combat veterans.
• Wounded Warrior Project Resource Center: Call center and trained specialists who are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by phone at 1-800-342-9647 or by e-mail at wwrc@militaryonesource.com.
• Ìý
• : 24/7 VA Hotline for Homeless Veterans: 1-877-424-3838.

Books of Interest:

• , by Bridget Cantrell and Chuck Dean.
• , by Keith Armstrong, Suzanne Best, and Paula Domenici.
• Ìýby Gayle Rozantine.