Back to School…
Next month will be the first time in nearly 15 years I’ve set foot in a live college classroom. Like many veterans I earned my bachelor’s online, specifically through Troy University. I followed my father and my passion and stuck with criminal justice and a concentration in homeland security. I know, it seems like a gimmie but I’d of been useless in any technical skill degree. I made a career out of writing, reading, and speaking… just not always to Americans.
That said I’m about to enter graduate school at George Mason University and I’m fairly certain I’m nervous. More so than I was on that first combat patrol leaving the FOB in November 2005 and definately more so than the first time I recommended sending troops in harms way. Why? This is unfamilar territory for me and I am not the expert.
I heard all my life I needed a degree. I got the degree. I heard all my life that the degree would lead to better jobs. Maybe, I haven’t really gotten all that many job offers. Maybe I should of gone for that technical degree after all? But then I was talking to some grad students at George Washington University and they said “the master’s is the new bachelor’s”. Truer words were never spoken and I needed to check another box but then I read Task & Purpose that caught my eye: How Veterans Screw Up College.
Yet somehow a lot of us get lost in the process:… emphasizing a simplistic view of a degree as a “check in the box.” These folks miss out of other opportunities that could substantially improve their lives after service.
That was probably my problem and what put me on the 14 year degree plan, I didn’t take it seriously. This time is different. I have always felt that college, as a whole, should be something done later in life. What was the point of going to school in 1999 after 12 years of school? Football? Didn’t make the team. Partying? I didn’t really party, especially after the first weekend where I watched a girl get so drunk she fell off a second story balcony. Lacrosse? Sure, had fun and hit people with a stick… but I didn’t smoke weed so I wasn’t exactly “in”. ROTC was my goal… but I kept getting into verbal arguments with the MS IIs and IIIS in the course.. I realized I needed to do something so I joined the Army like I wanted and planned, just as an enlistedman instead of an officer.
Anyway. This time is different and I’m taking it seriously. I have a lot to offer to the program from my perspective especially after being some interesting places. Furthermore, I have far more to learn from the students and the professors. Even the students who are just coming out their bachelor’s program hoping to and that big think tank job. A fresh perspective that I hope will challenge my way of thinking. I grew up asking “why are we doing this stupid sh!t?” in the Army so hopefully I can take it. I realize I’ll have to control my temper at times, so I may be taking sips of bourbon in class, don’t worry I’ll have enough for everyone.
Looking forward to it.
