CSUN On Point

The Pew Research Center says approximately one-quarter of all veterans say its difficult to transition from military life to civilian life, and nearly half the veterans who served after the September 11 attacks say their adjustment has been difficult.

About 700 veterans attend CSUN. CSUN Veterans Affairs Coordinators Vanessa Ochoa and Noe Aguirre said there are plenty of veterans resources on campus. “We process applications, transcripts, do the evaluations, and they [veterans] make the decisions,” Aguirre said. “We’ve also been given the flexibility. If we need to make any exceptions [for admissions], we’ll go ahead and do that.”

Aguirre said one of the difficulties in providing services to help, is that many veterans and active duty military are so used to following orders that sometimes it is difficult for them to “accept their own decisions.” She described it as a form of brainwashing, caused by years in the service.

Dr. Abram Milton served in the United States Marine Corps for 23 years before retiring in 2016. He’s now a clinical psychologist at CSUN’s University Counseling Center.

“The transition services [personnel] they had back then weren’t as familiar with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as they are now,” Milton said. “A lot of the time, what we see in individuals is that they may have a traumatic experience that could be combat related, or even [from something like] a traffic accident,” Milton said. “When you are coming out of combat areas, there are [now] psychologists or many health professionals who help with PTSD.”

Veteran  and CSUN student Kevin Ogletree said he joined the military to follow a family tradition. Both his parents also served. Ogletree was in the U.S Army and the U.S Marine Corps for a total of seven years. He said his transition to civilian life was difficult. He didn’t have a good enough support system, and he had to drop out of his first attempt at college life. “It wasn’t until years later, now I have matured in life experiences, and I was able to come back to school in a better state of mind.”

Robert Graves, of Disabled American Veterans Department of California, said those who have spent years in the military don’t always know what life is like after the military. “When you leave the military itself, you leave behind your network of knowledge” Graves said. “When veterans with disabilities come out of the military, they don’t know how that will affect their placement in jobs, how they study in college, or how to reintegrate with their friends or their families.”

He said transitioning is a never-ending process.

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Adjusting to life at home is a difficult step veterans face when they return from their service.

“The biggest challenge in making that transition would be the difference in the military culture versus the civilian culture when they come back,” Veterans Resource Center Coordinator Patrina Croisdale said.

CSUN student and Marine veteran Juan Flores said his toughest adjustment has been getting his family, friends, professors and colleagues to understand his challenges. Flores said he has had trouble relating even to his closest friends and immediate family members because they just don’t understand what he has gone through.

CSUN provides the veterans on campus with many resources to help them adjust to their new surroundings. The Veterans Resource Center (VRC) reaches out to veterans to  make it easier for them to meet other veterans on campus and adjust to the different lifestyle. The VRC also provides mentors for veterans and helps them further their educational and professional goals.

Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) differs from the VRC by offering accommodations such as support services, academic coaches, and work ability programs to any students with disabilities. DRES also helps with the psychological process involved with students accepting they have a disability.

“They’re wanting to discuss their diagnoses, and how it impacts them in their current academics,” DRES counselor Joaquin Marinez said.

DRES also offers services to veterans on campus with a disability or diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Flores was diagnosed with PTSD three years after returning from Iraq. He experienced difficulty sleeping, anger issues and mood swings. DRES tries to push veterans into getting involved with the Thriving and Achieving Program (TAP), which helps them work on developing a journey to success and deciding the factors in their plans after college. Flores said he uses the TAP program to help with his classes, to learn time management and to get strategies for dealing with PTSD.

Some veterans with PTSD report that they have attention concentration issues and when their symptoms are triggered, they have to leave the classroom. DRES helps with getting priority seating, along with note and test taking strategies. He said without the professionals he would not have known what was wrong with him.

“To me, that’s what helped me,” Flores said, “because I knew and felt like I had something wrong with me besides the sleep part and my mood swings, and I had a couple of people, like friends, tell me something is wrong with me, and from there that’s when I realized I need to go seek help.”

The staff at the VRC also helps vets apply for private scholarships and find employment.

The VRC holds a weekly Meet Relax Eat, and a monthly Neon Lights event to allow students to come hangout, enjoy good company, listen to music, and eat free food. The VRC will be celebrating November 11 with Veterans Awareness Week and full schedule of events to recognize and honor veterans.

“Students will be able to come and participate in an art project, which we will donate towards an organization that supports and works with veterans everyday, specifically those suffering from depression or PTSD,” Croisdale said. “This is called ’22 is Too Many’, referring to the 22 veterans who complete suicide each day.”

Marinez said there are vets on campus who do not want to be known or aren’t willing to seek help. Marinez, along with DRES, tries to reach out to vets in different areas and get them involved and show them as much support as they need.

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