Grateful Nation: Student Veterans and the Rise of the Military-Friendly Campus by Ellen Moore, and: What’s Next for Student Veterans? Moving From Transition to Academic Success ed. by David DiRamio (review)

Early research on student veterans of the Global War on Terror consisted mostly of qualitative inquires exploring the nature of student veteran experiences, and in particular their transition to civilian student life. These early studies illuminated why educators and administrators needed to pay more attention to student veterans. David DiRamio’s edited book, What’s Next for Student Veterans?, presents findings from a second wave of research about student veterans to better inform policy and decision makers. Ellen Moore’s Grateful Nation, also a second-wave inquiry, was written

to help people differentiate between support for veterans and support for the wars in which they fought. It challenges dualistic understanding of pro- or anti-military, veteran, and war to broaden our discussion about what it means to be a soldier, veteran, or civilian in a country at war.

(p. x)

As someone who has conducted research on student veterans, I found both books informative, but Moore’s critique of earlier scholarship on student veterans and what she views as higher education institutions becoming not only veteran-friendly but military-friendly (and she does distinguish them), makes for particularly poignant reading. The two are very different books, but both are important. Both offer reviews of recent empirical scholarship aimed at more clearly describing student veterans and their experiences in higher education.

Chapter authors of DiRanio’s edited book are researchers and practitioners with significant expertise in the student veteran experience. The book is written in two parts. Part 1 offers findings from several studies and data sets including the Million Records Project, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, and the National Survey of Student Engagement. Chapter authors also report on smaller multi-institutional samples, though how they found the samples is not always clear. In comparison to much of the first wave of scholarship on student veterans, these authors take a deeper and more specific focus on the experiences and perspectives of student veterans including issues of equity, engagement patterns of student veterans with disabilities, and the role of social support in mental health and academic success. Part 2 describes promising and essential practices including the Peer Advisors for Veteran Educators program, a collaboration between 13 campuses (originally started at the University of Michigan) and the Student Veterans of America. With a neoliberal view, included in this part are findings on progress toward degrees and the return on investment of federal educational benefits of student veterans and active duty personnel. In this section authors advocate and offer data to substantiate the worth of peer advising, as well as student veteran engagement and advocacy programs. Social support from friends and family is also stressed. One study, the subject of chapter 9 by Ryan Van Dusen, distinguishes how student veterans fail to fit models of traditional and nontraditional students. Themes from parts 1 and 2 emphasize the need for (a) continued transition and social support for student veterans from institutions, peers, friends, and family members, (b) continued training for staff and faculty, (c) and additional policies pertaining to enrollment processes (e.g., credit for military training). DiRamio ends the book with an impassioned plea not to abandon postsecondary support for student veterans and laments the waning of advocacy for programs and services. The plea is more powerful after reading in chapter 1 that the most frequently cited reason for joining the military is to receive educational benefits. Withdrawing essential programs and services would be a betrayal of these and future veterans’ trust.

Moore raises critical questions about programs and services for veterans. Are these programs serving veterans or more so the military? Are these programs...