7 Struggles Veterans Face When Going Back to School

It’s time to go home. You’ve honorably separated or retired from service, you’ve got your DD214 in hand, and you’re likely itching to get on with the next chapter of your life.

By Paul Davis

It’s time to go home. You’ve honorably separated or retired from service, you’ve got your DD214 in hand, and you’re likely itching to get on with the next chapter of your life.

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Chances are, you’ve already got some school under your belt, but you likely need to get a little bit more to make the career move you see for yourself.

Yup, you are heading full-speed ahead, right for the thing you probably joined the service to avoid: college. Below are 7 of the top surprises every veteran faces going back to college.

7. Homework? Yes, that’s a thing

No doubt you knew homework was involved in the school process, but the amount and the frequency might just surprise you.

No way you expected Mrs. Robinson to assign an essay the first day of basket-weaving class…

When the professor tells you on Thursday that there’s a quiz on Friday. (Image from Comedy Central)

6. Think high school drama stays in high school? Nope

The drama that you left behind to serve Uncle Sam and this great nation didn’t go anywhere while you were gone.

It is waiting right where you left it, ready to infuriate your overly mature sensibilities.

The Drama Continues. (Image from Disney’s High School Musical)

5. Lack of structure

College does have structure, obviously, but it can’t begin to compete with the structure we grew accustomed to in the military.

Sure, you’re an adult with lots of life experience and you’re fully capable of completing tasks without supervision, but having the structure suddenly go missing is jarring for many of us.

When you realize you miss the structure. (Image courtesy of Military.com)

4. Irritability… also a thing

By being in the military, you to get used to dealing with competent individuals. This is because, typically, an incompetent individual doesn’t make it very long — if at all.

Furthermore, if individuals begin to show incompetence, especially if you outrank them, it is perfectly fine and expected that you correct them. That type of behavior is frowned upon in most collegiate settings. It’s something that takes some getting used to.

The adjustment curve is typically worse for those with more time in service.

When someone asks, “how is school going?” (Image from Orion Pictures’ Rambo)

3. Yes, you’re the old guy/gal

This is a just a fact of life. The armed forces, as a whole, only make up about a half of one percent of the total population. This means that most of your classmates are civilians who probably came right from high school.

Truth be told, there’s a good chance that you’re older than at least one of your professors.

2. Your military experience may or may not apply

Depending on how different your scholastic endeavor is from your military service, what you did in uniform may or may not matter. This is a bitter pill to swallow for many of us, as we are extremely proud of our service and accomplishments.

This leaves us with a decision. We can become that guy/girl that always brings up their service, or try to find a new place to fit in. Good news though, a lot of schools will take your service and give you scholastic credit for it.

That look you give when you’re told your years of service don’t apply. (Image from STX Entertainment’s The Foreigner)

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1. The Billy Madison effect

This is a bit different than just being older. Even if you went to school while in service, those studies often mirror your military duty. Breaking away from that causes you to have to learn and relearn the basics of whatever you’re studying.

This makes you Billy.

Not only are you older, but the subject matter is super entry-level.

Yup, you’re definitely Billy.