{"id":1048,"date":"2019-03-05T11:32:30","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T17:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/?p=1048"},"modified":"2019-03-05T18:19:51","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T00:19:51","slug":"from-active-duty-to-active-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/blog\/2019\/03\/05\/from-active-duty-to-active-student\/","title":{"rendered":"From Active Duty to Active Student"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Army Veteran Discusses Life as a College Student<\/h2>\n<p>In order to better understand what life is like for a veteran in a college setting, Army veteran and Winona State student Sara Manning discussed how she feels in an environment where she is surrounded by younger, and often non-military-affiliated, peers.<\/p>\n<p>Manning offered her take to help other students understand the difficulty veterans face in putting themselves through college.<\/p>\n<p>Off in the distance from where Manning sat during an interview, a car backfired. Her eyes darted to its place of origin and she disappeared into thought. She was overseas again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMuscle memory,\u201d Manning said, pressing her fingers to her neck to check her pulse.<\/p>\n<p>According to Britani Woodworth from Winona State\u2019s Veterans Affairs office, around 200 members of the armed forces enroll at the school following deployment. For many of them, this is a bookend to life-changing circumstances, and sometimes their readjustment to private citizenship is more difficult than they originally imagined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say it changed me for the worst,\u201d Manning, 33, said, speaking about her deployment in Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. \u201cI\u2019m still in transition. I\u2019m not the person I once was. My interpersonal skills have narrowed and I don\u2019t really trust groups of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manning\u2019s deployment lasted 16 months, which saw her working as military police, traveling to U.S.-occupied countries and detaining soldiers deemed no longer fit to serve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always been comfortable with discipline,\u201d Manning said.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_1053\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1053\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Saras-Unit.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1053 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Saras-Unit-1024x708.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Saras-Unit-1024x708.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Saras-Unit-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Saras-Unit-768x531.jpg 768w, https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Saras-Unit.jpg 1670w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1053\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Manning (second from the right) and her unit overseas [Photo supplied by Sara Manning]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Whether it is removing soldiers from active duty or doing school work, discipline is credited as one of her inspirations to go to college.<\/p>\n<p>On if she is comfortable being in an environment where she is more world-weary than the young populace of a college campus, Manning said, \u201cDeployment changed my mentality, and I think that affected my integration into the college community. My personal bubble is pretty small and it takes me awhile to trust people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Woodworth, who is also a student along with being a staff member in the Veterans Affairs office, it is common for veterans to have trouble integrating into a college community following deployment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a hard adjustment for people in the military coming back from a deployment, (and) back into civilian life,\u201d Woodworth said. \u201cThe normalcy of everything is really hard for some people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manning also discussed how being a veteran influences her role as a college student.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 474px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-1048-1\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Sara-Manning-interview-.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Sara-Manning-interview-.mp4\">https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Sara-Manning-interview-.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt is very\u2026 I don\u2019t know if surreal describes it,\u201d Manning said. \u201cI definitely do not identify with anybody there, even the professors. So it\u2019s very intimidating in a way that I just don\u2019t know how to function \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Along with the aforementioned difficulties, Manning referenced her son as an added obstacle in terms of her role as as a student.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also have a child,\u201d Manning continued, \u201cso that makes it even harder to (engage) people younger than me, because they assume that because I\u2019m in a class with them, I&#8217;m able to freely able to use my time \u2026 and that\u2019s just not something I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Similar to her earlier comments, Manning again discussed discipline and how it appears to be more instrumental to her than her classmates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest challenge is having other people understand discipline,\u201d Manning said. \u201cOther students seem nonchalant with what they\u2019re doing, and it\u2019s kind of on a back-burner, whereas I\u2019ve been trained that if (something) is going to get done and done right, it\u2019s going to take a lot of time, a lot of effort and less procrastination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manning elaborated her thoughts on procrastination and how it negatively impacts work that needs to be done.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more you procrastinate, the less chance you have to get it done,\u201d Manning said. \u201cWhich should be obvious, but not to a lot of people I\u2019ve seen so far at universities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Woodworth, too, discussed the difference in discipline she notices between veterans and non-military-affiliated students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I got back from my basic and AIT (Advanced Individual Training) training \u2026 and started into school, I noticed \u2026 people are on their phones, distracted,\u201d Woodworth said. \u201c (They) would (also) start packing up their stuff before the teacher was done talking. Like you can\u2019t wait for them to finish their words?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps because of her level of discipline, Manning remarked she sometimes feels out of place in an educational setting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s times where I definitely feel out of place,\u201d Manning said. \u201cI resonate more with the teachers than I do with the students, so that might tell you something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Woodworth said many veterans find difficulty in finding a sense of purpose in civilian\u2014and by extension, college\u2014life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a deployment setting for several months, you always have a purpose,\u201d Woodworth said. \u201cYou always have strict things to do and then when you get back into civilian life, it\u2019s more laid back, especially going to college.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Woodworth suggested feelings of alienation may be created by the individual and not their environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like maybe we alienate ourselves and we tend to feel like we\u2019re more different than we actually are,\u201d Woodworth said. \u201cComing from a deployment aspect, there probably is some that exists, because you see things you know other people aren\u2019t going to see unless they\u2019re over there \u2026 But when it comes down to it, we\u2019re not that different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite being 33, Manning said she doesn\u2019t always feel different than her mostly younger peers, but she does notice she comes from a different generation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t feel any older than \u2026 a lot of students, but there are some aspects where I feel older,\u201d Manning said. \u201cA lot of these students feel things need to be handed to them, whereas when I grew up things needed to be earned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manning drew from her upbringing as the root of her discipline and how it continues to reflect the way she conducts her work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Earn your keep\u2019 was a big phrase or saying when I grew up, \u201c Manning said. \u201cA lot of attitudes from my age to these new kids have changed significantly, and there might be an influence with the whole military career, because that\u2019s an added disciplinary area that a lot of these kids won\u2019t ever have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though there is a gap between a veteran like Manning and those who are not in the military, Manning said she is okay being different in that regard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m always trying to adapt and overcome,\u201d Manning said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Army Veteran Discusses Life as a College Student In order to better understand what life is like for a veteran in a college setting, Army veteran and Winona State student Sara Manning discussed how she feels in an environment where she is surrounded by younger, and often non-military-affiliated, peers. Manning offered her take to help &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/blog\/2019\/03\/05\/from-active-duty-to-active-student\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">From Active Duty to Active Student<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":1052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[467,466,465,474,49],"tags":[469,472,468,473,471],"class_list":["post-1048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college","category-life","category-veterans","category-veterans-affairs","category-winona-state-university","tag-college","tag-life","tag-veterans","tag-veterans-affairs","tag-veterans-in-college"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Veteran-Affairs-image.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1048"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1072,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048\/revisions\/1072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}