A Veterans’ Day Perspective From a First-Year Student Veteran

A Veterans’ Day Perspective From a First-Year Student Veteran
UCSF Synapse
By Sam Lee
Staff Writer
November 20, 2013

Three years ago I was experiencing almost daily rocket attacks on our compound in Baghdad, Iraq. This Veterans’ Day, I found myself barricaded behind a mountain of books and notes studying for my nursing med-surg exam.

I’ll admit, I’d much rather be stressing out about studying for a test than to be experiencing death, destruction and 130-degree temperatures. I’m eternally grateful that I was able to make it back home from my one-year tour in the Middle East. Over 6,500 troops cannot say the same and have paid the greatest sacrifice fighting the United States’ War on Terror.

With more than a million service members expected to return to civilian life over the next few years and an unemployment rate for Post 9/11 veterans currently at 10 percent (2.7 percent higher than the national average), it’s going to be a challenge to find a place in the civilian workforce while earning a decent salary.

Thanks to the generous benefits of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, I’m fortunate enough to transition from active duty service and gain an education as a family nurse practitioner. This will help me be more marketable than if I just jumped straight back into the civilian workforce. I’m also able to actually afford to live in this expensive city we call San Francisco.
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