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Paul Tibbets dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Many people do not know he bumped the regular Aircraft Commander, Bob Lewis, to the copilot’s seat before takeoff. Lewis did not like it, but he followed orders.This still happens today. Any high-profile mission has a surplus of volunteers — not a shortage.Paul Tibbets started his career with a different kind of bombing. As a young man, he flew very low over beach crowds in an open cockpit biplane. He “bombed” them with Baby Ruth candy bars.Tibbets was a pre-med student because his parents wanted him to become a doctor. But he never liked medicine. He soon dropped out of college and joined the Air Corps. Before he left, a professor told his class:Some people have too much empathy to be doctors. These people cannot stay detached enough to perform their critical duties. Sometimes there is a bigger purpose which requires you to set aside human emotion.During pep talks before bombing missions, Tibbets often mentioned this “doctor” anecdote.He led large bombing raids in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific.In 1975, General Tibbets told a reporter: I am proud the Bomb worked as perfectly as it did. I sleep clearly every night.In 1995, Tibbets complained about the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian had created an exhibit which focused on Hiroshima casualties rather than the brutality of Japanese military forces. General Tibbets called it a damn big insult.In 2005, General Tibbets told a reporter: We knew the Bomb was going to kill people right and left. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so we could end the war as quickly as possible.General Tibbets’ grandson, Paul W. Tibbets, flew the B-2 at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. He became Commander of the 393rd Bomb Squadron, his grandfather’s former unit. He was later promoted to Brigadier General.In 2014, he became Deputy Director for Nuclear Operations at Offutt AFB, Nebraska.I flew in SAC. My father flew in SAC before me. He was assigned to the 456th Bomb Group before SAC existed.My wiseass copilot joked: I guess strategic bombing is the family business.Civilians would routinely ask “Hiroshima” questions, especially after a few cocktails. People assumed SAC aircrews lived under tremendous strain. They surmised we were filled with emotional turmoil and dread. The idea of dropping hydrogen bombs on Russians, Iranians, or North Koreans must cause us terrible insomnia and guilt.Uh, no.Here is the truth…If the President gives the order, those people will be vaporized.When the Air Tasking Order (ATO) arrives from the Pentagon, Aircraft Commanders will compete and politick to be chosen for those attack missions.As aircrews, we spent our entire careers preparing for wartime sorties. No pilot wants to relax at the Club while his buddies launch and fulfill their duty.Many civilians asked us about Hiroshima because they wanted to hear a touchy-feely answer. A few believe America should offer a heartfelt apology to the Japanese Emperor.Don’t hold your breath, Pal.Some Americans want our military to protect the nation from harm — without killing Bad Guys. In the real world, that does not work. It has not worked for 65 centuries.In World War II, many young Americans never came home.The Japanese murdered 30 million innocent civilians.20 million people died in China. Another 3.5 million were butchered in the Dutch East Indies.Everywhere they went, the Japanese brought death and destruction.General Curtis LeMay told reporters:The Japs killed 2,400 Americans at Pearl Harbor. They started this war—not us.We will kill every Japanese if that is what it takes to win this war.President Roosevelt was a genial politico, but a muscular Commander-in-Chief. Roosevelt was much more involved in strategic bombing than most people realize.FDR spoke German and French. He studied in Germany as a student. On October 9, 1938, Roosevelt listened to Hitler’s Nuremberg Speech.After listening to the broadcast, the President was now fully convinced: Hitler was a lunatic.On November 14, 1938, FDR convened a meeting at the White House with all his top Generals and Admirals. He said: Aircraft! We are going to build thousands of long-range bombers. And we are going to start today,The military officers were all surprised. Only Harry Hopkins expected these plans.President Roosevelt came from a long line of Navy men. He had been Assistant Secretary of the Navy. His son, James, won the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism in the Marine Corps during World War II. President Teddy Roosevelt had written books about Navy operations including The Naval War of 1812.Roosevelt set aside his family’s personal history. A massive investment in air power arose from that 1938 meeting. It signaled a sea change in the U.S. military which persists today.Throughout the war, President Roosevelt applied direct pressure to build more bombers and drop more bombs. He said in 1942:Germany and Japan asked for it. Now they are going to get it.General Henry “Hap” Arnold was born and raised in Pennsylvania. The Wright Brothers taught him to fly in 1911. He received his nickname from a movie crew. As a young officer, he moonlighted as a stunt pilot.In 1914, he was assigned to an infantry unit in the Philippines. His quarters adjoined those of First Lieutenant George C. Marshall.General Arnold was Chief of Staff of the Air Corps from 1938–1941. He later became the only 5-star General in the history of the Air Force.Where General Marshall was reserved and diplomatic, Hap Arnold was extroverted and blunt. He once chewed out a subordinate with such ferocity the man dropped dead on the spot. He later told General LeMay:I liked your friends, General Eaker and General Hansell. But they failed to get results, so I fired them. If you fail to get results, I will fire you.The military is not Sunday School.Arnold objected to FDR giving so many bombers to the British and other allies. Arnold believed the planes should be used to bolster American air power. He forcefully stated his opinion on numerous occasions.Finally, FDR had enough. In one meeting, the Commander-in-Chief told a roomful of officers (including Arnold):If there is anyone here who does not fully support my bomber plans, I’ll find out soon enough. Then, I shall make him Governor of Guam.Hap Arnold got the message. Loud and clear.Even so, the Air Staff at the Pentagon retained their great admiration for President Roosevelt. FDR once suggested bombing Japanese volcanoes to release hot lava onto Japanese cities. General Arnold’s staff tactfully deep-sixed the idea.In the Pacific, General LeMay markedly increased daily missions. Despite the increase in sorties, Navy Admirals told LeMay he already had plenty of bombs in the Pacific. They did not see the need to stockpile additional ordnance.LeMay was much like Arnold — overly blunt. LeMay told the Admirals:When we run out of bombs, I will tell my aircrews to play golf. Then, you can explain to Washington why the war has stalled.The Admirals outranked LeMay. They were just as abrupt:The Navy has higher priorities than providing spare bombs for the Air Corps.LeMay flew to Washington in a B-29. He landed at National Airport instead of Andrews Field. The B-29 had never been seen by most civilians. It caused a stir.LeMay went directly to the Pentagon. He presented his plans on butcher paper.Within hours, General Arnold and General Marshall were briefing the President. The decision was made quickly. Paraphrasing President Roosevelt:LeMay gets whatever he needs. I want him to burn Japan to the ground.LeMay gave his men one night with their wives. They returned to the war zone early the next morning.The Navy Admirals were very unhappy. LeMay had bucked the chain of command and gone around them. But they obeyed orders.LeMay received his bombs — shipload after shipload. He surprised the Navy by using all of them. 90% of all U.S. bombs dropped in World War II fell on Japan.General LeMay told his aircrews: Make the rubble bounce.Admirals King, Leahy, and Nimitz later changed course. They became allies of LeMay after receiving new intelligence.By the summer of 1945, U.S. code breakers were reading Japanese codes in near real-time. Hundreds of messages from the highest levels of Japanese government (including the Emperor) had been decoded. These cables repeatedly stated they were prepared to lose 20 million Japanese defending the southern island of Kyushu.The Japanese cabinet had already extended the military draft to males aged 15 to 60. Female draftees were now aged 17–45. In addition, there was a new program to transform senior citizens and children into armed defenders.General Douglas MacArthur dismissed those intelligence decrypts as too pessimistic. MacArthur advocated a massive invasion of Japan to be led by a military genius. Himself.Nimitz and the other Admirals disagreed. In the intercepted messages, they detected no signs the Japanese were ready to surrender.Nimitz thought an invasion of Kyushu would be 20 times worse than Okinawa. He sought to delay any invasion until 1946. Thus, Nimitz and the Navy became tacit supporters of LeMay’s strategic bombing campaign.In June 1945, a Japanese General was tasked to train civilians to defend against invasion. Purely by coincidence, he established his headquarters in Hiroshima. When he saw the atomic bomb damage in August, he told Emperor Hirohito:I cannot defend Japan in the face of such overwhelming weaponry.ConclusionJapan had it coming.If someone wants to rewrite the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki using politically correct BS, he should consult Ivy League academics. Not military veterans.In August 1945, Winston Churchill ridiculed idealists and armchair philosophers:I am surprised that very worthy people—but people who had no intention of proceeding to the Japanese front themselves—should adopt the position that rather than throw this atomic bomb, we should have sacrificed a million American and a quarter of a million British lives.Churchill got it 100% right.In 2020, we still owe a debt of gratitude to General Curtis LeMay and General Hap Arnold.Millions of Americans and Britons are alive today because of strategic bombing in 1945.Addendum 1 of 4: Casualty DataAddendum 2 of 4: Gallup Poll85% of the public approved of the atomic bombings in 1945.President Truman’s Chief of Staff told him in July 1945:There is no decision to be made, Mr. President.If you order an invasion, there will be enormous casualties. When the American public finds out — and they will — that you refused to drop these special bombs, you will be impeached.The Senate will not save you. Senators will lead the charge against you.3 of 4: Three SAC AnecdotesMy buddy, John Loggia, is a real character. He was an Air Force weather officer before he attended pilot training.Loggia was walking through an airport in civilian clothes. A bright-eyed young woman stepped up with a clipboard.Sir, would you sign our Greenpeace petition? We want to ban thermonuclear weapons.Loggia chuckled and said: Ban them? Lady, I drop them!A sweet old granny called my bomb wing one day. She somehow got connected to the Wing Commander. She said:I read in the newspaper you are installing a large radio tower to talk with your bombers and tankers. That is a very bad idea.If Russians get hold of our newspaper, that could make your entire SAC base a target.Major Wynn: General, we have 180,000 pounds of fuel onboard. The jet could blow up.General LeMay: It wouldn’t dare.Addendum 4 of 4: Further Reading......

Question: “Is there such thing as an S5 in marine corps (sic)? Based off of everything I can find it is a planning/civil affairs shop in every other branch. What does, if it exists, do in the corps (sic)?”A very good question! And there’s no simple answer, only a jumbled and convoluted path that only Marines can love, where “doctrine” is unknown, and “regulations” are (sometimes) known, but often disregarded, and each commander builds their own staff in the way that seems best to them…task organizing just as they get deployed or go to war…a piece here, and piece there, Hey, I know that guy and I don’t know this new guy…So here we go:In the olden days, some Marine units did use the “S-5” designation…but not many. It was highly uncommon to use more than “S-1/Admin,” “S-2/Intel,” “S-3/Operations,” and “S-4/Logistics.” These were the original “Napoleonic staff” used by the Army and USMC for decades.In the 1990s, the USMC added the “S-6/Communications” section, which effectively upgraded “comms” from a special staff officer/section that was sometimes nebulously placed under the unit XO, or the S-2, S-3, or even S-4 when the unit’s mission and the emphasis placed on the employment and equipment/tactics of the “comms” was deemed most appropriately located.But it — strangely — did not make the “comms officer” into a principal staff officer (the S-1 through S-4 officers) in the S-5 officer’s spot.Why?Because some Marine units periodically did make use of the S-5, or even the G-5 (for a general staff job), and usually that was because there was a temporary need for civil affairs integration (or something else that struck a commander’s fancy) into the unit’s mission.But even more importantly, a fact generally unknown to the vast majority of Marines, even those in principal staff billets in Marine units, is just where was the missing G-5/S-5? Who was it? What was it? Why didn’t Marine units have one (or it?)? And if we had one, what would it/he do?This is because the USMC (and the US Army) used the same basic concept for military staffs set up as the “Continental System,” i.e., by Napoleon and the French Army in the early 19th century:S-1 = administration, personnel, postalS-2 = intelligence mattersS-3 = operations, planning, trainingS-4 = logistics and supplyThe numbers above S-4 tended to wander around, sometimes were used, sometimes not, especially at the battalion level and below.At the general staff level, where the commander was a general officer (usually Divisions or Air Wings and up in the USMC), the staff sections changed to “G” monikers, so “S-1” became “G-1” if there was a general in charge. (And the staffs tended to become larger at the G-shop level…more work, more people to do the work…and higher ranking people throughout each G-shop; a lieutenant might work as the Battalion S-1, but the Division G-1 was often a lieutenant colonel, and a captain or major might be the Battalion S-3, but most often the Division G-3 was a full colonel, etc.)Also at the general staff level, the numbers above G-4 were more likely to be used, but they were not used consistently, often just temporarily based on each commander’s needs, and then closed up shop or merged as needed.But, I am describing the USMC’s laissez-faire attitude toward building staffs, because then, as now, the USMC is generally allergic toward following its own doctrine…let alone someone else’s! And most especially if that doctrine was originally copied (it’s true…some of us can admit it) almost word for word from Army Field Manuals.So…in the Army, the G-5/S-5 was alive and well, at least in part because FM 41–100, Civil Affairs Operations, explicitly described the place in each Army unit’s staff where the functions of the Civil Affairs/CMO officer would reside…required at the Division level and above, “authorized” down to the battalion level (presumably to be filled by either in-house personnel or augmentation by Army CMO active or reserve units).See paragraph 5–23 especially of: Employment of Civil Affairs ForcesCIVIL-MILITARY OPERATIONS STAFF OFFICER, G5 OR S55-23. The G5 or S5, the principal staff officer for all CMO matters, conducts the initial assessment that determines CA force augmentation. The war-traced CAPT-A or CAPT-B helps in this process.5-24. The G5 or S5 enhances the relationship between the military forces and the civilian authorities and personnel in the area of operations to ensure mission success. The G5 or S5 has staff planning and oversight of--Attached CA units.Area assessments (Appendix G) and area studies.Military support to emergency defense and civic-action projects.Protection of culturally significant sites.HA and disaster relief.NEO.Emergency food, shelter, clothing, and fuel for local civilians.Public order and safety applicable to military operations.5-25. The G5 or S5 is required at all echelons from battalion through corps level but is authorized only at division and corps levels. Once deployed, units and task forces below division level may be authorized an S5.5-26. The CMO staff officer ensures the effective integration of the "C" (civil considerations) of the METT-TC mission analysis formula into the planning cycle. Like operations and intelligence officers, CMO staff officers focus on the operational area, but like personnel and logistics officers, they must also focus on CS and CSS issues, particularly those regarding FNS and the care of DCs.Here is a graphic from the Army FM that — just for grins and giggles — shows the massive complexity of componency and the operational chain of command of US military forces…and how the Army’s civil affairs command sees itself integrating thereinto:Figure 3-1. Typical Levels of CA Support(Figure courtesy of: Civil Affairs Functions, Capabilities, and Organization)Thus, while the Army had a better understanding (and a LOT more, and many on active duty) of civil affairs/CMO, and had explicit billets built into unit tables of organization and manning for CMO officers (and their enlisted staffs), the USMC — as a much leaner organization and without any active duty CA/CMO — made do without their S-5/G-5 officer…or even much notions of what such an officer would do if they hit them falling out of a helicopter.Then, as today, there were no Active Duty civil affairs units. While some active duty Marines have CA (or more appropriately, “Civil-Military Operations” as the broader term) training, or even held the MOS (which has waffled over the years from 0107 for officers/8441 for enlisted to 0503 officer/0531 enlisted to today’s 0530 officer/0531 enlisted, with some newer additional skill progression MOS’s for both officers and enlisted in addition to the basic MOS’s), on the whole, especially up until Operation Iraqi Freedom, the USMC managed to get along fine without professionally trained CA/CMO Marines embedded in every unit.Since the whole concept of “civil affairs” was viewed as an exotic thing, almost like “space operations,” and even within the USMC’s CMO trained cadre there was a significant lack of cohesion and integration during training exercises, day to day planning, and even deployments (since virtually all trained CMO were reserves, and until the late 1990’s there was virtually no funding available to “bring them onto active duty” for a duration long enough to be useful to an active duty USMC unit), with some exceptions most Marine units just didn’t bother with an “S-5,” or civil affairs/CMO in general. It was just another facet of maneuver warfare that the USMC would encounter when it encountered it, and good leadership and common sense would prevail. No special training required.But…when CMO was available, and involved in the unit’s mission, then there was indeed a staff section “reserved” just for them…and not just a special staff job (like the chaplain, surgeon, a JAG, etc.), a full-blown “principal staff” billet: the S-5. Not that having a reserve CA officer dropped into your Marine infantry battalion a week before deploying (or going to an exercise) and having never seen him before and knowing nothing about him would necessarily make him a fully accepted staff officer at the table…he would have to earn that privilege in the small staffs that advised battalion commanders and he often didn’t have time (and sometimes didn’t have the requisite CMO training, either, which did nothing to improve things.Since the USMC is allergic in general to “doctrinal manuals,” and as noted above most especially to the Army’s FM’s (although to be fair there is a LOT of great Army doctrine, if anyone bothers to read and employ it…), we stuffed a lot of that away into “references,” like this one: the Marine Corps Doctrinal Reference Publication 5–12D, Organization of Marine Corps Forces.Buried away within this little gem is the Mission, Tasks, Organization, and Concept of Employment of Marine Corps Civil Affairs Groups (CAGs).There are currently 4 CAGs, all in the Marine Corps Reserve: 1st through 4th CAGs, all told about 500 Marines (with probably another 500 or so Marines trained to the level of the MOS across the USMC at any given time…).But even more interesting than that, is this: as shown in bold/italics below, according to USMC doctrine (such as it is…) we have deviated from the Army’s utilization of the G-5/S-5 construct and instead “buried” our CA/CMO under the G-3/S-3“The MAGTF G/S-3 has primary staff cognizance over the CA efforts at the CE.”And here is the rest of the paragraph:6011. Civil Affairs Group (CAG)a. Mission. The CAG provides special staff support to the MEF during the planning, assault and consolidation phases of landing operations in naval campaigns, and may be utilized across the operational spectrum. It plans, advises, coordinates, conducts, supervises, and evaluates activities between military and civilian forces in order to minimize mission interference, and to maximize civilian support for landing force operations. These activities include interaction between the MEF and inhabitants; Host Nation civil, police, and military authorities; US. Non-military agencies; and a wide array of nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s). The CAG supports the MEF’s careful attention to local culture, customs, and traditions, in order to facilitate military operations and reduce friction.b. TasksAssist in planning and conducting landing force operations.Assist in planning and conducting Civil Affairs (CA) activities, to include Civil-Military Operations (CMO). w Control subordinate CA units when assigned.Plan and conduct survey, liaison and reconnaissance efforts to initiate and conduct CA activities.Coordinate with appropriate staff officers at higher, adjacent, and lower commands.Coordinate with non-MAGTF organizations and authorities.c. Organization. A CAG is normally organized into a Group Headquarters and three Civil Affairs Detachments. The commanding officer and Group Headquarters provide CA support to the MEF, while the detachments are designed to support units of the MEF to include the MEF(FWD). Each detachment is further organized into International Law, Public Health, and Displaced Persons/Refugee functional teams, in addition to three CA Teams, which can be placed in support of MEU-sized elements. There are no active duty CAGs in the U.S. Marine Corps; however, there are two CAGs assigned to MARFORRES.d. Concept of Employment. The CAG is organized to conduct CA activities in support of the MAGTF mission and may include Civil-Military Operations. Normally, these activities do not include sustained military or nation building/rebuilding operations. Whenever the MAGTF operates in an inhabited area, civilian populations will impact operations. CA elements and personnel are Economy of Force measures, intended to apply a few Marines with special perspective and training to the MAGTF’s planning and execution of operations. The CA staff element serves to promote civilian actions and attitudes helpful to the MAGTF and to minimize actions and attitudes harmful to the MAGTF. Typically, the assigned CA staff prepare assessments, agreements, and annexes in accordance with the Joint Operations Planning and Execution System (JOPES) which support the commander's plans and mission accomplishment. CA activities always support the commander’s legal and moral responsibilities under international and US law.The MAGTF G/S-3 has primary staff cognizance over the CA efforts at the CE. Subordinate units plan and execute CA activities when useful or as directed, and may be assigned their own supporting CA elements or personnel. At the MEF level, the CA element may receive substantial direction from the Joint Force Commander’s CA staff element or Joint Civil-Military Operations Task Force if organized. Coordination with all staff elements is important, but special consideration should be made to coordinate with Public Affairs and Psychological Operations staffs to support a common Information Operations campaign. Once the MAGTF is established ashore, CA forces may establish a Civil-Military Operations Center (CMOC) which serves as focal point of coordination between MAGTF and civilian planners.(See: paragraph 6011 of Marine Corps Doctrinal Reference Publication 5–12D, Organization of Marine Corps Forces, at https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCRP%205-12D%20Organization%20of%20Marine%20Corps%20Forces.pdf)BOTTOM LINE: the USMC has always had a place on the roster for a civil affairs/civil-military operations Marine (hopefully with training, because OJT takes a while and you just have a half-trained mouth to feed, transport, clothe, etc…).But that place was not in the traditional Continental System location of G-5/S-5, as the Army uses it, but instead buried in the G-3/S-3 (which is Operations and planning in the USMC) shop.What’s the difference?Well, fundamentally, if a Marine unit has a trained and qualified CA/CMO expert (whether officer or enlisted), by our own methodology that Marine is going to augment and work under the Operations officer. The OpsO will determine (unless the CO or XO does it first) exactly what the CA/CMO Marine will do, how they will integrate into the ongoing current and future ops planning construct, who they report to, how much liaison they will have with the Intel (S-2) shop, and any other external agencies (like the nearest CMOC, nongovernmental agency, US Army civil affairs unit, etc.).With this said…of course a Marine commander (whether at the battalion or MEF level) may determine the structure of their own staffs, and if the commander wished it, and there was a CA/CMO Marine in their unit (somewhere…), that Marine could be elevated to a “special staff officer” role and sit at the table with all the “big boys” at any staff meeting, even go behind closed doors and advise the CO/XO/OpsO directly on CA/CMO matters. Even if the Marine was enlisted…what matters is their capabilities: if they are capable and qualified, even a young Marine might get called up to the Major Leagues if the CO decides he needs their input. This would be unlikely in any unit except a deployed combat arms unit like infantry battalions, but those are the units that would be most in need of a trained CA/CMO Marine. And virtually all such Marines are from the USMCR, and therefore fairly hard to get hold of and keep for the duration of a given deployment. But if you have them, and they are good, hold onto them.

Q. How can a veteran get into an Ivy League school?A. There is an organization of veterans in the Ivy League. There are several articles in newspapers and magazines.The Ivy League Veterans CouncilConfessions Of A Vet Who Went To HBSVeterans and Ivy League (A salute to Cornell, Dartmouth, and Columbia)Ivy League and Veterans (Reddit)Why Don’t Top-Tier Colleges Care About Enrolling Veterans? (2013)Rice University Veterans Education Benefits (not Ivy League, but well regarded), Military at Rice (Military Scholars Program - full cost of attendance scholarship for veterans in the Jones School of Business)The Ivy League Veterans CouncilABOUT MEMBERS CALL TO ACTION SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONSContact Us Veterans in the NewsVeterans in the Ivy League: Students Seek to Up Their RanksBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESSNOV. 1, 2016, 7:33 A.M. E.D.T.PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It's not easy to find military veterans in undergraduate programs at most Ivy League schools.Harvard has only three in its undergrad liberal arts and sciences school. Princeton, just one.Students from the eight Ivies hope to change those kinds of numbers. They see a chance for institutions to diversify and for veterans to get an education that will help them become leaders.Nov 3, 2016Where Are Veterans at Our Elite Colleges? (NYTimes)The tally noted just two veterans among undergraduates at Duke, one at M.I.T., one at Pomona and zero at Carleton.“These schools all wring their hands and say, ‘We’d love to have more, but they just don’t apply,’ ” Sloane said. “That’s what offends me. These schools have incredibly sophisticated recruitment teams. They recruit quarterbacks. They fill the physics lab. They visit high schools. How many visits did they make for veterans?”Sep 7, 2016Marine Corps Partners with Columbia University (Military.com)Columbia University recently announced that eligible Marines planning to exit the U.S. Marine Corps will for the first time have formalized, national program to access a top-tier undergraduate education. Through the Leadership Scholar Program, a partnership developed by the U.S. Marine Corps and leading colleges and universities, qualified Marines are identified by their commanding officers and are then shepherded through the college admissions process on their respective Marine Corps bases.Aug 26, 2016The Nonprofit Helping Veterans Get Into The Country’s Top Colleges (Task & Purpose)Army veteran Sang Ra never thought he'd go to an Ivy League college until he connected with the nonprofit, Service to School.Aug 21, 2016Lima Charlie Team Spotlight: Mike ConnollyOur VP of Communications did an interview with Lima Charlie News on his involvement there. Give it a read!Aug 21, 2016Posse Foundation Announces New Veteran PossesWe’re excited to have our THREE newest Veterans Posses at national headquarters in New York for Pre-Collegiate Training! These Scholars will attend Dartmouth, Vassar College and Wesleyan University in the fall. http://www.possefoundation.org/veterans ‪#‎PosseVetsLead‬Jul 21, 2016Confessions Of A Vet Who Went To HBSOver five years ago, I began taking the steps necessary to attend business school. I took the GMAT, arranged my letters of recommendation, filled out applications, wrote essays, and did my interviews over Skype or phone from Iraq.Jul 21, 2016Veterans Groups Seek a Crackdown on Deceptive Colleges (NYTimes)WASHINGTON — Some of the nation’s largest veterans and military organizations sent letters last week to the Veterans Affairs Department asking it to crack down on colleges that prey on veterans by charging exorbitant fees for degrees that mostly fail to deliver promised skills and jobs.Jul 3, 2016As A Poor Kid From The Rust Belt, Yale Law School Brought Me Face-to-face With Radical Inequality (HuffPo)“I have never felt out of place in my entire life. But I did at Yale.”Jul 3, 2016Veterans Deserve a Chance in College, Not a Free Pass (NYTimes)MY six years in the Marine Corps taught me the importance of learning the basics...Jun 18, 2016Confessions Of A Vet Who Went To HBSBY: MARTIN PETERS ON JULY 07, 2016 |5 COMMENTSThis article was contributed by Service to School, a nonprofit that provides free application assistance for veterans transitioning from the service to undergrad, MBA, and JD programs. Service to School has helped over 300 veterans into the nation’s top undergraduate and graduate school programs.Over five years ago, I began taking the steps necessary to attend business school. I took the GMAT, arranged my letters of recommendation, filled out applications, wrote essays, and did my interviews over Skype or phone from Iraq.First, a little background. At the time I matriculated in 2012, I was a 30-year-old West Point 2004 grad, eight years on active duty in the infantry with four deployments, and was (and still am) married, with three dogs. I graduated from Harvard Business School in May of 2014 and started work with Boston Consulting Group in September of 2014.My thoughts involve some MOTO (Master of the Obvious) statements about school and life. Hopefully, though, some of my thoughts are something you, the reader, may not have thought about. I’ll add the disclaimer that everyone’s experiences are unique (and mine in particular are based heavily on HBS). Still, for what they are worth, here they are — with the up-front thought that my MBA experience was a great one and I would do it again in a heartbeat.SCHOOL SELECTIONStrive to get into a top 10 MBA program (HBS, GSB, MIT, Darden, McCombs, Kellogg, Booth, Tuck, UPenn, Fuqua, Ross, etc.). An MBA from a top 10 program is certainly worth it, but I question the return on a non-top 10 program because many top firms specifically recruit at the top schools.GET TO SCHOOL A MONTH EARLYHBS started in late August. My wife, Megan, and I arrived in the beginning of the month and immediately linked up on Facebook with the HBS 2014 Boston Admit group, whose membership swelled as school got closer and people began moving to Cambridge. Megan and I began meeting and hanging out with people throughout the month. When I went to school the first day, I already knew 60-70 people by name, both in and outside of my section. Also, I maintained relationships with most of that summer crew because we met prior to the pressures of school and other social commitments. Meeting fellow classmates, then, was novel and not overwhelming like the first couple months.DEFINITION OF SUCCESSThe Army makes it very easy to know when you have been successful in its eyes — you are promoted, you get the next position, and/or you get a thank-you from your soldier. On the wall of every company and above CP are the institution’s definitions of success — the chain of command. Leaving active-duty changed that. In business school, the definition of success is much more ambiguous. Certainly, in large corporations there are well-established measures of success, but outside of those, success takes many forms and is truly dependent on the person. No longer is an easily acceptable definition provided. It is up to YOU to create your own personal definition of success.LACK OF CAMARADERIEYou read and hear about it: When people leave the military, they miss the camaraderie. It’s true. During my first couple months at HBS, I missed the intense friendships that come with having intense shared experiences (deployments and field problems) toward a common goal. For soldiers who were only in for three years or who never deployed, it may not be an issue. But for someone who went to West Point and then served eight years on active duty with four deployments, it was an issue. Initially, I felt many of my relationships were skin-deep, and I was always putting up a perfectionist front. Slowly, over time, I developed a core group of friends, yet the majority of what I call my “vacation friends” were primarily veterans. We simply had the most in common.WHAT VETERANS BRING TO THE CLASSROOMHere is what veterans bring to the classroom: leadership, real-world experience, and exposure to the military.The Army provides leadership experiences at extremely early stages in a soldier’s career. At 23, I was leading an infantry platoon in Afghanistan with an area of operations the size of Rhode Island. My final assignment was as a headquarters company commander of 250 soldiers during our deployment to Iraq. An infantry buck sergeant, or team leader, has more direct leadership experience than the majority of my business school classmates. It is not entirely their fault, because the industries many of my classmates come from (at HBS, one-third finance and one-third consulting) simply do not provide direct leadership opportunities early in their careers. During an informal survey of my 90 section mates, I learned that two-thirds of the class never had a direct report (subordinate) and the majority of the remaining third had from one to five direct reports. Only myself, another veteran, and one other classmate had ever led more than 15 people.The second great thing vets bring to the classroom is experience in an organization where not everyone has a college degree. Think about it. Many of my classmates, if they came from a consulting or finance background, went to undergrad and then to work at top-tier firms (the typical pipeline to HBS), and their only interaction with a person without a college degree was at grocery stores with cashiers or restaurants with waiters. Army veterans have worked with a wide variety of people who have varied backgrounds. It broadens your perspective and understanding.Finally, most of my classmates, unless they have parents or siblings in the military or are veterans themselves, have very little knowledge of the military outside of Hollywood or the news. With an all-volunteer military, it is simply something they do not think about. My classmates were keenly interested in hearing about the military. For some, I was the first person in the military they ever spoke with (which blew my mind). A Chinese student in my section wrote an email at the end of the first year to all the vets in my section stating that we had changed her view on the American military because she had been taught that we were all automatons. It made me feel good.Harvard Business School graduation for the Class of 2016INTERNATIONAL DIVERSITYI felt that HBS oversells its international diversity. I got the feeling the majority of international students were “international” in passport only. They had gone to American universities for undergrad, worked for American companies, and would be going back to work for American companies following HBS. While brilliant, they brought little “international” diversity to the table.RECRUITINGTry your best to identify early, if not before school, what industries you would like to recruit for. Narrowing your choices will save you a lot of time during recruiting.INTERN APPLICATIONSI’d limit your job applications to about 10. If you are applying to more than 10 companies, I don’t think you have properly done your research and it will show during the interview. I applied to eight companies during recruitment, and even that was a lot to keep track of. On one of my interviews, I had had no time to research the company or network and it definitely showed.Expect to get dings (rejections), even when you’re applying from Harvard. For high-performing individuals, it will be the first time you may have been told thanks, but no thanks. Expect it. It builds character.EXPLOIT YOUR STATUS AS A STUDENTExploit it when making phone calls and visits with alumni, potential employers, and others. Most people will give you a minute if you are a student. After graduation, you are just another dude/dudette.GRADESThe sooner you stop worrying about them, the better and more stress-free your experience will be. At HBS there is little transparency and the grading system to me was very subjective, with 50% of your grade based on class participation and 50% based on a case exam. You receive little to no feedback on either grade until you receive them a month after taking the exam. By then, you have stopped thinking about it.Coming from West Point, where I studied to a degree that amazes me a decade later, not worrying about grades took some getting used to. You need to understand why you are at business school. If you want top honors, crush it. If you want to develop yourself personally, learn a new hobby, or try new things, crush it. In the decade since West Point, I learned that there is more to life than grades (not an excuse to sham, but I don’t have the single-minded academic drive that I once had at West Point).VETERAN STATUSRid yourself of any form of veteran entitlement that seems to have crept up. You cannot rest on your laurels. Your veteran resume with its accompanying experiences will assist greatly in getting that first interview with companies, but after that you must prepare for the interview and then perform during your internship.HOUSING (HBS SPECIFIC)On campus or off campus, it doesn’t matter. If you are off campus, try staying within a mile of campus and you won’t miss anything. The main social scene at HBS revolves around the campus and Harvard Square (and club parties in downtown Boston if you choose to do them). If you live off campus, get a bike.CLASSESAt HBS, your first year is all required curriculum (RC) so you have no choice in what you take. Your second year (EC), you choose your courses. Take some time to plan your schedule. Talk with current second-year students and look at course reviews. While I was happy with my course selections and thought the allocation system to get into them was equitable, I wish I had done a little more deliberate planning on what courses to take.My favorites second-year courses were The Coming of Managerial Capitalism, taught by Professor Nicholas (a history-like course and Professor Nicholas was awesome); Business at the Base of the Pyramid, by Professor Michael Chu (interesting course that took a while to gain steam/catch my interest, but the last half was enlightening); and The Energy Business and Geopolitics, taught by Professor Maurer (I want to go into the energy industry post-BCG and this course was absolutely fascinating).Harvard Business School – Ethan Baron photoWORKLOADIf you went to a service academy, do not stress about the workload. I found the academic workload at Harvard underwhelming compared to West Point. All the books, all the blogs, blah blah, stress how busy it is. I was never as busy on any single day at HBS as I was at West Point, hands down.Your first month you will be busy as you learn the ropes, but after that your busy-ness is primarily a factor of your priorities and is mainly self-induced (how much stuff you voluntarily pile onto your academic load). I did Reserve drill, volunteered weekly at a local school, mentored a Harvard ROTC cadet weekly, helped out with the MIT ROTC program a little, continued my long-distance running routine (I did 3.85 marathons while at HBS … at Mile 22 ruck marching with cadets when the bombs went off and they closed the course), and took a photography class at the New England School of Photography in addition to the normal academic workload at HBS.My priorities at HBS had changed from my single-minded focus on academics at West Point to realizing that academics are only one aspect of the HBS/life experience.Also, whenever I felt busy, I thought of my classmates with three kids and my woe-is-me party ended immediately.PARTYINGI thought Army lieutenants partied hard after a deployment. Then I went to HBS. Be prepared for a large social scene.Ignore Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and realize early on that there are club/section parties/get-togethers on most evenings. It is all about priorities. If your priority is partying, then you have found your home in business school. But if you have other priorities, don’t worry about not going out every night. At the end of the day, going out drinking with section mates is not some mind-blowing, nirvana-attaining affair that will make or break your experience. It’s just getting drinks with people.For HBS, the key parties/events to attend are: RC Halloween Party, RC Priscilla Ball, RC Newport Ball, RC Holidazzle, the EC Gala, and section retreats. Anything else I would pick and choose going to.AGGRESSIVELY SOCIALBusiness school people are what I would call “aggressively social.” Sometimes it is overwhelming, but it makes it easy to meet people.RESERVES WHILE AT SCHOOLI continued to serve in the Army Reserves while at school, and I am one of the few who is staying in post-HBS, for a couple of reasons: 1) I transferred my remaining GI Bill benefits to my wife so she could attend school; 2) I am more deeply appreciative now of the privilege of being able to put the uniform on as opposed to when I was on active duty and took it for granted; and 3) If not me, then who?While at business school, the one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer did not provide any issues. Units post their drill schedules in advance for the coming fiscal year, so I knew well in advance of every weekend when I would be gone and when my annual training was set. Did I miss some parties or trips? Yes, but after a month at business school you realize parties are a dime a dozen and trips/treks occur at an uncanny frequency. My Reserve unit worked with me to conduct Rescheduled Training (RST) for the summer internship, so during my first-year spring break, instead of going to *insert X exotic destination*, I went to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, to knock out my drill requirements. This enabled me to stay in Dallas, where I was interning, the entire summer instead of flying back to Massachusetts. Further, Boston Consulting Group pushed my internship up two weeks ahead of the primary summer intern cohort so I could attend my unit’s active training (I finished my internship on a Friday and reported that Saturday for active training). You work it and make it happen.The main positives of staying in the Reserves at school are: 1) Personal pride and satisfaction; 2) They help you stay grounded and get outside the business school bubble; 3) You have a steady, though small, income coming in (two years of O-3/O-4 Reserve pay comes out to under $20,000 net free of taxes so that is $20,000 in debt I do not have); and 4) Health insurance that was cheaper than the school’s option. The main drawbacks are that it takes time (though manageable) and your experience will vary with your unit — just like active duty, some units are good and others are a drag.If you are staying in the Reserves, I recommend that you interview your unit.Talk with the commander and get a feel for his/her leadership style. You select the unit you want to go to, so if the commander gives you a bad vibe, look for another unit.Ask for the drill, AT, and mobilization schedules. Check the drill schedule to see how many MUTA 5’s (Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday), or MUTA 6’s (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Saturday, Sunday, Monday) they have. Make sure their annual training is in August (most units’ ATs are), which is workable with an internship versus a June or July annual training. See where they are in the ARFORGEN cycle to make sure you won’t get called up in the middle of school!If possible, stop by a unit for an hour or two during their BTA to see what they actually do.Ask the unit and commander how much work they expect you to do outside of drill weekends. Some units/commanders expect a significant amount of work outside of drill. It varies tremendously with units, position, ARFORGEN cycle. For many reservists this will make or break the Reserve experience.Manage your expectations … it is not active duty infantry anymore.TRANSFER OF GI BILL BENEFITSArmy Reservists can transfer their GI Bill benefits to their dependents. You incur an extra four years of service on the date of transfer. The process was extremely simple to do online. I transferred mine during the spring of my second year, but I wish I had done it immediately upon leaving active duty so that 18 months of the four-year commitment would have been my time at HBS. I plan on serving beyond the four years, but it is nice serving at my leisure versus serving because of a contractual obligation.With this, my wife is attending the University of Michigan to get her Master of Architecture degree “for free” and we get the housing stipend as well ($1,578 a month).ENJOY ITDon’t fall prey to cynicism. Enjoy the experience. It goes by ridiculously fast.BE HUMBLEOne of my main goals coming from HBS is to do well in the business world, yet *knocking on wood* regardless of the amount of success I may have, I want to remain humble.“You can’t help when or what you were born, you may not be able to help how you die; but you can — and you should — try to pass the days between as a good man …” — Sam Damon from Once an EagleIf you made it this far, get after it.Author Martin Peters is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and served eight years on active duty as an infantryman with four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, concluding his time as an HHC commander. Following active duty, he attended Harvard Business School and joined the Boston Consultant Group as a consultant. He continues to serve as a major in the Army Reserves, training battalion- and above-level staffs, and is passionate about veterans. Martin is an ambassador for Service to School and has successfully assisted several veterans applying to MBA programs. Martin is married, has three dogs, and currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.Veterans and Ivy LeagueA Salute to Cornell, Dartmouth, and ColumbiaMarch 15, 2015Ivy Coach salutes Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University for their outstanding track record of supporting our troops. It is to be commended.As you may know, Ivy Coach is deeply committed to helping America’s veterans and current members of our military (which also can include veterans) gain admission to the colleges of their dreams. It’s work we’ve been doing for years and it’s some of the most fulfilling, rewarding work we do. We are so proud of the many veterans across highly selective college campuses whom we had the privilege — and that’s precisely what it is — to work with in the admissions process. But we are also aware that we have a voice in the admissions process and we’d be remiss not to raise it to commend Ivy League institutions that do right by veterans and shame other Ivy League institutions that we don’t believe properly support our troops. Just because all Ivy League institutions are “Yellow Ribbon” does not mean they are all equally supportive to veterans. Being “Yellow Ribbon” simply means they have agreed to contribute some money towards tuition costs. As an example, while not an Ivy League school, Johns Hopkins University contributes $1,000 annually per student. That’s not going to cut it. But back to the Ivy League…Cornell University, we salute you! The Post 9/11 G.I. Bill offers only a certain amount of money towards annual tuition ($19,200 for private universities and $8,900 for public universities). Cornell covers the remainder of the tuition (making them “Yellow Ribbon”). They welcome these brave men and women into their schools as though they are any other students pursuing college degrees. And that’s exactly how it should be. Cornell University has earned an ‘A’ in our book. They’d get an ‘A+’ if they didn’t have a cap of 100 veterans whom they can have on campus at a time under the “Yellow Ribbon Program,” a cap that also includes dependents (not just the troops themselves).Dartmouth College, we salute you! It’s all love from us for this fellow “Yellow Ribbon” university. With respect to veterans, you are the crown jewel of the Ivy League. Dartmouth College supports our troops and may the world know it. Dartmouth College covers the full cost of tuition that is beyond the funds from the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. And they have no cap on the number of veterans they admit each admissions cycle. Dartmouth doesn’t have to do the right thing. But Dartmouth chooses to. Dartmouth College has earned an ‘A+’ in our book. Other Ivy League colleges may say they support our troops but Dartmouth speaks softly with one very big stick.And Columbia University, we salute you, too! You may not cover the full cost of tuition, contributing $8,000 annually per student. But maybe it’s because you admit so many vets! And you admit all of these vets through your General Studies Program. This way, their numbers don’t hurt your “US News & World Report” ranking. It’s a creative workaround and we salute you for this workaround because it means more veterans studying on your campus. For this, we’ll give you an ‘A.’ Columbia, you deserve it.But that’s just about where the love fest ends. Check back soon to find out what we have to say about the remaining Ivies’ admissions policies towards our troops. It won’t be all puppy dogs and ice cream.And, veterans, this is a terrific tool to use to measure a university’s “Yellow Ribbon” contributions against another.Ivy League and Veterans (Reddit)drlovespooge 1 year agoI'm in a SEC university right now, and honestly the childish behavior of the student is killing me. I'm 23, USMC vet making great grades, and have been looking into Ivy League (Dartmouth, Cornell) schools in the hopes of finding more academic rigor with a little more serious atmosphere.Does anyone have any experience, or currently enrolled in any top tier institutions who could give me some insight?I'm a Marine veteran at Columbia university. Columbia has by far the largest population of veterans, and provides the most support. We have just over 400 undergrads who are vets, which is about 4% of all the undergrads in the school. The other Ivies have a handful each. Brown and Dartmouth each have a dozen or so. Yale and Cornell about half that. Princeton and Harvard have 1 or 2 at most.At Columbia we have a very active Veterans group called Milvets (check us out on Facebook www.Facebook.com/CUMilvets and Twitter @Milvets) that does social events, hosts speakers, organizes career info and recruiting events, and throws a big Marine Corps Birthday Ball-style gala every year.As others have stated, the biggest change transitioning from a lower-tier school is the increased workload, particularly reading. I personally find the other students to be noticeably smarter and more mature here. I've made friends with a lot of traditional-age students and found them to be very driven.Some stuff you should be aware of:-Several of the Ivies have special application processes for nontraditional students; people like Veterans, retired professional athletes, Olympic figure skaters, etc. Applying through these is a higher chance of admission than what the overall admission stats would lead you to believe. They like the diversity having interesting people attend brings to the school. The ones who have programs like this are: *Columbia - school of general studies (note, this is just an administrative division, not a separate school like Harvard Extension School. GS students are "real" Columbia students, are in the same classes, and earn the same degree) *Yale - Eli Whitney Scholars Program *Brown - Resumed Undergraduate Education (RUE) program *Penn - (I forget the name. Will edit later)-Also, several other top schools have a partnership with non-profits which feed them Veterans. Service to School is a nonprofit that sets you up with a mentor already attending the school who helps you through the application process. They have a partnership with Yale, Cornell, MIT, Columbia, and a few others that will get you a garenteed interview with admissions and get your application to the top of the pile. Dartmouth also partners with a nonprofit called the Posse Foundation, which creates a cohort of ten Veterans who the school admits as a group, and then those ten serve as a pre-made peer support network.-A third nonprofit, the Warrior Scholar Project, does couple-week-long seminars at various too schools, including Ivies like Yale and Harvard, to teach Veterans skills to succeed at top schools. It is all-expenses-paid, food and lodging provided, and you get to see what the Ivies are like in person. WSP alumni have a good record of getting accepted to top schools afterward.Jim_Nebna 1 year agoI am an Army vet that transferred into Cornell. What kind of info are you looking for?drlovespooge 1 year agoOverall impressions and such. Also the challenge of the classes. I'm worried that classes are easy here, but I will struggle at a more difficult school. Also, curious about admissions and veteran resources around the university.Jim_Nebna 1 year agoIt was a great experience. Almost all of the classes were excellent. A few were not. I did well at my prior school and my first semester after transferring was very rough. You will have to adjust to the workload. Depending on your major, reading multiple books, having several problem sets, and/or writing multiple papers per week is not out of the norm.I found transferring to be pretty straight forward. I started in 2008 and resources were basically non-existent. It was the same at my prior school as well. By the time I had left the VA rep was telling me about programs I had never heard of.drlovespooge 1 year agoWow, how were you able to stay afloat while transitioning? I mean my workload now is a joke, so that's going to be interesting.Jim_Nebna 1 year agoDiscipline and between my then wife's stipend, and the GI Bill, I did not need to work. Which depending on where you wind up can be a challenge.I would highly suggest getting to know some of your current or prior professors. Do an independent study with them or build some rapport other than "He was in my class". Everyone who applies will have a good GPA. Having a good GPA, showing that you have already been successful at another school, and good reference letters will greatly increase your chances.bruceholder84 1 year agoI understand. I chose online classes because I'm not great at biting my tounge and could see this being an issue in a traditional classroombrianwillneverdiejarhead 1 year agoHey u/drlovesspooge, I'm a USMC vet and am the president of the student group at Columbia. We've got a vibrant community of 400+ enlisted vets. Definitely recommend it. The academic rigor and serious atmosphere are both here, but we have our share of childish behavior. Happens at every college. I'm headed to the Student Veterans of America conference in Orlando but can answer any questions you may have and connect you to some great organizations that help vets apply to top schools. Will DM you my emailroost9i 1 year agoI had a similar experience at my state Uni. It was the worst in the first year and tapered off a lot towards my junior year when the insincere fell out. But you just have to expect it. Even in my senior year there were classmates just wasting their parents' money.MFW: "Am I the only one around here that wants to graduate!"The best classes were the ones where I could find other disciplined people to form study groups with.akamustacherides 1 year agoI started off like you, went to state school and was making the dean's list with little effort. The maturity level of the students didn't bother me because at the end of the day it was me and my performance I had to face. Into my third year I started dating an attorney with a prestigious education and she convinced me that I would be better off at a different school. I transferred to a school in the northeast, it was more of a challenge, it gave me more opportunities because it had more clout, and the student body was more serious. The difference now is that I am paying off bigger student loans than if I would have stayed in the state school.jbow808 1 year agoI went to a Top 50 school that offered a great program for non-traditional students, since I graduated it's become an on-line only program.Most of my cohorts in the program where in their late 20's to early 40's and coming from a community college where I was surrounded by mostly 16 - 20 year olds who texted and surfed the web during lectures. Students tend to take academics more seriously of they're footing the bill.As far as rigor goes, the program was on par with the "traditional" offerings at the school and no one knows I was in the special program unless I tell them.I even recall hearing a professor or 2 saying they preferred teaching to older students, since they know how to think (as opposed to just wanting the answers for the final exam), are more engaged in classroom discussions, and generally more respectful of their time and experience.IntendoPrinceps 1 year agoMarine buddy of mine is at Dartmouth, and he hates it. Everyone in his program is super young, and he comes home whenever possible and has taken many breaks from school. There isn't a real city nearby so the only young adults are grad students, according to him, and they mostly socialize with each other.My friend is an extrovert and very sociable, so it's not like he stays at his apartment all of the time. He even joined a frat but that didn't help much.harDCore182 1 year agoTuck MBA is my dream. Heard grad life is better than undergrad there.cwood74 1 year agoWent to Harvard for a masters program college kids are still kids. I went to a party school for undergrad and it was a noticeable difference in terms of difficulty and attitude but nothing like the military.drlovespooge 1 year agoWhat kind background did you come from when applying? I'm thinking about graduating from here, but going to a top tier school for my JD/MBAcwood74 1 year agoI went for computer science my grades were at the low side for top 20 around 3.8 GPA. What really saved me was letters of recommendation from employers and volunteering on open source projects. The top schools seem to care about someone that is really focused and dedicated to being good at one thing instead of mediocre at everything. I met people they turned down later that I would have considered a much better candidate than me.gijose 1 year agoI'm a junior at Brown, and I know for certain that the school has an interest in attracting more veterans. Brown has its own thing going—totally open curriculum, weird grading scheme, very liberal students—but it's a top-tier school and has a backdoor application for "non-traditional" students. If you have any questions PM me and I'll try to answer them.fezha 10 months agoBrown really wants more vets. This is true. In the cracks of the internet, I found a PDF detailing Brown's struggles to attract and connect with Vets. They even acknowledged other Ivies were attracting vets, but they couldn't.To be honest, I believe it's location. Brown is all the motherfucking way in Rhode Island. If prostitution was still legal in Rhode Island I would apply there...hahahah.....haha......yeah.talab 10 months agoConsidering the population density in the northeast is among the highest in the nation, I don't think location is really an issue. My theory is that it's more about the political climate — I've seen the studies suggesting political ideologies in the military are varied, but in my experience, the military is a very conservative organization — because Brown is among the most liberal campuses in the country. I also think that among enlisted personnel there's a culture of inferiority. People I served just don't see themselves being "smart" enough to study at Brown or any other Ivy, which is unfortunate.LEM413 1 year agoI'm not a vet, but I'm a Tufts University graduate, and one of my good friends who graduated with me is also a USMC vet. They have a program for non-traditional students called the REAL program (http://uss.tufts.edu/undergradEducation/academics/real/), which is basically just a separate admissions process. Other than that, you're a full-fledged Tufts student able to enroll as either a liberal arts or engineering student. As far as the specifics of the admissions process itself, u/beltayn88 can provide more insight into that, since he went through it personally.Tufts is definitely a school that attracts a particular kind of student, in that pretty much everybody is very academically motivated but not competitive in the way that you see in Ivy League schools. I wouldn't have traded my experience there for anywhere else. Their dean has stated that they want to recruit more veterans to attend as well.Why Don’t Top-Tier Colleges Care About Enrolling Veterans (2013)?By Wick SloaneNo veterans here?Photo by Glen Cooper/Getty ImagesThis article originally appeared in Inside Higher Ed.If you can believe it, the number of undergraduate veterans at the nation’s self-proclaimed most highly selective colleges is significantly fewer than we reported in 2011. The total this year: 168*. The * is because, again, too many of these colleges, the 31 invitation-only members of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE), don’t know. The number may bounce again.“Disgraceful and absurd” is what I called the 232 total veterans in 2011. By comparison, the total number of veterans and dependents of veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill rose from 555,329 students in 2011 to 646,302 in 2012. From 232 to 174 to 168—with the nation at war and 118,784 total undergraduate seats at the 31 COFHE colleges.Lost for synonyms, I asked Andrew Bacevich, retired U.S. Army colonel and author of Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country, to describe the pitiful count of veterans at selective colleges. Bacevich is an eloquent critic of all of us—we, the people—for letting 1 percent of the population bear the nation’s military burden—fighting, deaths, and wounds.“Here is an issue where the nation's most prestigious institutions should demonstrate some leadership,” Bacevich said. “With a very few admirable exceptions, they have failed to do so. That failure is nothing less than shameful.” (Listen to Bacevich on The Colbert Report and on Moyers & Company.)Some colleges had been including the combined totals of both veterans and veteran dependents and family members using the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill in their count of veteran students. In 2011, Cornell University reported 48 veterans, with just one confirmed veteran this year. Duke University reported 22 veterans in 2011 and one this year. Rice University originally reported having 27 veterans last year but then amended that number to one veteran last year and one this year. Northwestern University reported 45 undergraduates who are either veterans or dependents, with the administration relying on a student group to sort out the details.Lows for 2013: Yale University, two. Princeton University, one. Williams College, zero. Swarthmore College, zero. Harvard University—which did not reply to last year’s survey—reported 19 veterans this year but did not clarify whether that number includes dependents. The 27 veterans that Stanford University originally reported turned out to include dependents, and the administration hasn’t clarified the number yet.Highs: University of Pennsylvania, 35. Georgetown University, 25—with 81 total traditional and nontraditional undergraduates, including veterans and active-duty military. Johns Hopkins University, 23. Washington University in St. Louis, 20. University of Rochester, 16. Dartmouth College, 14—one down from last year.“Veterans can’t do the work,” an Ivy League president told me a few years ago.Again, there have been too many evasions and excuses and circumlocutions for one column. Yale President Peter Salovey didn’t think the question of why Yale has just two veterans was worth much time. Or Columbia, which again proclaimed unquestionable success with “about 300” veterans in its School of General Studies program. (This is separate from its main undergraduate college, Columbia College.) Or Columbia, again, declining to reply to the following questions: “Why can’t veterans get a degree from Columbia College, too?” and “What is the endowment of Columbia College versus the endowment of the School of General Studies?”Two years ago, Vassar College President Catharine Hill and Posse Foundation founder Debbie Bial created a program to encourage veteran enrollment. Yet of all the COFHE colleges, only Wesleyan University has joined the program so far. Why are so many prestigious schools reluctant to enroll veterans?“Veterans can’t do the work,” an Ivy League president told me a few years ago. (This was not at a press event or in an interview, so I won’t out the individual.) But many other university administrators begged to differ.“Generally devaluing the demonstrated abilities of the men and women who commit to national service is as ugly as the coarsest racism, sexism, etc., that presumably this same leader wouldn't be caught dead expressing. For shame,” said Jon Burdick, the University of Rochester’s dean of admissions and financial aid. “Anybody who wants to say that should be required to provide proof—including proof that guiding enrolling veterans to success on their campus would be a greater burden than the significant efforts they voluntarily make in guiding their underrepresented minority students, varsity athletes, and legacy children of major donors.”“I don’t see any evidence of that,” said Wesleyan President Michael Roth. “The average veteran entering college is in his or her late 20s or early 30s; many have been through a very intense experience serving overseas, and all have incredible training from the military. The workload at a highly selective college or university, while different, may seem easy to them! And unlike the typical 18-year-old first-year college student who comes straight from high school, veterans have had a number of extra years to consider their future and decided that they really want to go to college now.”Swarthmore College had zero veterans enrolled this year, and the reply from President Rebecca Chopp joined the chorus of the usual excuses. The Swarthmore situation troubles me on two counts: First, I don't see how institutions that benefit from so many federal programs and policies, from Pell Grants to research funding with generous overhead to tax-deducted donations and a tax-free endowment, can neglect the young men and women we have all sent to war. Second, working with returning veterans is part of what I do as a Quaker. Incidentally, Quakers founded Swarthmore in 1864.I wrote to Chopp:Williams, where I went, has zero veterans, has no spiritual or moral traditions. Trustees there refuse to discuss or wonder why I am asking. I can't give that pass to Swarthmore. I don't need to list to you, I know, why Swarthmore would seek a higher standard than Williams. The usual obfuscation is that a college would be happy to take veterans but none are applying. We both know that a college would need to recruit this population. And we both know, I think, that selective colleges, especially those as wealthy as Swarthmore, have exactly as many of certain types of students—soccer players, chemists, oboists—as they choose to have.Chopp’s reply:We are geared in our work toward undergraduates in the age range of 18-22 and that fact sometimes makes choosing us less likely for older veterans. In recent years we have been focused on the children of veterans and we have at present seven children of veterans enrolled, which is a part of the support that veterans and their families seek and need. The community colleges and the large state and research universities are better able to enroll large numbers at once.My rebuttal: Preposterous. For more than a decade, the U.S. has been a nation at war. Focusing on 18- to 22-year-olds is a decision by Swarthmore, not the hand of fate. Until the wars are over and the veterans healed, Swarthmore, a Quaker college, could decide to welcome and accommodate 100, even 200, veterans. Would Swarthmore accept a tax on its endowment to support veterans at community colleges? An institution supported by federal aid and tax policies shouldn’t relegate 18- to 22-year-olds to war with no responsibility to support those students on their return.Chopp: “We are only able to enroll smaller numbers given our class size and the commitment to a broad range of access to the liberal arts experience that we exercise.”In the eyes of Swarthmore, then, students of talent who have chosen not to serve their country are equal in diversity to those who have?Chopp: “In our history the largest numbers of veterans we accommodated came after the Second World War, as many who were our students before enlisting in that war returned. Those numbers are less likely in this modern era.”“Less likely”? With 646,302 veterans and dependents using the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Swarthmore made room for just seven dependents and no veterans.Top CommentThis doesn't surprise me for undergrads. If you're the type that will normally get into an Ivy League college, you're probably the officer type, not the type to enlist at 18. More...214 Comments Join InStill, I did find some good news. This year, Stanford’s summer school will include a program for up to 20 veterans to build their academic skills. That’s the result of several years of advocacy by William Treseder, a Marine combat veteran and Stanford graduate via community college. (Treseder says he came upon the summer school idea in one of my columns.)And through the Posse program, Vassar enrolled 11 veterans this fall and will enroll as many each year in the future. Wesleyan, a COFHE school, has also signed on. “We found that it was a real challenge to ‘go it alone’ as a single institution,” said Wesleyan’s Roth. “We were impressed by Posse’s veterans program and felt that joining forces with them was the best way to enroll more veterans every year.”