From Boots to Books: College Strategies for Veterans - Guest Post From Hazel Bridges of AgingWellness.org

 

Dear Henry,

My good friend Hazel Bridges, creator of AgingWellness.org, has developed some excellent ideas for supporting service members, veterans, and their families, and I would be delighted to share them with you. 

xoxo a.d. elliott

From Boots to Books: College Strategies for Veterans 

The move from military service to college isn’t a sidestep. It’s a full-phase transition. You’re shifting from chain of command to choose-your-own-adventure, from structured days to self-led momentum. That kind of shift doesn’t just challenge your calendar — it reorients your habits, your expectations, your identity. It’s not about fitting in. It’s about learning how to repurpose everything you already know — your training, your mindset, your clarity under pressure — and use it in a place where the mission is yours to define. What follows isn’t a motivational pep talk. It’s a field guide — direct, focused, and designed to support real decisions. 

How to Use Your GI Bill Benefits Wisely 

The GI Bill is powerful — but only if you understand what it covers, what it doesn’t, and how your chosen school interacts with it. Post-9/11 benefits often go beyond tuition, including housing stipends, book costs, and relocation funds. But those extras can be missed if you don’t dig into the specifics. Some colleges participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program to help cover tuition gaps, while others may offer their own scholarships for veterans. Before you enroll, make it a priority to sit down with your school’s veteran services coordinator and walk through the numbers. No guesswork. No assumptions. The benefits are there — but the system assumes you know how to advocate for them. 

Finding Veteran Support Services on Campus 

No one succeeds alone — not in a firefight, and not in a classroom. The difference is that in college, the threats are quieter: isolation, confusion, and the slow erosion of motivation. Civilian classmates might not understand your urgency, your precision, your silences — and that’s fine. What matters is having a space where you don’t have to explain any of that. Veteran resource centers exist on most campuses now, and they’re more than lounges or information booths. They offer emotional grounding, academic advising, peer mentorship, and a place to exhale. Walking through that door early — before you need it — can be the difference between burning out and leveling up. Start there. Keep going. 

Getting College Credit for Military Experience 

College is a paper trail. Admissions forms. Benefit verifications. Course approvals. If even one of those gets scrambled or goes missing, it can jam up your whole process. Save all important documents as PDFs — including military records, scanned IDs, essay drafts, and award letters — and back them up to a folder that syncs across devices. PDFs lock in formatting, protect your content, and reduce errors when sharing with schools. If you need to convert Word docs, images, or other file types, here’s a PDF converter for your reference. 

Creating a Productive Weekly Routine 

You’ve trained, led, and operated systems under pressure — and those experiences hold academic weight. But colleges don’t hand out credit automatically. You’ll need to request your Joint Services Transcript and work with your advisor to translate those duties into course equivalencies. Some schools have dedicated military evaluators who can match your training to general education or elective requirements. Others require a little more negotiation. But the payoff matters: earning credit for past experience can save you months of time, thousands in tuition, and unnecessary frustration. You’ve already done the hard part — now it’s about recognition, not repetition. 

Creating a Productive Weekly Routine 

In the military, your day had a beat. Wake. Train. Execute. In college, it’s all on you — and that can rattle even the most disciplined vets. The key isn’t rigid scheduling; it’s smart patterning. Treat your week like a mission map: prep time, buffer zones, fallback plans. Build in movement and recovery. Avoid perfection spirals — consistency beats intensity every time. Study doesn’t have to be a grind if you’ve got a rhythm. Your operational instincts are still sharp. Point them inward. You’re not losing structure. You’re choosing it. 

Taking on Leadership Roles as a Veteran Student 

You’ve already led under pressure — but college leadership looks different. Sometimes it’s organizing a student group. Sometimes it’s pulling a struggling peer into a conversation. Sometimes it’s holding space in class for ideas that come slowly. Veterans bring presence — and that presence can stabilize a room. Get involved early. Join your campus veterans club, or start one if it doesn’t exist. You don’t have to run for president. Just show up, speak clearly, and model what calm under fire looks like in a library instead of a landing zone. This isn’t about standing out. It’s about creating spaces where others can stand with you. 

Where to Get Help With Applications and Essays 

From applications to FAFSA to major selection, college systems weren’t built with veterans in mind. That’s where veteran-run support orgs come in. Programs like Service to School offer one-on-one mentoring from other veterans who’ve already navigated admissions, transfers, and career pivots. They’ll help you avoid common errors, reframe your service for civilian audiences, and sharpen your voice in essays and interviews. Don’t wait for confusion to become regret. Ask early. Get matched. Then walk in confident, knowing someone’s already cleared part of your path. 

This isn’t just school. It’s a return to self-direction — but on your terms, with your training in your corner. You’ve already proven you can handle pressure, complexity, and long games. College is just the next arena. Stack your resources. Tighten your systems. And remember: you’re not starting over — you’re advancing with purpose. 

Discover the inspiring stories of American heroes at The Everyday Patriot Project, where we honor the brave men and women who have dedicated their lives to protecting our freedom. 

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Hazel Bridges is the creator of AgingWellness.org, a website that aims to provide health and wellness resources for aging seniors. She’s a breast cancer survivor. She challenges herself to live life to the fullest and inspire others to do so as well.