Men and women from many different generations gathered on the 11th floor of the DePaul Center, Nov. 8, to honor and to reflect upon a common bond: their service to their country.
Students, alumni, staff and faculty were welcomed by the Office of Veterans Affairs to share in paying respect to DePaul’s community of veterans. The Office of Veterans Affairs was established in 2008 and provides a central community for men and women at DePaul who have served time in the military.
Jaime Jimenez, a senior at DePaul, will graduate with a marketing degree this year. Jimenez, a veteran’s liaison at DePaul who served eight years in the United States Air Force, emceed the event. He said his job is to help veterans have a smooth transition into college.
“Veterans that are getting out of the military, transitioning to civilian world/ student world — we kind of help direct them back into the university; show them the ropes, because we’ve been through that situation before,” said Jimenez.
“Once they’re back in school, we kind of help build a support system, so they can connect with one another, communicate with one another; kind of build that camaraderie again that they once had in the military.”
Throughout the event, former and current members of the military had the opportunity to speak about their experiences and what it means to be a veteran. One member spoke of the sacrifices veterans must make to put their lives on hold and leave their pursuits behind them.
Jimenez, a Chicago native, graduated high school in 2001 and joined the Air Force at 18 years old. For him, it was a chance to see the world.
“I didn’t have a route that I wanted to take; I was just working a nine to five. So I figured I’d do something different, explore, get out of Chicago for a little bit.”
Jimenez started boot camp in San Antonio and spent time in California, New Mexico, Wyoming, and South Korea, in addition to “small deployments here and there.”
“I was in Kuwait for six months. That was probably my best experience in the military. You deal with a high-stress environment, so you’re in an environment where you really don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Jimenez said.
“Kuwait’s not that bad of an area when it comes to the war, but we were doing combat operations throughout the cities of Kuwait and around the dessert of Kuwait and there was still terrorist activity there, so we had to be very vigilant,” he said. “But it taught me just to be aware of situations, more disciplined when it comes to doing a job.”
DePaul’s Veterans Day celebration also included a video presentation in which veterans talked about both their experiences in the military and experiences after. Civilians offered praise and thank-yous for all that the veterans have done for our country.
Some veterans discussed the difficulty of transitioning back in to civilian life. Jimenez has been through this transition and recognizes some of the challenges and adjustments that veterans face in returning from service.
“Just getting accustomed to things again. In the military world we do get trained how to be disciplined and how to keep strict time management, but at the same time, in the military we’re always having somebody on top of our shoulder telling us ‘do it this way, do it that way,” Jimenez said.
“When it comes to the civilian world its not really the same, we kind of get the freedom that we never had; we’re just not used to it so we come back and we’re like ‘now what do we do?'” he said. “There’s no guidance, there’s nobody telling us what to do and we have to figure things out on our own, which is a good experience, but at the same time we could use a little help once in a while.”
After the post-9/11 G.I. bill passed in 2008, DePaul quickly decided to become part of the Yellow Ribbon Program. Through the Yellow Ribbon Program, an institution pays for a portion of veteran’s tuitions so that they can attend private and out-of-state universities.
Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Cindy Summers was a speaker during the event and offered a prayer and blessing before a break for lunch. Summers was an advocate for starting the Office of Veterans Affairs and has seen the department grow to more than 350 reported veterans.
“I think it’s going to continue to grow. As more and more veterans are coming back into the United States we want to be sure that education is a viable option for them,” Summers said. “That’s not the path that all will take, but we want to be sure that if that is their path, that this is a place that is veteran friendly, veteran supportive, and that values the contributions that our veterans make.”
Haydee Nunez is the director of Adult Veteran and Commuter Student Affairs and believes that the presence of veterans in DePaul’s classrooms has a very positive impact.
“Student veterans come in with tremendous experience. They come with strength and assets such as leadership, teambuilding, collaboration; they know how to acclimate to new environments,” said Nunez, who is in her third year with DePaul.
“They can enrich the classroom by being able to provide examples of things that are being talked about theoretically in the classroom, so I think in terms of DePaul’s curriculum its definitely beneficial to DePaul and to civilian students to have veterans in the class room.”
The event came to an end with a man who served the army in the 1960’s thanking today’s generation of veterans. He reflected on his time of service and the fact that many people during his era did not have the choice to become a veteran. He thanked today’s veterans for choosing to serve our country and putting the rest of their lives on hold, which led to the playing of “taps” as the crowd rose to stand.
Jimenez said that he is proud of his service and where it has gotten him today.
“It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I’ve been educated through the military ranks, and I’ve been educated through DePaul University thanks to the military,” Jimenez said. “If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here today getting this education.”
Jimenez has developed a new passion through working with the Office of Veterans Affairs. He hopes to continue his advocacy work with veterans; work that he finds to be more rewarding.
“It pays more, not with money, but I guess it just helps me out,” he said. “It’s just a great career. I can see myself coming into work happy and be excited about helping people out.”
