This summer semester was my first time back in college after I got out of the military. I was taking Introduction to Human Communication at Glendale Community College and a few weeks into the course, I quickly realized that all the veterans had migrated to the back of the class and had formed a bond. We did all our group projects together, spoke bluntly during our presentations and had a different sense of humor than the rest of the class. Transition from military lifestyle, back to civilian lifestyle is sometimes challenging.
In COM 100, we learned how every individual has a different perspective depending on their life experiences. Our little group of veterans was made up of two males from the Army, one from the Marines, one from the Navy, and myself being the only female from the Air Force. We'd have group discussion and during one day of class we had to talk about distancing ourselves from friends. When it came to the class discussion, each group had to say how they would "break up" with a friend. Our instructor wanted to know how we would go about it, and every group besides ours said they'd stop hanging out with them and not respond to there texts. Their reason being, they didn't want to hurt the other person feelings and they'd avoid confrontation.
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All five of us were the only ones who said we'd go to the person directly and tell them we know longer wanted to be their friend. The reason being, all five of us have been in a situation where we had to tell our friend we know longer wished to stay friends. In the military, your friends are the people you work with. You see them all the time, and it's usually the same group of friends outside of the workplace. There's no avoiding them.
This lead to us discussing how much we changed since we joined. The military makes you take a week long course of what to expect when you get out and how to transition back to a civilian lifestyle when you are getting out processed. We all didn't take it seriously, because we didn't think it would be that big of an issue.
Our little group of veterans talked about many things that we thought were hard to process. For example, when someone with authority walks into the room, you don't have to stand up at any given time and go to parade rest. Or when a teacher is presenting a lesson, you don't have to respond in acknowledgement that you understand. Also, I still don't know why it feels like I'm committing a crime when I walk on the grass, because you would get briefed if there was a perfectly good sidewalk going to the same place.
Those are just small issues, we all brushed off the serious things and I also think that is a trait we learned from the military. We also reflected on missing our friends, who are still serving and how they are doing the same thing. It was easy to related with each other because it is hard to go from a very structured routine where you are held accountable and can't let your flight members down, to having the freedom of doing things on your terms. People who are going through similar situations tend to stick together. In my communication class, I learned not only does your childhood experience hugely shape you into the person you will become but also your adult interactions and lifestyles.
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