 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Scott Lowe")
Between 150 and 175 student military veterans at USC continue to face a lack of support and social programs intended to help ease students' transition from military to civilian life.
Military veterans enrolled at USC who are making the shift - which can be difficult, said Quence Smith, USC's Veterans Affairs coordinator - have few departments, programs or organizations to assist them.
The only USC department that aids military veterans is the Office of Veteran Affairs, which is housed in the Office of Academic Records and Registrar and only deals with enrollment and financial issues.
The university has just one program dedicated to college veterans: The Marshall Military Veterans Association, which has nine members and was created solely for students earning a MBA.
Ralph Martinsen, the president of the Marshall Military Veterans Association and a second-year MBA candidate, spent four years in the Marine Corps. and is still a captain in the Corps. Reserve.
"I would love to expand our association to the whole university," he said. "We want to get the undergrads involved, and students in other departments beyond the MBA program."
Because there is not a group on campus to help student veterans transition to civilian life, many of them said they learn to cope with the changes on their own.
Chris Roessner, a commuter senator in USC's Undergraduate Student Government, enlisted in the Army after high school six years ago and served in Special Operations.
Roessner, who was part of the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003 and was on location when Saddam Hussein was taken into custody, had a difficult experience transitioning to college life.
"I experienced all the good and bad things of war," Roessner said.
Roessner said he was so affected by what he had seen and done during his service that after returning to the United States, he went surfing in Hawaii for two months to recover mentally and emotionally.
After spending a year at USC, he took a semester off to go to Nepal and climbed 20,000 feet to a camp in Mount Everest.
"The transition is still happening," he said. "I felt that my view of the world and America had been completely changed. I was idealistic before the war and cynical after."
Scott Lowe, a junior majoring in business administration, served two tours in Iraq between 2004 and 2006, the first in Baghdad and Tal Afar and the second in Baiji.
Lowe said his adjustment to civilian life has been marked by a sense of separation.
"It's difficult dealing with college age kids," he said. "The things they care about, like parties and girls, they don't feel important to me."
The sense of separation is magnified for Lowe when people learn about his service in Iraq and try to voice their opinions.
"Everybody, not just college kids, they want to tell me what they think about the war over there," he said. "I don't listen to them unless they've actually been there because they don't know how it is."
Lowe, who defended an oil refinery - a prime target for insurgents, wears a black band on his wrist with the names of fallen comrades and people he fought with as a sergeant and infantry team leader.
USC has, however, been successful in addressing the financial needs of incoming veterans.
Lowe is the recipient of both financial aid and a Schoen Family Scholarship, a grant given to aid armed forces veterans who wish to attend the Marshall School of Business.
William J. Schoen, a Marshall alumnus and Korean War veteran who became a highly successful owner of a hospital corporation in the southern United States, set up the scholarship.
Lowe's tuition is completely covered by the combination of the scholarship and financial aid.
"If it weren't for that scholarship, I wouldn't be here," he said.
Roessner is also happy with USC's financial help.
"The university has been phenomenal," he said. "They keep my tuition to almost nothing and the military takes care of the rest. USC bent over backwards to make sure I came here."
The shortage of veteran-tailored programs hasn't stopped the student veterans from participating in organizations and using their military experience to contribute to USC, though.
Martinsen wants to connect current USC veteran students with ex-soldiers in the professional world through the Marshall Military Veterans Association. He has organized a networking event March 6 to bring veterans together and potentially create business opportunities.
Martinsen says he has received more than 30 commitments from student veterans for the event, and hopes the exposure to the USC veteran community will allow his club to grow larger.
He is planning a second event for the end of March, when 50 MBA students will be taken to the Camp Twentynine Palms Officer Academy in the desert east of Los Angeles.
While there, the students will be forced to lead teams under pressure and develop fast decision-making skills.
Martinsen explained his motives for creating the program.
"I'd like to take my military experiences in leadership and spread them out," he said. "It's my way of giving back to the university on a personal level, doing what I know best."
Roessner has continued to stay active in USG to fulfill a sense of social responsibility that he gained through his military experiences. He said is thankful for the opportunities he's received at the university.
"My time at USC has given me a blueprint on how to run my life," he said. "I don't think it could've turned out any better, nor could I be any happier."
