Straight Talk for Veterans

Straight Talk for Veterans: A Guide to Success in College answers the call by veterans and practitioners to move away from academic volumes that don't resonate with the reader and frankly fall short of really helping veterans succeed in college. With contributions from student veteran experts such as, Kevin Jones, Janine Wert, Aynsley Diamond, Adam Fullerton, Sharon Young, Michael Kirchner, Sarah Minnis, Glenn Phillips, Sosanya Jones, and David Vacchi, this volume answers the need from the field for a text that can both inform practitioners who intend to help veterans succeed and speak in no-nonsense language that veterans prefer. Veteran-friendliness is a straightforward concept that is, in most contexts, more lip-service than action and is rarely achieved. Conceptualizing veteran-friendliness is best done in plain language, the way veterans talk to each other, and is about improving the cultural competency of non-veterans. Straight Talk for Veterans is a straight-forward guide primarily intended for those transitioning from the military to higher education, but also for veteran transitions to civilian life. Designed as a companion text aligned with veteran transition curricula, it serves the dual purpose of guiding veterans through the initial culture shock that can come with joining an academic community directly from the military and guiding practitioners to be able to support veterans through a more culturally competent lens. Straight talk's diverse chapter authors deliver a comprehensive array of accessible information that covers concepts of negotiating transitions, navigating higher education, skills assessment and translation, and a series of fresh perspectives on concepts frequently misunderstood or mischaracterized by civilians. Written in a style that speaks directly to the student, this text is most valuable to the student veteran or the campus that wants to focus their energies on the real success of student veterans: graduating and finding a job.