Veteran/Military Acclimation Training
To close the information gap between civilian and military life, our office makes several presentations a year using the PsychArmor Institute video, “ 15 Things Veterans Want You to Know”. This video provides talking points for faculty, staff and students who have contact with veterans and current service members. The video is a guide to start a conversation and provides advise on what questions you should and should not ask. The 15 areas discussed are: 1) We are not all soldiers, 2) the Reserves are part of the military, 3) not everyone in the military is infantry, 4) leaders at every level in the chain of command, 5) we are always on duty, 6) take pride in our appearance & in our conduct, 7) we did not all kill someone & those who have do not want to talk about it, 8) we do not all have PTSD, 9) those who have invisible wounds are not all dangerous and not violent 10) it is really hard for us to ask for help, 11) our military changes us, 12) we differ in how much we identify with the military after we leave active duty, 13) our families serve with us, 14) we would die for each other & we would die for our country and 15) we have all made sacrifices for one reason: to serve something more important than ourselves (Kraft, 2020).
Psych Armor
Continuing to expand on West Virginia Green Zone (WVGZ) training, our staff has introduced a video sponsored by Wounded Warrior Project in collaboration with the PsycArmor Institute, titled
15 Things Veterans Want You to Know
We are passionate about educating faculty, staff and students at West Virginia
University on how to best work with our veteran population. During the
presentation, we like to have open and honest discussions by expanding on
the 15 topics discussed in the video. Topics range from the branches
of service, jobs in the military, mental health concerns and most importantly
how to relate with student veterans. We are hopeful that after
the training, staff and faculty will gain insight about military life and
the sacrifices military members and their families make.
If you are a student veteran: and would like to participate in our conversation sessions, please contact our office. Participating requires no training or prep work. The benefits include the following:
- You will be building personal connections with other members of the WVU Community
- You will be giving a voice to the concerns of student veterans on campus
- You will be helping make WVU a better, more welcoming place, for future student veterans
If you are faculty or staff: we need you to attend our conversation sessions. The sessions are designed for you to learn about the following:
- Academic policies that affect student veterans
- Student-veteran strengths
- Student-veteran challenges
- What it means to be "veteran friendly"