Military Institution Culture

Understanding Military, Institutional, and Academic Cultures

Student veterans have been an important population that has contributed to the diversity of college and university campuses since the latter part of the 1940s when veterans first became prominent in the US higher education following the end of World War II. The launch of the original GI Bill programs and the current post 9/11 GI Bill enacted in 2009 have made it much more assessable for military veterans to attend college, by enacting financial incentives that pay for tuition, textbooks, and housing. It is estimated by the year 2020 over 5 million service members will leave the service and a large portion of them will be choosing to pursue a college education (Vacchi). Therefore,

Military is a culture in its own right with its own collective identity; absolute commitment to duty, military structure, and hierarchy; self-sacrifice and embracement of masculinity/masculine behaviors. Also, as with other cultures, military culture is a result of a collection of values, attitudes, and beliefs that provide a population of people with common ways of interpreting events (Schein, The Impact of Culture Clash). According to the American Military Culture in the Twenty-First Century Center for Strategic and International Studies Report, military culture is a result of a combination of the above factors and explains a shared institutional philosophy that influences the expectations regarding behavior in areas such as discipline, teamwork, loyalty, and selfless duty for those in the armed forces (Center for Strategic and International

Many service members join the service when they are just 17, so the military profoundly affected their character and world perspectives and the length of military service impacts socialization. The longer the student veteran serves as a military member, the deeper the military socialization is for that veteran. Military culture shapes how soldiers perceive, think about, and feel about the actions they may be required to undertake while serving their country. Certain characteristics such as bravery, courage, impassivity, and hardiness become the center stone of their beings, while overt displays of emotion are discouraged. To function effectively, soldiers have to overcome their personal moral issues learned from their family upbringing. Military individuals become willing to make sacrifices for others, including if necessary, giving up their own lives if necessary.

It is through their strong sense of unity, and selflessness that service members have the ability to help the unit achieve its overall mission. Sarkesian and Conner wrote that “the military profession stands and falls accordingly to its ability to maintain and reinforce…military culture” including the maintaining and potentially advancement their unit’s operational effectiveness and morale (Impact). However, the military culture has an important unique feature: it demands subservience of the self to the