Amanda Irish was going to be a dancer when she graduated from high school in 2002, but on Sept. 11, 2001, she decided to become a Marine.
Now, she can’t walk out of a crowded lecture hall without a sense of distressed hyperawareness as people close in behind her.
After dragging on for 10 years, the U.S. War on Terror has waned from the public eye. However, for student veterans, the wars are inescapable.
Irish, 27, is working on her second bachelor’s in pre-med and human physiology and is the president of the University of Iowa Veterans Association. She enlisted soon after 9/11, during her senior year of high school.
Two weeks after she graduated, she began training as a nuclear/biological/chemical weapons defense specialist, and she served on active duty in the Marine Corps from 2004 to 2006.
“There is a duty to serve your country, and a lot of people don’t feel it,” Irish said as she pointed out that military servicemen and women make up fewer than 1 percent of the U.S. population. “We don’t need everyone to serve, but the burden gets put on fewer than 1 percent to carry everyone.”
John Mikelson, the UI Veterans Center coordinator, said student servicemen and women make up slightly fewer than 2 percent of the student population here. There are approximately 500 student veterans, 35 of whom are on active duty — up from 360 last spring.
Read the full story at the Daily Iowan.
Photo credit: U.S. Army Flickr Photostream
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