NEWS

Every Thursday at 6:00 a.m., while most of campus is still asleep, I’m at Payne Whitney for physical training, known as PT. By 9:10, I’ve logged an hour-long workout and another 100 minutes of military training. Afterward, I stay in uniform all day — class to class, meeting to meeting. No skateboard. No jaywalking. No earbuds in. Most days, I’m just like any other student. But the moment the uniform goes on, I’m reminded — and so is everyone else — that I’m slightly different. This is the double identity ROTC cadets at Yale carry. On one hand, I’m a normal undergrad. But I’m also contracted to become a military officer. Yale celebrates academic freedom and encourages exploration; military training demands discipline and adherence to standards. We rarely talk about this tension explicitly. Only once a semester, we briefly review guidelines about balancing academic freedom with the responsibilities of wearing the uniform. Navigating these two worlds can be complicated, but it’s precisely this tension — this constant negotiation — that makes my time at Yale uniquely valuable.

Yale student veterans learn how to bridge the military and the university. James, or Jimmy, Hatch ’24 laughed when a Yale professor suggested he apply to Yale as an undergraduate student. Despite his nearly twenty-six years in the U.S. Navy and multiple deployments as a SEAL, he couldn’t believe that Yale would be interested in what he had to say. Hatch had dropped out of high school with a GPA in the “high 1s” to join the military. After visiting Yale to give a talk and tour the campus, he wrote and submitted his application, including its two essays, in under an hour. He had low expectations. Yet, in 2019, Hatch matriculated at Yale as a 52-year-old first-year. Arriving on campus, he was unsure how the community would welcome him. “I thought I was a monster because I’d been doing what I was doing, I was really good at it, I enjoyed it, and I felt like it was what I should be doing. I was paid to be a criminal,” Hatch said. “I was concerned that people here wouldn’t see the value of that, and in fact, that they would be freaked out by me, but that wasn’t the case.” Hatch spent four years as a Navy sailor and twenty-two years in the SEAL Teams, during which he served as a parachute instructor and had combat deployments to Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He received four Bronze Stars throughout his service, awarded for heroism in combat. In 2009, on a mission to rescue a captured soldier, Hatch was shot in the leg, resulting in injuries that required eighteen surgeries and ended his military career. Hatch was awarded a Purple Heart. Post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and a suicide attempt marked his rehabilitation process.  Ten years after his injury, Hatch became the first non-traditional student in Yale’s Directed Studies program for first-years, and he went on to major in humanities. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 2024, he served as a resource to incoming Directed Studies students, calling himself the “old man with arm tattoos who hands out fliers before the lectures from time to time.” This spring, Hatch became a lecturer for the Jackson School of Global Affairs, teaching a course called “The Impact of War on Its (Willing and Unwilling) Participants.”

Paul Lomax ’27 always loved academics. As an International Baccalaureate student in high school, he knew his future was in college — but his path there would be far from traditional. After graduating high school, he enrolled in the Navy, where he served six years, including two deployments in Afghanistan. It was during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 that he experienced a turning point. Witnessing the complexities of the situation firsthand, he realized that creating lasting impact would not just come from the battlefield but also through shaping policy.  That moment sparked his decision to pursue a career in government — and ultimately led him to Yale’s Eli Whitney Students Program. “We betrayed a lot of people that helped us overseas, and a lot of people lost their lives because of that, and that’s weighed on me ever since,” Lomax said. “I made a vow to myself at the moment that I would never let something of that nature happen again.” Lomax was admitted to Yale through the Eli Whitney Students Program, designed for non-traditional undergraduates who have been out of high school for at least five years and have not yet earned a bachelor’s degree. Students in the program hail from diverse backgrounds. Many are veterans; others are entrepreneurs, Olympic athletes and artists.

Introduced in 1861, the Medal of Honor is the highest military award of the United States Armed Forces. Out of some 40 million Americans who have served in uniform since the Civil War, only a total of just over 3,500 people have been awarded the Medal for conspicuous acts of gallantry and valor.

In honor of all the Yalies who served in uniform throughout the generations, an initiative was recently launched to preserve and promote understanding of Yale’s contributions to the military history and national defense of the United States.  Spearheaded by the Yale Veterans Association (YVA), an alumni organization dedicated to supporting veterans and the military community, and in collaboration with the Yale Visitor Center , the Yale Military History & Traditions Tour (virtual) consists of over 40 historical and contemporary images with in-depth descriptions covering the background and culture of military service at Yale since the Revolutionary War.

In November, Yale recognizes U.S. military veterans and their families for their service and support. Please join us for a Veterans Day ceremony on November 11, and explore additional information and related events. Have we missed something? Please let us know . 

Yale’s military community is represented in nearly every corner of campus. In the classrooms of Yale College and the graduate and professional schools, service veterans are prepared to be leaders in the civilian world. The university’s ROTC students are trained to be leaders in the military. And in departments and programs campuswide, military veterans bring the lessons and values of that experience to their work as members of Yale’s staff and faculty. 

On November 11, 2024, veterans Laura Manzo ’28 PhD, Craig Manbauman ’25 MSN, and Emma Sardina ’27 MSN will share their nursing and healthcare experiences while serving in the military at a school-wide event, continuing a YSN tradition of veterans telling their stories. YSN’s strong relationship with the veteran community encompasses students working at the Annual Stand Down event at Veterans Affairs (VA) in West Haven, conducting significant research while collaborating with the VA, and a vibrant constellation of faculty, students, staff, and alumni who have served honorably. 

Yale senior Emily Quisenberry steps lively from her room in Grace Hopper College to meet friends outside Sterling Memorial Library on a bright Friday afternoon. She’s got all the gear she needs to greet the rest of her day on campus: cell phone, laptop, backpack — and military fatigues.  Quisenberry’s buddies, more than two dozen of them, also are dressed in camo. As they grab their packs and head to Sudler Hall for their weekly Yale Naval ROTC military science lab, their uniformed presence barely draws notice from fellow students walking by or sitting at outdoor tables.

Every year the President’s Review at Yale draws a crowd. This annual campus event, held at the John Lee Amphitheater at the Payne Whitney Gymnasium, and organized by Yale’s Naval and Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) units, features Navy midshipmen and Air Force (and Army) cadets in full dress uniform on parade in front of the Yale community, family members, dignitaries, and invited guests. The recent 2024 President’s Review offered a special surprise. Among the honors conferred upon select cadets and midshipmen at the event was a newly-created Air Force ROTC award named after Yale alumnus and retired Brigadier General Enoch “Woody” Woodhouse II ’52, a World War II veteran and one of the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen.

During Martin Luther King Jr. week and in advance of events, activities, and exhibits being organized for Black History Month , Yale saw the return of one of its alumni: Brigadier General Enoch “Woody” Woodhouse II ’52, a World War II veteran who, having served with the 332nd Fighter Group, the highly decorated WWII military unit comprised entirely of African American pilots and other personnel, is one of the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen. Having attended his 70th reunion two years ago, Woodhouse was delighted to be invited back to campus, accompanied by his wife, Stella, and shortly after turning 97 years old. Throughout his two-day visit, which included a packed schedule of appointments, meetings, and speaking engagements, Woodhouse made clear his deep affection for his alma mater.

Yale recently commemorated the 10th anniversary of the reintegration of ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) to campus with a special ceremony attended by alumni, current and former ROTC cadre and staff, and members of the university community, including students.  Offered at more than 1,700 colleges and universities across the United States, ROTC prepares and trains young adults to become commissioned officers in the U.S. military while earning their academic degrees. At Yale, its return meant the restoration of two units – Naval ROTC (NROTC) and Air Force ROTC (AFROTC).

In its ongoing efforts to connect and galvanize members of the Yale veteran-military community, the Yale Veterans Association (YVA), an alumni-led shared interest group, recently hosted a series of in-person gatherings and meetups on campus and regionally. This included the Yale Veterans BBQ, an annual campus event that brings together alumni, student, faculty and staff veterans, as well as cadre and members of Yale ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps), friends, spouses, and allies of the veteran community. Temporarily suspended during the pandemic, the Veterans BBQ reemerged stronger than ever as attendees turned out in record numbers to gather face to face again to build and renew personal connections. 

The return of alumni to campus for 2022 Yale College Reunions following a two-year hiatus also marked the resumption of the Yale Veterans Reunion Reception. This signature event, organized and hosted by the Yale Veterans Association (YVA) in partnership with the two Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) units on campus – Naval ROTC and Air Force ROTC Detachment 009 – provided alumni veterans of different military branches, backgrounds, and generations the opportunity to connect with one another and learn more about the current state of veterans and military affairs at the university. According to Tom Opladen ’66, president emeritus of YVA and a U.S. Navy veteran, the event from its inception was always intended to be more than a social gathering. 

It was the evening of Sept. 11, 2001. The horror of the morning was fresh. In a residential courtyard at Yale, there was music. “I remember being in the Branford courtyard that night, and spontaneously a group of students — bagpipers — came through playing ‘Amazing Grace,’” Joseph Gordon, then deputy dean of Yale College, recalled in an oral history published by the Yale Daily News in 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. “You heard it coming from the next courtyard over, and it was just magical. It was really incredibly comforting.” The sound cast a spell, channeling feeling, bolstering spirits, fostering a sense of community as listeners processed their individual response, Gordon recalls, noting that it was an early sign that the Yale community would pull together in the raw aftermath of a disorienting tragedy. Read More....