GREG KAHLE, CLASS OF 2019 

I served in the United States Army as a Military Police Patrolman from 2012 to 2017. During my time, I was stationed at USAG Schweinfurt, Germany and Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. 

Since joining at 18 years of age, I gained knowledge and maturity, as well as, developed the professional skillset that has molded me into the individual that I am today.

While serving on active duty, I worked law enforcement which included the same trials and tasks as civilian law enforcement. When I joined, and for the majority of my contract, I did not ever view college as a proper option for me. I always viewed my future as working in the law enforcement/corrections field long after my Army time was over. I guess I had really not put a lot of thought into my future.

Even after deciding to go to college during my last few months of active duty I still hadn’t made a concrete decision on what I wanted to do with my life. It wasn’t until having a long talk with a family member that I decided business was the route I wanted to take.

After separating from active duty in July of 2017, I enrolled as a student at St. Bonaventure University to pursue a degree in business management. Having spent the majority of my adult life in the military setting, transitioning into the freshman college student lifestyle was challenging. Moving away from the disciplined and regimented lifestyle that I had grown accustomed to was a hard task to overcome.

The Student Veteran program here at Bona’s was so useful in my transition. I was able to meet and learn from other veterans in a healthy environment. I was able to seek guidance where I needed it, from mature mentors, while still being treated like an adult and not a typical college freshman. Being able to pull knowledge from so many around me while in school, I was able to put together a bigger and better plan for my future endeavors.

The attitude toward veterans here at St. Bonaventure is so positive and helpful that it has made a huge impact on my life. It makes me want to continue this impact toward future veterans. That is the main reason I have involved myself with this pilgrimage, to put in the work now that will benefit those in the future. This opportunity will also allow me to become more involved with the veteran community in this area and perhaps be of some assistance to those who need it.

I plan on staying at St. Bonaventure University for the next three years and continuing this development within the student veteran program to build a greater future. I hope that what we do here at school can change the future to be even more beneficial to student veterans.