Veterans at PSU

In recognition of Veterans Day, the Vanguard would like to call attention to a few of the nearly 1,000 student veterans currently enrolled at Portland State.

The history of our university is unequivocally tethered to veteran’s affairs. After all, the very beginning of our school—the 1946 Vanport extension—was a response to huge numbers of soldiers returning from World War II battlefields and an effort to provide those soldiers with academic opportunities.

The following is a presentation of five student veterans and their stories.

Aaron Finley
Age: 30
Hometown: Midwest City, Okla.
Branch of military: Army Ranger and Air Force
Years served: 12
Studying: General sciences

Aaron Finley will graduate from PSU with a bachelor’s degree in general sciences at the end of this term. He is moving on to the University of Washington to study in their Medex program and plans become a physician’s assistant.

Finley grew up in Midwest City and in 1999, much to his parents’ confusion, joined the Army Rangers out of high school.

“I knew at the time,” Finley said, “that I had too much energy for college or life in a small town.”

The Rangers are the U.S. Army’s premier special-forces division. They are a light infantry unit that is deployed to pursue high-value targets, or HVTs. Rangers are trained to land, raid, pursue a target and evacuate the area quickly.

As a Ranger, Finley was stationed at Fort Lewis outside of Tacoma, Wash. Finley was later deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Finley is not at liberty to discuss many of the missions he helped carry out, but he did confirm that he was on the highly publicized mission to rescue Private First Class Jessica Lynch. Though the Rangers on that mission all returned safely, Finley confided that they all thought they were going to die that night.

While serving as an Army Ranger in Iraq, Finley met some members of the Air Force Pararescue’s 304th Rescue Squadron. “I was mesmerized by the idea of jumping out of planes and helicopters to save lives, not take them,” he said.

Once he left the Rangers, Finley began cross-training to join the Air Force Pararescue.

Pararescuemen—PJs, they are called—are a unique breed. PJs are EMT-paramedics, but they are also freefall-qualified, static-line parachute-qualified and special forces scuba-qualified. Of all special forces divisions, PJs alone hold these qualifications for rescue only. They are devoted to recovery and medical treatment of all personnel—“We’ll fly on anyone,” Finley said—in humanitarian and combat environments.

“I’m proud of being a Ranger. I’m even more proud of being a PJ,” Finley said.

Finley has been a reservist with the PJs for his entire career at PSU. The schedule of a reservist has been tough, at times, to balance with the obligations of a being a student. He has even had to put his studies on hold in order to return to Iraq and Afghanistan.

He doesn’t balk, though.

“It’s fun,” Finley said. “I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t fun.”

Daryl Groom
Age: 33
Hometown: Spokane, Wash.
Branch of military: Army Ranger and Air Force
Years served: 5
Studied: Social sciences and criminology

Daryl Groom said that higher education was always part of his plan. His two years at community college after high school, though, proved to him that he wasn’t in the right mindset then. So he joined the Army Rangers in 1999.

In 2004, Groom left the Rangers and began contracting with Blackwater.

The transition to contracting was easy for Groom. The key difference is that Ranger training is more aimed at offensive maneuvers. Private security contractors are trained to protect personnel while retreating. Therefore, their training is more focused on defense.

Blackwater received a lot of media attention in 2007 after some of their security employees killed 17 Iraqi civilians. Incidents like these have tarnished the organization’s reputation, but Groom doesn’t think that the action adequately represent the whole organization.

Groom reports having had positive experiences contracting with Blackwater. “The company is capable of doing good,” he said. Its shorter chain of command allows Blackwater to respond more quickly to distress calls, according to Groom. At Blackwater, Groom said, “the communication center is in direct contact with the rescue teams.”

On the ground, Groom felt more secure as a contractor than he did as a Ranger, knowing that he could always count on a timely rescue should the need arise. He believes that Blackwater’s flexibility and speed are responsible for saving lives.

Groom graduated from PSU in August with a bachelor’s degree in social science and a minor in criminology, and he has been hired by the State Department, where he will work in diplomatic security.

Groom also recently enlisted with the Air Force Reserves. He intends to join the PJs, though budget cuts have complicated the Pararescue training pipeline.

Soldiering, Groom said, helped him become a better student. The lessons in time-management and self-discipline that he has learned as a soldier have been critical to his success at school.

Cory Mimms
Age: 28
Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz.
Branch of Military: Air Force
Years Served: 6
Studying: Publishing and writing

Cory Mimms joined the military to access opportunities and experiences he would otherwise be unable to obtain.

“I was going to school at a community college and working full time when I enlisted,” he said. “I was tired of barely scraping by. I also wanted the opportunity to travel.”

Mimms got just that. During his time in the Air Force, Mimms lived in Japan and Korea and visited Thailand and Guam, as well as a large portion of the United States.

Mimms said that his time in the military taught him how to organize his existence. “I learned how to structure my life,” he said. “I learned to separate my professional and personal lives and maintain a certain amount of objectivity in all situations.”

Mimms said that in his experience, most people he met in the military had enlisted not because of their political views or because they felt an overwhelming need to serve their country, but because of the education benefits, the opportunity for a decent-paying job and the chance to get out of a small town.

When asked about the importance of Veterans Day, Mimms said that he does not believe setting aside a specific day is necessary. He believes that people should support those people serving regardless of individual political agendas.

“Veterans Day only propagates nationalism, which promotes exclusivity,” Mimms said.

Mimms received an undergraduate degree in arts and letters from PSU earlier this year. He is now working toward his graduate degree in publishing and writing. Mimms decided to come to PSU to get a solid education, to be close to family and to be a part of a city that he enjoys living in.

Sydney Reader
Age: 27
Hometown: Portland
Branch of Military: Navy
Years Served: 6
PSU Major: Environmental engineering

Sydney Reader was a 19-year-old student at Southern Oregon University when she decided to enlist in the navy. She had run out of money, wasn’t sure what she wanted to study and thought she should do something more with her life. Having previously worked with AmeriCorps in Ashland, national service felt like a natural choice.

Reader said that her time in the Navy not only gave her monetary benefits to continue her education, but that the intense training she went through helped her learn how to study more effectively. Her service also greatly improved her feelings of self-confidence.

Reader said that although she initially had mixed emotions about her decision to join the Navy, she can see that it was a positive experience. “Deployment every year was hard, and the four years on ship were tough, but I can say now that it was a great decision,” she said.

Because her parents are from the Portland area, Readerhad always been aware of PSU. She initially looked at attending Oregon State but decided that the student demographics at Portland State were more appealing, as she herself would be entering the university as a non-traditional student.

After she graduates from PSU, Reader hopes to use her environmental engineering degree to work in restoration or water quality fields.

Reader said that she believes setting aside a day to honor Veterans and those involved in military service is an important thing to do. “It would be nice to be recognized,” she said. “I did give up half of my 20s to protect other peoples’ freedom.”

Jason Goddard
Age: 34
Hometown: Dallas, Ore.
Branch of Military: Army
Years Served: 4
Studying: Communication

After high school, Jason Goddard knew that he wasn’t ready for college, but he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. His father was a police officer and the idea of service was something that resonated with Goddard. At age 20, he enlisted in the army as a way to do something worthwhile and get out of his tiny hometown.

Goddard went through rigorous training to be part of a special forces unit, during which he was physically and mentally broken. “I threw myself into the challenge,” Goddard said.

Although he never saw combat—a circumstance he is now thankful for—Goddard believes his time in the military was well-spent. “The army taught me that when you think you can’t accomplish something, you can,” he said. “Never give up.”

When asked about the importance of Veterans Day, Goddard responded: “People who serve their country should be respected. It’s an honorable thing to do; it’s not an easy thing to do.” But he also noted that veterans often bear a stigma due to the political positions taken by the military’s top tier officials.

“I fell into this education because of a poor economy,” Goddard said. After he was laid off from a job on the waterfront, he decided to put his spare time and VA benefits to good use.

Goddard was attracted to PSU’s older student population and has been studying communication. He plans to get a master’s degree in clinical counseling from George Fox University and to continue serving the country by becoming an officer in the National Guard.

“I have no regrets,” Goddard said. “The benefits that I have received have been making my world go round.”

Authors:
Katrina Petrovich
Benjamin Ricker