The Veterans

Less than 1 percent of the U.S. population has volunteered to serve in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks in part to a small but firmly rooted ROTC program at the College, at least 48 Dartmouth alumni are among them. Unlike many members of the so-called Greatest Generation (the majority of whom were drafted), these modern veterans willingly chose to put aside potentially lucrative careers to don uniforms, enter into a chain of command and head off to fight abroad. This issue explores, in their own words, why some of our best and brightest made that choice, what they learned while deployed and how their return to civilian life has been tempered by military experience. Their accounts provide a seldom-seen perspective on warfare, one filtered through the lens of the liberal arts, the Ivy League, the College on the Hill. Regardless of politics, these veterans served for their country, and they served for themselves. "I don't consider myself a door kicker out of Apocalypse Now," says Army Capt. Jon Vaccaro '06, who served in Afghanistan in 2009. "People have problems with the way we've gone into these wars, but it didn't matter to me whether I agreed with that or not. I felt I could influence my own little bubble, which was better than sitting at home not doing that." The stories that follow demonstrate that Dartmouth's newest veterans are indeed the few—and the proud. FROM COLLEGE TO COMBAT AN INDEX TO ALUMNI VETERANS IN THIS ISSUE ALAN BROWN '70 P. 39 JIM BULLION '78 P. 48 BURKE WHITMAN '78 P. 46 TED COOPERSTEIN '84 P. 49 RICH OUTZEN '89 P. 35 SCOTT JEFFRESS '90* P. 46 NEIL PUTNAM'90* P. 34 JOHN WILLIAMSON '90 P. 36 JON KUNIHOLM '93 P. 50 JAMIE KNIES '94 P. 38 KEVIN MCCART '97* P. 37 JON HEAVEY '98 P. 62 KYLE TEAMEY '98* P. 26 BRAD DAVIS '99 P. 32 ERIC ECKBERG '99 P. 68 NATHANIEL FICK '99 P. 20 MARK HILL JR. '00 P. 41 JEREMY JOSEPH '00 P. 66 DAVID MULLIKEN '00 P. 57 JOSEPH SCOTT '00 P. 38 CHANCE HILL '01 P. 57 MIKE BREEN '02* P. 40 KEVIN REAVEY '02 P. 47 DAN BROWN '03 P. 43 JOHN CRAVEN '03 P. 40 MELISSA HAMMERLE '03* P. 32 WES LIPPMAN '03 P. 31 DECLAN LYNCH '03* P. 44 ROLLO BEGLEY '04* P. 42 JAMIE ERMARTH '04* P. 44 PETE LILLY '04* P. 36 WELTON CHANG '05* P. 42 PHIL KLAY '05 P. 58 MIKE LAURIA '05 P. 48 NICK MANNERS '05* P. 71 MATTHEW MCKNIGHT '05* P. 36 LIZ (HUNT) REID '05* P. 69 COLIN BARRY '06* P. 38 ANTHONY BRAMANTE '06 P. 70 SCOTT GLABE '06 P. 56 RAPHAEL CLARKE '06 P. 34 JASON HARTWIG '06 P. 45 JON VACCARO '06 P. 30 BRAD WOLCOTT '06 P. 67 JASON BLYDELL '08 P. 33 CHRIS FARMER '08 P. 44 CHRIS KOPPEL '09 P. 42 PHILIP BACK '10 P. 32 Also appears on pages 56-57