With the end of World War II, the newly implemented Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944. Commonly known as the “GI Bill,” this law transformed veterans’ education. Now, with the 
new Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, or Post 9/11 GI Bill, passed by Congress in December 2010, veterans and other military affiliated members have been attending schools across the country in record numbers.
Since 2017, West Chester University of Pennsylvania has received “Veteran Friendly” status, and there are over three hundred students utilizing veteran education benefits alone. Student veterans range in age and experience, from Pre-Vietnam era to post-9/11 recruits. However, like many veterans and military affiliated members, there is a disconnect between them and the “civilian world.”
The mission of the Rifles-To-Rams Student Veterans Archive is to bridge this disconnect. This project offers a place for student veterans to share stories about their service and their education, and to listen and be heard. We can all learn from these first-hand accounts and better understand what it means to serve.
About the Author
Alecc Costanzi is a veteran of the U.S. Army (2009-2012) and a West Chester University graduate with a Bachelors of Arts in English degree (May, 2019). Also minoring in digital humanities and creative writing, he served as President of the Student Veterans Group from 2018-2019. He started the “Rifles-To-Rams” project in his last year at West Chester to continue to bridge the gap between civilian and service member, in order to ease the transition process that all service members and their families face. He also hopes that, with the archive, students, faculty, and staff of the university can learn from their experiences, in order to better understand the world and history from those that lived it.
