“The Beginning of Everything”: Broadening the Scope of Military Transitions in Higher Education

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Author(s): Buckley, J., Pifer, M. J., & Duffy, C.

Citation: Buckley, J., Pifer, M. J., & Duffy, C. (2025). “The Beginning of Everything”: Broadening the Scope of Military Transitions in Higher Education. Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 37(1), 71-87.

 

Abstract

This qualitative study, using the framework of legitimate peripheral participation, examines the ways in which learning experiences in Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs foster cadet transition to full participation for 20 cadets in one battalion. Although existing scholarship details the transitions of service members and veterans out of the military into higher education, this study provides complementary research to the understudied transition of cadets into the military through higher education. Findings showcase the ways in which activities, events, artifacts, culture, and relationships foster cadet transition and have implications for fostering transitions in other communities of practice in higher education, broadening contemporary understandings of military transitions in higher education, and reconceptualizing definitions of military-connected students.

 

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