Veteran journeys back to civilian life

Juan Rosario has only been out of the military for three months, but he can already feel the stress of adjusting to everyday life.

While he was never deployed in active combat, Mr. Rosario spent five and a half years in the Air Force, at bases in Ohio and Texas. He said that during his service, he had to develop a whole new sense of himself.

“The military takes your identity — and I’m not saying that in a bad way — they just teach you to be a whole new person,” he said. “There are rules for everything, from how to properly send an email to how to do your actual job.”

Mr. Rosario is now a student at Manhattan College, receiving funding from the GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon program, which allows him to attend college nearly for free. He is majoring in philosophy, with minors in religious studies and chemistry.

“I didn’t realize how hard it would be to come back to school,” said Mr. Rosario, who is still on inactive duty. “The military is very structured and out here, everything is chaos and you have to learn to do everything on your own.”

Mr. Rosario said he joined the military to follow in the footsteps of his brother, a Marine, but that he also did it to help support his family in New York City.

“My mom is disabled so I have to help out at home and I have to work. And everybody has something like that, that we need to deal with at home,” he said. “Those are things that traditional students don’t always have to deal with.”

Mr. Rosario’s experience is typical for many veterans, whether or not they have seen combat. At Manhattan College, a group of veteran students and concerned professors formed a program called Veterans at Ease, which helps students who have served in the military learn to deal with stress through meditation and yoga.

“The school takes us to the Bahamas and we learn about yoga and meditation and all that good stuff,” he said. “It really helped me and a lot of other veterans that I know.”

Thomas Mullen understands that helping veterans adjust to everyday life is an important part of coming home from the military. As the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 95, at 3960 Orloff Ave., he gets to do just that.

“This is a safe haven. Everyone knows that everyone has been through some kind of experience before. If they want to talk about it, they can talk about it. If not, they just kind of hang out, watch some sports,” he said. “We help guys get back, we help them transition and get things like [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs] claims like, ‘Hey, you got hurt and you’re getting pushed around by the VA,’ or you need help with some paperwork.’”

In addition to helping run the bar and reception hall, Mr. Mullen said that he spends much of his time driving older veterans to doctors’ appointments. 

Mr. Rosario, said he is spending most of his time on inactive duty trying to reconnect with his own identity.

“I want to be Juan Rosario again and want to begin to leave Airman Rosario behind,” he said. “That will always be a part of me, but now I want Juan Rosario to be the majority of who I am.”