Academic Resilience: Experiences of Latino United States Army Active-Duty Soldiers and Veterans

Abstract

This critical ethnography evaluates Latino male active-duty soldiers' and veterans' experiences in higher education and the military setting through the lens of humanistic, psychosocial, and sociological perspectives with the purpose of finding out how these experiences contribute to their academic resilience. This study aims to answer questions about how internal and external resilience protective factors in the military and academic life contribute to the academic resilience of Latino military students, and evaluates if resilience can be taught in a military context. Through the lens of critical race theory (CRT) and the use of interviews with active-duty soldiers and veterans who attended 4-year institutions, the study looks for counter narratives emerging from their experiences to evaluate the patterns, practices, and policies of racial inequality that still exist in higher education and the U.S. Army that hinder the academic success of Latino military students. A total of 10 themes related to higher education, military life, and Latino culture emerged from the participants' experiences. Through the evaluation of these themes, the study found that being part of the U.S. Army may contribute to a higher level of academic resilience in military students, that resilience may be taught in a military context, and that racial inequality still exists in higher education and the U.S. Army that may hinder the academic success of Latino active-duty soldiers and veterans. In the future, higher education institutions and the U.S. military should collaborate to strengthen the soldiers' support system with the purpose of implementing best practices to help military students succeed academically.