Student Veterans join together

One organization on campus seeks to help student veterans adjust to the unfamiliar worlds of civilian and college life.

The Student Veteran Organization’s mission is to unite to assist veterans of all branches of the military in pursuit of a higher education at UNLV. 

Transitioning from combat to textbooks is tough for a lot of veterans, said Michael Dakduk the founding member and current president of SVO.

The engineering sophomore was born and raised in Las Vegas but after enlisting in the Marine Corps, being gone for four years and being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, the city did not feel like his home town anymore.

“I didn’t know anybody when I came back,” Dakduk said. “That in itself was difficult.”

Shortly after entering college, 23-year-old Dakduk sought that sense of belonging. He looked through the UNLV Web site and could not find any veteran organizations.  

He called his veterans certifying official, the person who allows student veterans to get their GI Bill benefits, and quickly learned that even though many veterans had made inquiries about a group, none existed.

“After I found out about the national organization Student Veterans of America, I said hey, let’s do it. Let’s get one started here,” he said.  

The Student Veterans of America is a coalition with chapters of student veteran organizations on campuses all over the nation.

Although UNLV SVO was established only a few months ago it has already been recognized as a chapter.   

SVO is still new but its objectives and its huge demographic will be driving it to the forefront.

“We as a university ought to be very proud of the founding members for putting forth effort and taking the initiative to do it,” said retired U.S. Army Major General Scott B. Smith, the executive director of the Institute for Security Studies at UNLV. 

Smith sits on the Nevada Veterans Services Commission. There he has learned that there is a vast number of veterans that currently reside in Nevada. “Around 200,000 people have served in the armed forces,” he said. “And the biggest single concentration of veterans is here at UNLV.”

There are approximately 500 student-veterans on campus. Only 30 are members of SVO. “We definitely want to try to reach out to all,” Dakduk said. 

With the help of UNLV student-veterans, Antonio Montenegro as vice president and Debra Cole as treasurer, Dakduk is more than determined to bring more members in. “To do so, we have to be visible and we have make SVO well-known,” Montenegro, 26, said.

Aside from helping student veterans reach educational goals, the organization wants to build a positive social atmosphere and feeling of camaraderie among members.

Political science and sociology double major, Ryan Sanshuck, 23, of the Army National Guard, admitted that camaraderie is what attracts him most to SVO.

“I tried pledging to a fraternity and I really did not have anything in common with any of those guys,” Sanshuck said.

“In SVO I can relate to fellow members more than pretty much anyone else walking around.”

For such a new organization, SVO has already had its fair share of achievements.

One is an important invitation to a Nevada Legislative Summit taking place Saturday at the East-Side Cannery. Every organization and veteran advocate is going to be there to discuss how budget cuts will affect student veterans. An invitation, Dakduk said, was big news for the organization.

With such a promising future, SVO would like to gain the support of as many students possible. “Our membership is extended to all students on campus that support the troops and support the veterans,” Dakduk said. “We’re in the process of developing, so we still need all the support we can get.”

For more information e-mail dakdukm@unlv.nevada.edu.