Freshman Besides mountains and maybe pot, Ellensburg doesn’t share many similarities with Afghanistan. And other than plumes of smoke occupying the horizon, the ‘Burg doesn’t have much in common with Iraq either. In the same manner, military life and student life are worlds apart. For student-vets, the days of convoys and flak jackets are gone, replaced by commutes and backpacks. It’s not as easy as it sounds—especially in the beginning.
KJ Stilling “The first two years I was here was probably the hardest, worst, most upsetting, most depressing, saddest years in my experience here,” says KJ Stilling, a senior Public Health Education major. Originally from Camano Island, Stilling, 28, deployed twice to Iraq while in the Marines, once in 2004 and again in 2006. Today, he has a window office in the SURC where sits as ASCWU president. The position requires him to be something he once wasn’t: social.
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Peter O’Cain (US MC 2003-2007)