Four Student Veterans at Dartmouth Share Their Stories

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These portraits illustrate the range of experience and academic interests these new scholars bring to the College.

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In honor of Veterans Day, Dartmouth News spoke with some of the student veterans who bring a wide range of experiences to the College community.

Dartmouth has long had a commitment to recruiting and supporting student veterans, led by President Emeritus James Wright, a Marine Corps veteran. Wright was involved in the drafting of the new GI Bill, passed in 2009, and continues to be an advocate for veterans at Dartmouth.

In 2014, Dartmouth partnered with the Posse Veterans Program, an initiative of the Posse Foundation that provides full scholarship support to post-9/11 veterans who exemplify strong leadership and academic promise. Dartmouth’s first cohort of Posse students arrived in 2016 with the other members of the Class of ’20.

The College has a full schedule of events in recognition of Veterans Day, taking the opportunity to honor the student veterans at Dartmouth. These men and women are involved in scholarly and leadership roles across disciplines and programs.

Student Veteran Profiles

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(Photo by Robert Gill)

Brad Carney ’20

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Sgt. Brad Carney ’20 trains with the 160th Special Operations Aviation unit of the 3rd Ranger Battalion in Fort Knox, Ky.

Hometown: Dover, Del.

Dartmouth Major: Philosophy 

Military Service: E5-Sergeant, U.S. Army, 2007 to 2010, U.S. Army Rangers, 2012 to 2015

Deployment: Iraq; Fort Benning, Ga.

Brad Carney ’20 was a sergeant in the U.S. Army and served in Iraq before completing his tour in 2010. Two years later, he reenlisted as a Ranger, part of the Army’s elite special forces regiment. “I wanted to do something hard. Ranger Regiment is a place where you can find exactly that. I went back in saying I know I can do this and I did it,” he says. It was a similar determination that brought him to Dartmouth in 2016 with the first class admitted through the College’s partnership with the Posse Veterans Program. “I gained an appreciation for liberal arts through my military service, because you start to realize how precious life is. What seems important to me now is being happy and doing what you think will enable you to do what you want to do in the world,” Carney says. A philosophy major, he serves as president of the Student Veterans Association at Dartmouth, an organization dedicated to providing support and a welcoming community for veterans at the College. Some of the projects the veterans group has undertaken while Carney has been president are affiliating with the national Students Veterans of America, which offers resources to local chapters, and advocating for a dedicated space and staff for veterans on campus.

 

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(Photo by Robert Gill)

Keal Harter, Tuck ’18

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U.S. Navy Lt. Keal Harter, Tuck ’18, stands on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, where he served as an air wing target officer in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Hometown: Holland, Mich.

Dartmouth Major: Business administration, Tuck School of Business

Military Service: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, 2010 to 2016

Deployment: Two deployments to the Middle East, in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf

Keal Harter, Tuck ’18, worked as a congressional staff assistant in Washington, D.C., and earned a master’s degree in international relations at the London School of Business before receiving his commission as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He applied to the Tuck School of Business while on active duty as an air wing target officer aboard the USS Eisenhower. “Tuck has one of the most generous Yellow Ribbon (veterans’ scholarship) programs of any business school and is dedicated to demystifying the admissions process for veterans. The school itself puts a lot of resources into attracting veteran candidates,” he says. Harter, the student chair of Tuck’s Armed Forces Alumni Association, says that in addition to offering the MBA Military Visit Day and academic transition programs for veterans beginning business degrees, Tuck’s location and culture are very welcoming. “I think one of the things that drew me to Tuck is the small community. I wanted a school where my classmates would be invested in my success,” he says.

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(Photo by Robert Gill)

Taylor Mauney ’20

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U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Taylor Mauney ’20 leads a squad of infantry assaultmen in Musa Qala, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Hometown: Louisville, Ky.

Dartmouth Major: History

Military Service: Lance corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, 2009 to 2012; Midshipman U.S. Navy, 2012 to 2015

Deployment: Afghanistan; North Africa

Taylor Mauney ’20 served as a Marine infantry squad leader in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, where he suffered a traumatic brain injury in an explosion. He finished his active duty service as a midshipman in the Navy, and was working as a civilian in the Department of Homeland Security and taking classes at George Washington University and night classes at Northern Virginia Community College when he learned about the Posse Veterans Program, which brought him to Dartmouth. “Dartmouth definitely does everything it can to make it as smooth as it can be for us. They’re very willing to listen and make adjustments,” he says. Mauney, who is interested in attending law school after Dartmouth, is vice president of the Student Veterans Association at Dartmouth. He says SVAD is also working to support non-Posse veterans who are interested in Dartmouth. “The transfer vet program, which Dartmouth President Emeritus James Wright started, was the foundation for all this. Posse wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for those transfer vets coming here and building a community, so I hope that continues,” Mauney says.

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Carlos Tigreros, MALS ’18

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U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Carlos Tigreros, MALS ’18, stands beside the USS Emory Land, a submarine tender based in Guam. 

Hometown: Melrose Park, Ill.

Dartmouth Major: Master of Arts Liberal Studies, globalization studies

Military Service: Petty Officer Third Class, U.S. Navy, 2011 to 2016

Deployment: Persian Gulf and the South China Sea

Carlos Tigreros, MALS ’18, was deployed aboard the USS Emory S. Land in the South China Sea when he read Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific, by foreign policy scholar Robert Kaplan. The Land, one of the rare Navy vessels with a library on board, gave Tigreros an opportunity to indulge his curiosity about the wider political and historical forces that shape the world, he says. That path led him to Dartmouth, where he is researching the diplomacy and strategy of international relations in the South China Sea. “The MALS program is a great academic community that attracts all sorts of interests, and the program allows you to follow your curiosity and pursue the questions that inspire you by leveraging the resources that Dartmouth has,” he says. And Dartmouth had another distinction that drew him to the College, Tigreros says. “It was James Wright. As veterans, we’re not only looking for a world-class academic institution, we’re looking for the right academic community. When I started reading about the work of James Wright, it became clear to me that this is the type of school that not only says they support their veterans, but they do it through tangible actions,” he says of the former College president. Tigreros says his parents, who immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia, helped him appreciate the blessings Americans enjoy. It was this understanding that led him into the service, that motivated his study of diplomacy and international affairs at Dartmouth, and that led to an internship at the State Department, which he will begin after graduation.

Bill Platt