Decorated war hero returns to Princeton U. for graduate degree

Our guest for this #MilitaryMonday was decorated war veteran US Army Major Mike Kelvington.

Mike's story is nothing short of amazing. Mike is an Ohio native who graduated West Point in 2005. Since Mike has been in the Army, he has been deployed seven times, 6 to Afghanistan and 1 deployment to Iraq. The Army Ranger has received the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and TWO Purple Heart Medals for wounds that he sustained in combat.

Since Mike has returned, he is currently enrolled at Princeton University, pursuing a master's degree at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs. Mike will be graduating and returning to duty with the Army later this year.

I asked Mike how he is received on campus by college students. "I think overwhelmingly the experience has been positive." Mike went on to say that there are only about 15 active military or veterans on campus at the current time. These active members and veterans go out of their way to bridge the gap between themselves and the other students. Mike mentioned that the gap of students that don't understand the military, not out of ignorance, but because such a small percentage of U.S. citizens are members of the military that were deployed to either Afghanistan or Iraq.

A special thanks to my colleague Allison Gormly at Chasing News for putting this interview together.