On Nov. 11, the Dickey Center for International Understanding hosted an event titled “Continuing Service: Navigating Leadership and Mission after Military Service” in honor of Veterans Day. The event — held in Haldeman Hall and attended by approximately 30 community members — featured a panel of four members of the military community at Dartmouth, who spoke about their experiences in military leadership roles and their transitions from military service to civilian life.
The event was moderated by Information, Technology and Consulting network engineer Jason Mosel, who served in the United States Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007 and was deployed in Iraq and Japan. Mosel was joined by Jackson Donavon ’25, assistant dean of undergraduate student veterans Morgan Ogreen and Brooke VanRosendael Tu’26.
Donavon served 12 years as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Army Reserve in Afghanistan and Poland, and Ogreen spent 10 years in active duty as a pilot in the U.S. Navy and now serves as a Navy reservist. VanRosendael has served eight years in the Army Reserve, currently holding the position of company commander at Fort Liberty in Fayetteville, N.C.
Donavon, Ogreen and VanRosendael attributed their decisions to serve in the military to family members who had served before them.
“My older brother … also went through the Naval Academy … and I looked up to him my entire life,” Ogreen said. “I watched him for two years just become this absolute awesome individual … [which] inspired me to continue that call to service.”
VanRosendael, who was raised in a military family, said her decision was also influenced by dissatisfaction with her corporate internships as an undergraduate at Suffolk University.
“I just was really burnt out, and I felt like there was more out there for me and I wanted to do something where I could get a sense of fulfillment,” she said.
The conversation then shifted to how the panelists acquired leadership skills through their service. Donavon said the Army “does a great job of building leaders” because recruits are “taught how to be a leader” from “the moment [they are] in.”
VanRosendael said one of the “tangible benefits” of her experience in the military was the development of her leadership skills.
“I was a very timid, quiet leader beforehand, and now I’m very much willing to stand up and set the record straight, and I think that’s very important in any setting,” VanRosendael said.
Ogreen added that being responsible for everyone aboard an aircraft taught her how to use leadership skills that she had developed prior to joining the military.
“I think also going through my aviation pipeline and having to be in charge of a helicopter and being entrusted [with] the lives of everyone … really taught me a lot about what to do with that drive [to lead others] that I had,” Ogreen said.
The panelists also discussed the ways in which their military identities have impacted their experiences at Dartmouth. Ogreen noted that the skills she acquired through military experience have bolstered her work at the College.
“I think [that my military experience] really helped me in my role in the dean’s office of being able to work and advise individual students and really meet them where they’re at,” Ogreen said.
Donavon said he is “just trying to be another student” at Dartmouth, though he also works with the admissions office to encourage more veterans to attend the College.
“I want more veterans to come to Dartmouth specifically, not just higher ed[ucation in general],” he said. “That’s something we have to get our admissions and financial aid [offices] on board with.”
Donavon said he believes that compared to “peer institutions,” veterans at Dartmouth are better able to integrate into the greater campus community while also remaining close to each other. In contrast, veterans on other campuses are “very tight-knit” and “don’t interact a lot with the rest of campus,” he said.
During the Q&A portion of the event, audience members asked the panelists about their experiences transitioning out of the military.
Ogreen said she had always planned to leave active duty once she started a family, but the transition was still “scary” because “all [she] knew was flying helicopters and leading sailors and deploying.”
“Then I was about to walk away from [military service], thinking that was something I always wanted to do,” Ogreen said. “But then I was like, ‘Well, I don’t have a job yet, and I need to figure out how to do civilian life.’”
Mosel said leaving the Marines and returning home was the “loneliest” feeling because few members of the general population have served in the military.
“When you come back, you are an outcast,” Mosel said. “You have no one to talk to anymore, [and] it’s a very, very scary transition.”
Veteran Elias Morley ’27 said he attended the event to hear about the experiences of other veterans. He added that being a veteran has “definitely” impacted his Dartmouth experience.
“You’re an older student, you have different priorities … [you’re] living off campus [and] finding community in more non-traditional groups within Dartmouth,” he said. “My biggest community is the veteran group here. It’s people with the most similar experiences to my own.”
Angel Mojica ’28 said he came to the event to learn more about Veterans Day as an international student.
“Coming from the Dominican Republic, we don’t have [a] sense of veterans,” he said. “Attending this event [helped me] get a better sense of what a veteran is and how their service impacts their lives.”
Mojica added that he was interested to learn how the veterans’ military experience translated to their lives after military service.
“It’s super important how the veterans translate their experiences in the army into their civilian lives here at Dartmouth to contribute … as students or MBA students,” Mojica said.
Correction Appended (Nov. 14, 12:05 p.m.): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the event was hosted by the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy. While the Rockefeller Center helped with event outreach, the event was hosted by the Dickey Center for International Understanding. The headline and body of the article have been corrected.
