John Hollis

Mason alumnus Michael A. Bills reflects on his 42-year career in the U.S. Army

John Hollis — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 10:30:00 +0000

Mason alumnus Michael A. Bills reflects on his 42-year career in the U.S. Army John Hollis Tue, 11/10/2020 - 05:30

Scholarship helps Mason veteran realize his dream to serve America

John Hollis — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 10:30:00 +0000

Scholarship helps Mason veteran realize his dream to serve America John Hollis Tue, 11/10/2020 - 05:30

First-year graduate student Michael Manges continues to serve with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard while going to school and working full-time. Photo provided.

A strong sense of duty is what led Michael Manges to George Mason University, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship is helping him realize his dream.

A first-year graduate student in the international security program within the Schar School of Policy and Government who also works full time, Manges is one of 158 veterans and active-duty service members awarded a Help A Hero Scholarship this semester. The scholarship is funded through donations collected annually during the Help A Hero campaign at Sport Clips Haircuts locations around the country and has provided 1,750 scholarships totaling $8 million since 2014.

“I didn’t expect to get it when I first applied,” said Manges, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown last spring with a degree in political science and geography. “It’s just been fantastic. That financial stability has been really crucial for me.”

Manges, 23, grew up in Central City, Pennsylvania, which is just a few minutes from the site where ill-fated United Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, killing all passengers on board after they resisted terrorists who had hijacked their plane. Growing up there instilled strong feelings in Manges about the importance of protecting the nation.

One weekend a month and two weeks out of the summer didn’t seem like much to ask in return for his education, so Manges joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard after he graduated from high school. He spent a year deployed to Jordan from 2016-17 and has been activated in 2020 along with several other members of his unit to help in COVID-19 relief operations.

But his dream of ultimately serving his country in the intelligence or federal law enforcement fields never wavered. Mason’s international security master’s degree program and proximity to Washington, D.C., made it the right choice for him.

“I wanted to find something that would benefit me or my career path,” Manges said. “The Schar School really stood out when looking at programs.”

In addition to taking three classes while fulfilling his National Guard commitments, he’s also working full-time as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Army and contractor for the Department of Justice.

Now a sergeant, Manges recently signed up for another six-year stint with the National Guard.

“I think things have been going really well,” he said. “It’s been a pretty good experience, and I’m enjoying it. I’m making the best I can of going to school, working full-time and fulfilling my National Guard commitment.”

Mason student groups make care packages in honor of Veterans Day

Damian Cristodero — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 21:34:21 +0000

Mason student groups make care packages in honor of Veterans Day Damian Cristodero Mon, 11/12/2018 - 16:34

Members of the Mason community put together nearly 300 care packages for wounded veterans at the Intrepid Center Community Hospital on Fort Belvoir. Photo by Lathan Goumas.

A coalition of George Mason University student organizations came together on Saturday afternoon to make care packages as a show of appreciation for America’s wounded combat veterans.

About 100 people took part in the “Celebrating Veterans Day” event in the Johnson Center Atrium, including representatives of Student Government, cadets from Mason’s ROTC detachment and Mason Veteran Patriots, a chapter of the Student Veterans of America. They collectively assembled nearly 300 bags for wounded combat veterans at the Intrepid Center Community Hospital on Fort Belvoir.

“The veterans give so much to maintain the freedoms we enjoy and make so many sacrifices for us,” said Jasper Swann, a sophomore government major and ROTC cadet who is a member of the Student Senate. “I think it’s good that we take a little time to give back, especially to the wounded veterans.”

Actor David Boreanaz had originally been slated to attend the event, but he had to cancel because a raging wildfire displaced the star of the hit CBS drama “Seal Team” and his family from their Los Angeles-area home. Boreanaz instead sent a video thanking veterans for their service.

His absence didn’t temper the day’s enthusiasm as Jared Lyon, the president and CEO of Student Veterans of America, praised veterans for their contributions across college campuses all over America.

Senior ROTC cadet Jared Aylward said that he couldn’t have picked a better way to spend his afternoon.

“Our service men and women are totally comprised of volunteers,” he said. “We ask them to put themselves in harm’s way, and some of them suffer wounds because of it.”

Two Mason graduate students named Pat Tillman Scholars

Damian Cristodero — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 09:30:00 +0000

Two Mason graduate students named Pat Tillman Scholars Damian Cristodero Mon, 07/30/2018 - 05:30

Melissa Swensen

One is a survivor of war in Iraq, now driven by a deep love for America, the other a military wife and mother of five who seeks to improve the lives of injured U.S. service members.

George Mason University graduate students Ali Nayyef and Melissa Swensen are part of the 2018 class of Pat Tillman Scholars, named in honor of the former NFL star who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 while serving with the U.S. Army Rangers.

The two are among the 60 recipients chosen by the Chicago-based Pat Tillman Foundation from among thousands of applicants. The scholarship awards of roughly $10,000 are reserved for military veterans and their spouses and are used for tuition and fees, books and living expenses.

Scholarship recipients are selected for their strength of character, academic excellence and potential, according to the foundation website. Award recipients are expected to apply the best lessons they’ve learned in life and the military to positively impact America in the fields of medicine, business, law, science, education and the arts.

Mark J. Rozell, the dean of Mason’s Schar School of Policy and Government, said that Nayyef and Swensen are the kinds of extraordinary students who help make the university special.

“Mason honors those who serve the nation and is very is proud that our students are recipients of the prestigious Tillman Scholarship,” Rozell said.

Nayyef, who is pursuing a master’s degree in political science at the Schar School after earning his bachelor’s at Christopher Newport University, came to the United States in 2010 following the death of his father at the hands of Al Qaeda in their native Iraq. His father had served as an interpreter alongside U.S. military forces in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of 2003.

“I can apply the lessons I have learned at war and as a refugee, along with my passion for studying international relations, to address many of the security challenges the United States and the world continues to face,” Nayyef said.

All Nayyef

Shortly after the family’s arrival in the United States, Nayyef’s sister, who had also worked as an interpreter for U.S. forces, enlisted in the U.S. Army and served three years on active duty. Nayyef followed suit and enlisted in the Virginia Army National Guard following his own graduation from high school in 2014, and continues to serve as an infantryman.

“Every day I get to wake up and live the American dream because of the bravery of the men and women who came before me,” he said. “I intend on honoring them and this country by living up to my full potential and to give back not only as a soldier, but as a scholar.”

Swensen, who is married to an Air Force major, is working on a doctor of nursing practice in psychiatric mental health in Mason’s School of Nursing after earning a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. She credits her experiences working and teaching within the military community for her passion for the well-being of service members.

Yet it was her own experience as a patient that opened her eyes to what injured service members endure. Swensen was halfway through her fifth pregnancy when she was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia and medically evacuated from Germany aboard a C-17 transport also carrying service members who had been severely wounded in combat.

Spending several weeks at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., among the wounded warriors opened her eyes to the physical wounds they suffered, as well as the ones that went unseen.

“The physical wounds heal,” Swensen said. “It’s the emotional wounds they really have a difficult time working through.”

She hopes to focus her education and research on evidence-based treatments in healing both mental and emotional trauma.

“I think it’s really important,” Swensen said. “The military community needs good people who get it.”

Marine combat veteran is part of Mason’s first cyber security engineering graduating class

Melanie Balog — Thu, 17 May 2018 16:03:49 +0000

Marine combat veteran is part of Mason’s first cyber security engineering graduating class Melanie Balog Thu, 05/17/2018 - 12:03

Matt Wilkes (left), U.S. Marine veteran and Mason student who is speaking at Volgenau School of Engineering’s degree celebration, is shown with his family: children Madison, McKinley and Tyler, and his wife Nicole Wilkes. Photo provided.

George Mason University’s Matt Wilkes is at the end of a mentally and physically challenging journey.

The 39-year-old graduation speaker from the Volgenau School of Engineering’s inaugural Cyber Security Engineering class has spent the past three years balancing full-time school, a family and part-time jobs.

It’s hardly been easy, but it beats getting shot at it or nearly killed by incoming mortar rounds exploding all around you, which he experienced during three combat tours during a 12-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps that preceded his arrival at Mason.

And he’s persevered to tell about both.

“It’s always about hard work and dedication,” said Wilkes, who rose to the rank of sergeant before leaving the service. “What I learned in the Marine Corps is that you have a job, and you’re going to do your job. No matter how hard it is, it’s your responsibility.”

Wilkes enlisted following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and was on the ground for the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003. He added another tour in Iraq three years later in Ramadi before a final deployment to Afghanistan in 2010.

He was asleep in his vehicle one night during his first deployment when the sound of enemy mortars exploding around him jarred him from his sleep. When he jumped out of the vehicle, Wilkes twisted both ankles as he fell and was unable to find either his weapon or flak jacket. He crawled to a nearby foxhole, only to discover there was no available space as enemy shells continued to rain down all around him. Wilkes somehow emerged unscathed.

“It was by the grace of God that I survived,” he said.

After moving to Northern Virginia with his wife and their three children, Wilkes enrolled at Mason in spring 2015 to fulfill a promise to his late mother that he would get his degree. On the first day of classes, he quickly noticed how much things had changed when he pulled out a few notebooks in anticipation of taking notes, only to watch his younger and more technologically savvy classmates all whip out their laptops instead.

“When I first came here, I knew nothing about computers,” Wilkes said. “I could turn a computer on and off. I could surf the web, but I didn’t know any of the stuff that was involved with it.”

Determined to succeed, Wilkes threw himself into his studies with the same aplomb he brought to his service in the Marine Corps. Three active children at home meant staying up late to complete assignments and arriving on campus at 5 a.m. to study for a few hours before class. After school, he would help ferry his children to their various activities such as travel soccer and spend time with his wife.

The journey hasn’t been easy. Nicole Wilkes, his dedicated wife of 13 years, has held down three jobs while her husband has been a full-time student picking up odd jobs when he could to help make ends meet.

Wilkes admits that he was often exhausted and wondered at times if he’d make it through. He recalled similar excruciating mental and physical fatigue during the 13 grueling weeks he spent at boot camp at Parris Island.

“Every day, you had to push yourself at boot camp to make it one more day,” Wilkes recalled. “So you take it week by week, semester by semester just like boot camp.”

Peggy Brouse, the professor for Systems Engineering and Operations Research and the director of Mason’s Cyber Security Engineering Undergraduate Program, comes from a family steeped in military service and was impressed with the tenacity and strength she saw in Wilkes.

“Matt has just been amazing,” Brouse said. “He’s overcome a lot of things veterans go through and he’s been dealing with things that other students don’t have to deal with.”

Matt Wilkes, 39, has served three combat tours: two in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, where this photo was taken in 2010. Provided photo.

Wilkes quickly got his feet under him in the nation’s first degree program dedicated to the global threat of cyber-terrorism. He graduates with a 3.89 GPA and was one of just two students to receive the program’s Distinguished Achievement Award.

His degree work focused on safeguarding existing financial networks, utility systems and lines of communications and building resilient new ones.

Wilkes hopes his story can serve as a testament to others that anything is possible.

“I hope they can look at me,” he said, “and say, ‘If he can do it after all he’s been through, then I can definitely do it as well.’"

Honoring, helping veterans with the ‘Coming Home’ project

Melanie Balog — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 21:46:43 +0000

Honoring, helping veterans with the ‘Coming Home’ project Melanie Balog Wed, 11/29/2017 - 16:46

Caroline Johnson took part in the 'Coming Home' project and is now training to become a moderator for the project. Photo courtesy of Caroline Johnson.

Helping those who served in the armed forces learn to freely express their feelings is the goal of the “Coming Home” project, directed by George Mason University’s Jesse Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick, the assistant director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy within George Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said it’s “immensely gratifying” to be able to provide military veterans the opportunity to explore the moral, psychological and spiritual impacts of the conflicts in which they have engaged through the use of the humanities.

“It’s the least I can do to give back to the 1 percent who do serve,” said Kirkpatrick, who co-directs the project with Edward T. Barrett, the director of research at the U.S. Naval Academy’s Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership.

Using sources in philosophy, history, poetry and literature as a backdrop, the program allows combat veterans to come together for two days to talk about what they have read prior to assembling. The readings, which focus on World War I and the more recent U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, have proven cathartic for veterans previously unable or unwilling to openly speak about their own similar experiences endured in combat.

A trained group of facilitators directs each conversation.

“The point is to allow people to share their experiences however they do it best,” Kirkpatrick said.

Ian Fishback, who served four combat tours in rising to the rank of major in the U.S. Army, admitted to being a little unsure when first talking with Kirkpatrick about the program a few years ago, but has quickly bought in. He now helps train dialogue leaders.

“It’s good to get together with like-minded folks with similar experiences,” he said.

Caroline Johnson was a Weapons Systems Officer serving in the backseat of a Navy F/A-18 when she became the first woman to employ weapons against ISIS in 2014. She was one of just three female flyers aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier that housed roughly 5,000 sailors when she took part in the initial U.S. military strikes into Syria.

Now teaching at her alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy, Johnson admitted to grappling with feelings of abandonment after coming home following the intense camaraderie of war.

She had no idea what to expect after a colleague initially told her about the “Coming Home” project, but has been thrilled hearing so many diverse experiences.

“It’s been so enlightening,” said Johnson, who is now training to serve as one of the project’s moderators. “I’m so pumped to be a part of it. I’ve never really been a poetry person. I’ve always been very literal, but I’ve been struck by the poetry about these war experiences. It’s all been so poignant and I see so much value in it.”

That’s just the point, said Kirkpatrick, who hopes to expand the “Coming Home” endeavor.

The project, which is funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is still accepting applications to participate in the dialogues at cominghomedialogues.com/register.