In honor of Veterans Day on Nov. 11, The Citadel is featuring some of the college’s outstanding veteran students representing different branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

There are more than 330 veterans and active-duty students currently studying at The Citadel as either undergraduate or graduate students. They can take classes as day students alongside the Corps of Cadets, evening students with other non-cadet students or online. The Citadel’s Veteran Student Success Center also offers resources to these students to ensure they have an easy transition and excel here.

Named #1 Best College for Veterans in the South for seven consecutive years, the Military College of South Carolina is honored to help our nation’s heroes advance their education.

Q&A with Troy Dion, Class of 2025

Troy Dion is a veteran undergraduate student at The Citadel majoring in Secondary Education with a second major in Political Science. After serving in the U.S. Air Force for two decades, Dion returned to The Citadel to earn his degree, which he says is keeping a promise he made to himself 35 years ago.

At what rank did you leave the military? How long did you serve? What was your time in the military like?

I was a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, and I served for 20 years on active duty retiring in 2012.

Did you come to The Citadel immediately after retiring, or do something else in between? Are you currently working now?

It’s funny, I actually planned to come to The Citadel in the fall of 2012 and had been accepted. A strange twist of fate led me to owning a restaurant here in the Lowcountry, so school was put on hold! I sold the restaurant two years ago and restarted the plan to attend The Citadel.

What are you studying at The Citadel? When do you expect to graduate, and what do you want to do after?

I expect to graduate in spring of 2025. I’m trying to stay as long as I can because I love it! Currently, I’m an Education and Political Science major. Since I started back here at The Citadel, the Air Force has lured me back as a civilian and I discovered that I miss serving and am honored to be working with this generation’s airmen serving our country. For me though, education, and a degree, is not a means to an end, meaning, I’m not simply trying to gain a degree that I can leverage for a career. This is a selfish pursuit. My only real regret in life has been not completing my degree, so this is about keeping a promise I made 35 years ago.

What experiences from your military service have prepared you to be a better student and/or citizen?

Serving for 20 years in the military has imbued me with the discipline that I probably lacked back in the 1980s to balance school and life. I’ve also been around the world, literally, and have experiences that give a real depth and meaning to a lot of the things that I’m learning in the classroom.

Are there any advantages to being a veteran at The Citadel?

Being a veteran here at The Citadel is a tremendous experience. Institutionally, the school is geared towards service and therefore it’s a great fit but, more importantly, the people — staff and faculty — have been nothing short of amazing in going out of their way to make veteran students feel welcome and successful.

Do you ever get to interact with cadets on campus? If so, what are those interactions like?

I take classes with cadets regularly! What I think that many may not realize about cadets is that for college, they have chosen to sacrifice and dedicate themselves to something bigger, which I think is important. I believe that serving something bigger than yourself is one of the keys to a successful life. On a personal level, I love getting to know them and perhaps giving them some advice and encouragement from the experiences that I’ve had.

What’s your favorite thing about The Citadel as a whole?

It’s always about the people. In life, it’s always about the people and finding people who help make you a better version of yourself. In that respect, I feel like I’m home. Beyond that, I am selfishly proud of being a very small part in a tremendous legacy of service and sacrifice.