Military cultural competency: Understanding how to serve those who serve

Abstract

Institutions of higher education who serve military populations need clear understanding of federal regulations and of military organization best practices in education. They also need a baseline understanding of the broader military population, as well as the unique challenges and opportunities for military subgroups, based on branch, type, and extent of service. The intent of this article is to provide a baseline understanding of military populations, including the unique needs, challenges, and opportunities for service to population subgroups (i.e., active duty service members, prior service members, including disabled veterans and retirees, and military family members). Overall, we propose that “military cultural competence” is a unique cultural competence which is necessary to develop both at the institutional level and for individual staff and faculty, in order to ensure appropriate service for military students in higher education.