The Veteran Services Center (VSC) at UC Irvine held its Honoring Our Heroes ceremony at the UCI flagpoles on the morning of Nov. 12. The event takes place annually following Veterans Day, which was observed on Nov. 11 of this year.
Although the service lasted only 30 minutes, it featured multiple guest speakers, including UCI representatives Dr. Willie Banks Jr. and Dr. John Graham. Graham served in the U.S. Navy for nine years, including with the Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams (SEALs) and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs). While addressing the crowd, Graham reflected on how his military experience shaped him.
“All of us received a lot for military service. We received some discipline. I got here early but consider that to be on time. We received friendship and camaraderie. We learned about leadership and we got technical skills,” Graham said to the crowd.
He also made a point to mention the unique situation of those drafted in World War II and the Vietnam War.
“In the 1970s, we never heard the words, ‘Thank you for your service.’ The war was not popular and I didn’t begin to hear these words until maybe in the last 10 years or so,” Graham said.
This is a sentiment echoed by VSC Director Dr. Dani Molina, who served four years active duty in the U.S. Army as a radio operator and maintainer.
“During the ‘60s and ‘70s, kind of what American society was going through in the politics of war and all that,” Molina said in an interview with New University. “And so, veterans didn’t have a very good experience returning back from war and fortunately, that has really changed over the last several decades. You know, probably starting with the Gulf War of 92, 1991, 1992, during the desert storm, Desert Shield Operations.”
Molina also offered his perspective on what prompted this change in public sentiment.
“9/11 [and] the ensuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think it seems like, as a culture and as a society, we definitely switched and better differentiated between the politics of war and our actual service members and military veterans, where there was some more clear and better separation between those two,” Molina said.
During the Vietnam War, fought in the 1960s and 1970s, service members often faced blame from Americans frustrated by the government’s involvement in the conflict. The war also sparked a public debate over the draft, further shaping public perception of veterans.
Despite evolving attitudes toward veterans today, Molina maintains that they remain misunderstood due to fewer people serving now, creating a “military civilian gap of service.” He felt that this gap made it challenging for society to fully integrate veterans.
“There’s less understanding of what folks actually experience in the military and some of the pros and cons of service and some of the adjustment issues and how to like, how do we best understand and scaffold transitioning service members into becoming military veterans,” Molina said.
UCI’s VSC hopes to address these issues and prepare veterans to succeed at university and in transitioning to civilian life.
Many of the VSC’s staff and volunteers are students at UCI, including second-year international studies student Camryn Oliveria who works in center operations.
“We had [to] assist in putting [the ceremony] together and then, obviously, students, coming in, make sure it’s not interrupting the ceremony. But yeah, it was short and sweet. Nothing too big,” Oliveria said in an interview with New University.
Oliveria also described how her father’s military service personally influenced her and her involvement in the VSC.
“There’s a lot of times where my dad will be deployed or go on a lot of work trips for a long time. But, I grew up abroad because of my dad’s job, so it gave me a lot of international experience and I got to travel a lot and whatnot. But, yeah, overall, I’m proud, I’m proud to be his daughter,” Oliveria said.
Molina hopes that events like the Honoring Our Heroes ceremony, together with the involvement of students like Oliveria, can create a space on campus where veterans feel understood.
“All of our staff at the VSC, 100%, they’re all military connected students. So whether they’re an actual veteran or somebody in the reserves or a dependent, we understand your issues even before they become larger issues,” Molina said.
Molina wishes for the VSC to provide more on-campus support in a direct, singular location.
“My hope is in the future, in the near future, we can move towards a more permanent one stop shop but in the more distant future, find a larger space where we can grow and we signal to our community student veterans and military connected students that this is a place that you really should consider,” Molina said.
Those interested in UCI’s Veteran Services Center can visit its office on the third floor of the Student Center or call (949) 824-3500.
Aidan Wyrough is a Features Staff Writer for the fall 2025 quarter. He can be reached at awyrough@uci.edu.
Edited by Aditya Biswas and Annabelle Aguirre