KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- UNC Charlotte’s start as an evening college that initially served 278 WWII veterans built a foundation for expansion to a community of nearly 1,700 students currently receiving VA education benefits.
- Though the needs of student veterans have changed, military-affiliated students still rely on Military and Veteran Services for community.
- Charlotte ranked No. 9 nationally and earned the Gold Award for the fifth consecutive year from the Military Friendly School survey.
The main character of UNC Charlotte’s origin story is the military community. In 1946, the Charlotte Center — spearheaded by founding educator Bonnie Cone — was one of 14 evening colleges opened across North Carolina to serve the influx of veterans returning from World War II and seeking higher education through the newly established GI Bill.
Today UNC Charlotte is keeping its promise to support the military community. Charlotte is ranked the No. 9 most-military-friendly institution in the country, and MVS has certified a record number of VA benefits for military-affiliated students (1,652 in fall 2025) — second highest in the state.
“This recognition honors the legacy of the school and that of Bonnie Cone as well as our founding purpose,” said Chris Brasel ’18, director of Charlotte’s Military and Veteran Services. “It shows our reputation is stellar and that the military community can trust the University.”
Redefining military student recruitment
Since Elizabeth Beattie ’20 joined Military and Veteran Services, unique student certifications have surged — putting UNC Charlotte on a path to lead the UNC System.
Both the University and the military have changed significantly since the 1940s. Brasel has seen a shift in the characteristics of today’s veteran students compared with those of his own era — the Global War on Terror generation — and those who served before it. Many of today’s veterans, who served after the end of the GWOT, are younger, less likely to have a spouse and kids, and more likely than previous veterans to seek community within the broader student population.
A shared commitment to services is what connects generations of veterans at Charlotte.
“No matter who you are, what time period, there's some sort of call to service or a being of service to others,” Brasel said. “That’s a kind of universal concept; veterans love having a mission or reason to give back.”
Meet the veterans and military‑affiliated students who call Charlotte home.
Chris Brasel
Chris Brasel ’18, director of MVS, comes from a military family. His grandfather served more than 20 years, so his father grew up a U.S. Air Force brat. Brasel was a high schooler on Sept. 11, 2001; the events of that day sparked a call in him — and many of his classmates — to serve. At the urging of his parents, Brasel attended college before enlisting in the U.S. Navy as a corpsman (medic) in 2010.
Brasel deployed to Afghanistan attached to a U.S. Marine Corps unit, working in an engineer support battalion that rebuilt roads in demilitarized zones. His unit regularly navigated indirect fire, including rockets and IEDs. Stateside, he served at Camp Lejeune and Naval Hospital Portsmouth in Virginia before receiving an early-out package as the military downsized in the mid‑2010s.
He arrived at UNC Charlotte with GI Bill benefits and little direction. What he noticed immediately was the gap between his life experience and that of his classmates.
“They’re 18, they’re on social media enjoying life; I’m in my 30s, I have a mortgage to pay and I have a baby at home,” he said.
The Military and Veteran Services office — especially the veterans lounge — became a refuge.
“It was therapeutic,” Brasel said. “I could be around people who knew what I was going through.”
Brasel joined the MVS staff full time in 2018 and became director in November 2023. His perspective has evolved as the military‑affiliated student population has changed. While some veterans place qualifiers on the service of “peacetime” veterans, he no longer sees the value he once did in making that distinction.
“What's traumatic to me might not be to another person and vice versa,” Brasel said. “We don’t have a draft, meaning you signed up. You volunteered. To me, that’s good enough — welcome.”
Today, Brasel leads the office that once offered him refuge, working to ensure every military‑affiliated student — regardless of era or experience — finds the same sense of belonging he did.
Steve Moore
Steve Moore, a third-year communications studies major, joined the U.S Army at 18 looking for structure. He was deployed to Afghanistan, and in 2011, while responding to a downed-helicopter call, was shot in the leg. After surgery and a month of physical therapy, Moore insisted on returning to his soldiers in Afghanistan, despite being offered a chance to fully recover stateside. Moore was awarded the Purple Heart for his wounds received in combat.
Moore spent the next 10 years in noncombat roles before being medically retired. He enrolled at UNC Charlotte in fall 2024 and struggled initially with the transition to campus life. He was in his mid-30s and managing mental health scars from his deployments, both which made connecting with traditional college students challenging. Over time, he learned that sharing his story opened the door to genuine connection — and healing.
“I’m different in the sense that a lot of the old-school vets, they didn’t want to talk about it,” Moore said. “It’s beneficial for me and for others.”
Moore remains deeply invested in the military community. He frequently attends Military and Veteran Services events and serves as commander of American Legion Post 51 in Concord, North Carolina. He says the bond between veterans transcends time, branch and type of service.
“You signed on the dotted line that you're willing to give your life up and committed to protect our country,” Moore said. “No fraternity can ever teach the bond that we experience as veterans, even if we didn't serve together.”
Moore also has branched into other parts of campus life. During his deployment, he was tasked with taking action and landscape photos for the Army Public Affairs Office, a skill he continues to use as a photographer for the Niner Times. The way his classmates engage with him and take genuine interest in his life — and being at Charlotte in general — gives Moore hope for the next generation. He encourages the wider campus community to do the same for the veterans they meet.
“A lot of times we hear ‘we support our troops,’ but I believe that’s a cliche,” Moore said. “The way you show that is by caring about a veteran’s mental health and their story. At the American Legion we say ‘Be the one to ask a veteran how they’re doing.’”
Jalen Simon
Jalen Simon, a junior health systems management major, carries the military spirit with him. He grew up a U.S. Army brat, living in Florida, Maryland and North Carolina, as his father, Col. Eugene Simon, served as a logistics officer. His dad’s long absences were difficult, but they also inspired him to follow the same path.
“I felt that I just couldn't choose any other pathway — especially with how high ranking he was,” Simon said. “I believed I could slip into his shoes and maybe do even better than he did.”
Simon enlisted immediately after graduating high school in 2022 as a 68W combat medic specialist, a first responder trained in emergency trauma care. He completed basic training at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma, then advanced to training at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. After excelling in specialized medical training, Simon was selected to advanced clinical training at Joint Base Lewis‑McChord near Tacoma, Washington.
There, Simon worked directly with patients in high‑pressure situations, learning suturing, casting and orthopedic procedures — skills typically beyond the scope of a standard medic. He put that training to use when he treated a soldier with severe leg trauma from a helicopter accident.
“The lesion was so big it looked like a tiger clawed at his thigh,” Simon recalled.
Simon continues to serve as a student at UNC Charlotte in the U.S. Army Reserve. He also works shifts on the weekends at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg to continue gaining military medical experience.
At Charlotte, Simon is training in the Army ROTC with the goal to commission as a medical services officer upon graduation. ROTC, he said, has given him the strongest bonds at the University.
“It reminds me of basic [training] all over again; they’re my brothers and sisters,” Simon said.
ROTC has been crucial in not only building Simon’s network at Charlotte but shaping his professional development for becoming an officer.
“It instills core values: Respect, responsibility, dignity, integrity, all of those things. But most importantly, it strengthens you and teaches you how to be a leader,” Simon said. “You have to build yourself first before you can lead others, and that's really what ROTC training does.”
Knowing that military leadership requires interpersonal skills, Simon pushed to put himself out there, connecting with students at campus gaming events and intramural sports.
“I’ll go into a dining hall and make it a mission to talk to at least three people and just ask how their day’s going,” Simon said. “And it really works.”
Simon is also active in the Military and Veteran Services office, where he has gained a deeper appreciation for veterans’ experiences.
“It’s given me a great outlook on other veterans and has given me insight into what life looks like when they get out,” Simon said.
At Charlotte, Simon’s call to service is being sharpened into leadership to help him carry on a military legacy.
“I want to help people when the opportunity seems bleak for them,” Simon said.
McKenna Samuel
GI Bill benefits and Military and Veteran Services aren’t just for veterans — they extend to their spouses and children as well. McKenna Samuel, a sophomore social work major, grew up in a military family and keeps that connection close as she pursues her degree.
Samuel’s mother and father each served more than two decades in the U.S. Air Force and her older brother is in the process of enlisting. During her childhood she lived in South Dakota, Alaska (twice), Nevada and Louisiana. This bouncing around had its challenges but also built her resolve.
“I learned to be independent,” Samuel said. “Growing up a military brat, you have to learn how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”
Samuel attended high school on base in Alaska, where her graduating class of 25 was almost entirely made up of military kids. She described it as a “mixing bowl” of families arriving from across the country and overseas — a dynamic that created deep bonds.
“Everyone comes in with their own experiences and then you’re forced to come together in a sense, which builds really strong bonds,” Samuel said. “Even if you had no one, you had someone.”
When her parents retired to Raleigh, North Carolina, Samuel chose UNC Charlotte to stay close to home while gaining independence. Adjusting to a large university was difficult at first. Outside the military bubble, she is often asked where she is from — a question without a simple answer.
“How do I answer that? I don't know what to say since I've lived in so many places there's not a specific place,” Samuel said.
Samuel is a work-study student in the MVS Office. She assists military-affiliated students, answering questions about their benefits and campus life. Being surrounded by military-affiliated people working toward the same objective, serving the military/veteran community, brings her back to the tight-knit community she experienced on base.
“The military community is very endearing and very understanding,” Samuel said. “The connection’s already there."
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