Class of 2022: Marine Corps veteran Charles Mitchem plans a career serving other vets | VTX

When doing a group project with a former Marine, don’t be surprised when the Marine takes charge. “It’s just that training that comes into play,” said Charles Mitchem, a senior graduate who served in the Marine Corps for six years before coming to Virginia Tech.

Majoring in political science with a minor in war and society, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Mitchem had learned to create timelines, assign tasks and get things done during his military service. Naturally, he used these skills in his classes. “I can see how very annoying it is for the other band members,” Mitchem said. “But at the same time, I had a lot of them going, ‘Oh, great, thank you. We know what we have to do.

Mitchem wasn’t always like this. As a rowdy, unruly teenager from Pulaski County, Virginia, school was the last thing he cared about. If he had started Virginia Tech back then, he’s 100% sure he would have quit.

On the other hand, he had always wanted to join the army. Most Halloweens he dressed up as a soldier. When a Marine Corps recruiter called the summer before his senior year of high school, he enlisted at age 17.

A few months after graduating from high school, he had embarked on a boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina. “It was awful,” Mitchem said with a laugh. “At the time, it was the hardest thing I’ve done.” Recruits were systematically broken down and rebuilt. Halfway through misery, Mitchem realized, “I’m stronger than I thought. And I can do it.”

His first job was as a mechanic in Okinawa, Japan – a leap forward for someone who had never been on a plane before. Two years later, he was invited to become an embassy security officer. Training in Quantico, Virginia followed, including taking a face full of pepper spray.

When he was assigned to the US Embassy in Serbia, “I had never even heard of Serbia,” Mitchem said. He then worked at embassies in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Podgorica, Montenegro, before separating from the Marine Corps and returning to Virginia in March 2018.

If the training camp was difficult, the return to civilian life was even more difficult.

While taking classes at New River Community College, Mitchem felt completely disconnected from other students. No one understood what he had been through. “I had a pretty tough journey,” he said. “I just felt isolated and alone.”

Life got better when Mitchem transferred to Virginia Tech in the spring of 2020 at the age of 26. Through the Virginia Tech Office of Veteran Services, he finally found his people: other Hokie veterans who, like him, had endured untold life experiences, built a career, and experienced the deep camaraderie and challenge of the military, all before completing their undergraduate degrees. “I don’t know how to explain the bond that exists between veterans from all walks of life,” Mitchem said.

At the VeT Zone, a Johnston Student Center lounge for military-related students, vets swapped stories about military life. In the fall of 2021, as a co-op student at the Office of Veterans Services, Mitchem helped host a Marine Corps Birthday Ball.

He also joined other veterans for one of Virginia Tech’s greatest pleasures. “Going to a football game was something that really made me feel Hokie pride,” Mitchem said. “Even though I grew up here, the UNC game last year was my very first game. I loved it.”

Even though his service in the Marine Corps sometimes made it difficult to fit in, it also helped him achieve his dream of a college degree by making him a reliable and disciplined leader. The kind of guy who uses the skills he learned as an embassy guard to diplomatically navigate difficult conversations in political science class. The kind who likes to sit down with veterans of the Korean War or Vietnam to talk about shared experiences. The kind who knows exactly how to keep a group project on track.

Now that he’s graduated, Mitchem hopes to spend his career working with veterans somewhere like the Office of Veterans Services. “There’s just this unspoken bond, this sense of family,” he said. “That’s one of the things that’s super important to me. Helping the veteran community is what I strive to do now.

The Veterans’ Honors Ceremony will honor student veterans like Mitchem on Tuesday, May 10. Cyril Clarke, Executive Vice President and Provost, will speak at the event, which will be held at 2 p.m. at the Peggy Lee Hahn Pavilion. Approximately 20 graduating seniors will receive a military stole and lanyard to wear as part of their graduation attire.