Members of the Marine Corps infantry are the warriors who move by feet between combats. They are often expected to be able to train, sleep and work in all weather conditions and should always be ready to travel anywhere in the world, according to this article in Today’s Military.

Kyle Rasmussen spent 12 years in the Marine Corps where he started in the infantry. Now he is City College’s new Veterans Support and Resource coordinator, available on campus to help veterans adapt to student life.

“This job is something that I can do to give back and help veterans,” he said. “I knew the struggles of being a student veteran. If I can pass on this knowledge to these men and women, it can ease their transition.”

Student Veterans Club President Kyle Bekke said that since Rasmussen is a veteran himself, he has a much better relationship with the veteran students.

He pointed out that Rasmussen’s predecessor, although wonderful and did her job well, was not a veteran herself.

“He is very professional about the job, he does a lot of the work himself, but he also expects us to do what we need to do,” said Bekke. “He wants the best for us.”

Rasmussen grew up in a poor family in Monticello, Kentucky. He knew that he didn’t want to live that way for the rest of his life, so when he was 18 years old he decided to enlist in the military.

“It was hard at first,” Rasmussen said. “After about a year, I fit in like a pea in a pod.  It was what I was looking for.”

Rasmussen explained that his time in the military was exciting because he got to travel all over and experience many different cultures. When he was injured overseas, he switched jobs and began to work for administration.

When he left the military he moved to Santa Barbara and attended City College. He went on to transfer to UCSB, where he got his degree in history.

He went on to work as officer procurement for the Department of Defense. He handled all the paperwork for college students applying to be officers in the marine corps. When his girlfriend told him about the job opening at City College, Rasmussen decided to apply.

When he first got the job, he set up a six month plan with some short and long term goals.

“My first short term goal was to get a veterans club started,” he said.

It has been nine years since City College last had a veterans club. Rasmussen pushed for a new club to be made and said that this semester about 25 students joined, out of the 205 veteran students on campus.

“My second short term goal is to find outside funding for students in need, especially those who have children,” he said.

Most student veterans can have their tuition paid for, but Rasmussen pointed out that only helps so much if they have a family to support as well. He wants to connect veterans with as many benefits and resources possible.

His long term goal is to get the student club and organization to be larger than UCSB’s. Since he was a student himself, the college has built a building specifically for student veteran assistance.

“We have more student veterans here than we do at UCSB,” he said. “I should be able to get them something better than what UCSB is offering.”

According to Bekke, Rasmussen’s main goal is to get student veterans benefits and admissions to other schools.

Rasmussen hopes that veterans would come to him to find out about benefits they might not be aware about.  He also wants students that have veteran parents that may be disabled to seek him out, because it is possible that the government can pay for their tuition.