With his spiky hair, graphic T-shirt and oversized backpack, Daniel Kim scarcely resembles the somber soldier in his military photograph, where he sports a buzz cut, crisp uniform and the maroon beret of an elite army paratrooper in Iraq. Today, four years after leaving the U.S. Army, Kim looks no different than his UC Irvine classmates, but inside he feels different – set apart by the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I'm in a constant state of alert," he says. "I have difficulty concentrating."
Kim could simply suffer the emotional aftermath of combat silently, as many veterans do, but instead he's turning anxiety into action. A psychology major, he's vowed to study PTSD and help other veterans transition back to civilian life. Because of his interest in improving veterans' lives, he was awarded a UCI Alumni Association scholarship.
"I hope to someday find an effective treatment to help returning combat troops," Kim says.
He battles anxiety every day. Even in the safe confines of a campus conference room, he appears distracted and wary, and he hates to talk about himself.
"I have a low tolerance for stress," he says. "I'm socially withdrawn now, and it’s harder for me to connect with people."
While social situations make him edgy, he's never hesitated to volunteer for missions that others would find scary. Born and raised in Guam, he joined the Army after graduating from high school.
"I'd never left the island, and I wanted to experience the world," he says. "The Army gave me a chance to do that." He served from 2000-04 as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, jumping out of airplanes while stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C.
"I wanted to be part of an elite force, so I volunteered for airborne duty," he says.
On one jump, he "blew out" his knees but was still able to serve with the unit during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He helped provide security while engineers set up an airstrip west of Baghdad, enduring ground-to-ground combat and mortar attacks. He saw two members of his unit killed in action.
When he came home, Kim struggled with depression, anxiety and nightmares, but with the help of a Veterans Affairs therapist, he slowly got his life back on track. After bouncing around odd jobs, from retail to security, he went back to school, graduating in December 2007 with an associate of arts degree from Fresno City College. He transferred to UCI as a junior this fall.
"I'm more focused," Kim says. "I have the self-discipline I didn't have in high school, and that's helped me to be successful in school."
Despite the added stress of college, he's making time to become an advocate for veterans on campus. He joined UCI's Veterans Student Union, which meets weekly at the Anthill Pub & Grille. The group advocates for federal tuition assistance and healthcare benefits on a national level and locally is urging the administration to allow priority enrollment for veterans.
Kim also hopes to start a mentorship program and pair veterans with new UCI student vets to help them make the adjustment from combat to college.
"It's hard to talk to civilians about what we're going through because they don’t know what it's really like," he says. "But other veterans can relate."