“This is fantastic,” said Belanger, who also works as the Co-President of Crimson Serves, of the event. “It’s another sign that Harvard is really changing the way it deals with the military.”

HKS Senior Lecturer Linda J. Bilmes said that Harvard students often are unacquainted with service members, which creates barriers to mutual understanding. According to Bilmes, the three most common responses to army veteran are a sense a befuddlement, guilt, and a sense of appreciation and awe.

She encouraged veterans to have meaningful discussions with Harvard students about service and to serve as “ambassadors of the military” on campus.

“There is a wonderful thing that can help you do this, spelled B-E-E-R,” she said, prompting laughter.

According to Kennedy School Professor Meghan O’Sullivan, the event’s organizer, this is the second year that Harvard has hosted a welcome event for its veterans.

O’Sullivan said she teaches many former veterans who, coming from a structured military environment, find the “lack of hierarchy” at Harvard disorienting. She said she hoped an event like this, which brought together veterans from across the University, would “help explain Harvard to these students.”

—Staff writer Hana N. Rouse can be reached at hrouse@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Justin C. Worland can be reached at jworland@college.harvard.edu.