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RALEIGH – N.C. State University held a Veterans Day Ceremony Wednesday night, honoring all the men and women who have served in the nation's military.

About 100 people attended the service. Several of them, like Army Staff Sgt. Kris Culin, were fresh from battlefields in Iraq or Afghanistan and are now N.C. State students.

“I'm studying criminology, and I should be graduating next fall, which has been postponed a couple of times because of reserve duty,” Culin said.

“It's a big transition because, for me, I was in Baghdad, Iraq in June, and in August I was sitting in a class,” said Jason Lindsay, founder of the NCSU Student Veterans Association. Lindsay served in Iraq in the Army from 2003-2004 before earning a degree in political science from N.C. State.

“There was only about a month and a half time frame between the time I was sitting in combat and the time I was actually back in the classroom, and it's a completely different atmosphere,” he said.

“That was real tough at first, trying to fit in and deal with people that didn't really understand,” Culin said of the transition from war zones to classrooms.

N.C. State has 355 students this semester who get services from Veterans Affairs. Back in January, the university started a local chapter of the Student Veteran Association for students who have served in the armed forces. There are already about 25 members.

“We have walked, rode, sailed and soared all around this globe,” current NCSU Student Veterans Association President Andrew Hall told the crowd Wednesday night. “But it is now this university and universities like it around the country that bring us together as student veterans. We now serve our school and community with the same faith, integrity and honor that we served our country.”

Student veterans say after all their experiences in the military, they don't take anything for granted and don't sweat the small stuff.

“When you're used to dealing with things that could be life threatening, a simple homework assignment just doesn't seem that bad,” Culin said.