The NIU Veterans Club plans to end a year full of bowling, paintball fighting and social nights April 29 with a picnic at the residence of Veterans Club president Jenny Webster.

Webster, a music major and Army veteran, said the club has meant a lot to her.

“Veterans are often older more non-traditional students. I was looking for an organization where I could meet people I had something in common with,” Webster said. “The group really met that need for me, and it is the groups main purpose to be a place where veterans can socialize.”

The Veterans Club is not just for veterans though, it is actually open to all NIU students.

Webster said the organization has had non-veteran members in the past who wanted to learn about the military and meet new people.

“The only thing that non-veterans can’t do is become officers in the group,” she said.

Charles Kolliker, a junior political science major and Navy veteran, was recently elected president for next year. He said he plans on advertising more around campus. Finding new members should be easy compared to Kolliker’s past obstacles.

Kolliker served four and a half years for the Navy on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz CVN68 during Operation Iraq Freedom. During his time spent in the Navy, Kolliker worked as an interior electrician and was responsible for making sure communication between ships remained functional.

“We were inside the Persian Gulf, so we were in a war zone,” he said. “But we were very well protected and have the worlds finest Navy.”

Kolliker said within the Veterans Club they have friendly ongoing jokes over what branch of the military is better, but that they all recognize it is just in good fun.

“We all acknowledge that we served and it involves being lonely and being away from your family and not eating the food you want to eat,” he said. “We all have had those experiences, and it really does not cause any rivalry but an acknowledgement over what we accomplished in the military.”

Hazing in the military, while big in the 1970s and 1980s is now usually just clean joking and fun, Kolliker said.

“The new guys with the perfectly pressed uniforms are the ones that get jokes played on them the most,” he said. “Someone might tell you to go find the bowling alley or McDonald’s on the aircraft carrier, and it is so huge that you will go look for it forever and there won’t be one on the ship.”

Webster reflects well on her experience in the army and would recommend it to others.

“I would recommend it to anyone, but would say to not join with the wrong attitude,” she said.

Kolliker said his experience in the Navy helped him in many different aspects of his life.

“It’s helped build my character and has given me opportunities in government that I wouldn’t have had otherwise,” he said. “It has given me a different perspective on life.”