More Than a Ranking: Military-Friendly UM Helps Veterans Find the Next Mission

By Abigail Lauten-Scrivner, UM News Service

MISSOULA – As the University of Montana recognizes Veterans Day with respect and gratitude for those who served, the University is proud to again be ranked as a top "Military Friendly” college in the United States among Tier 1 Research institutions.   

The Military Friendly Schools list is compiled annually from nationwide university data. Input is provided by student veterans and a Military Friendly survey by participating institutions. The ranking this year also placed UM in the top 10 for "Military Spouse Friendly” institutions.  

U.S. Army veteran and UM law student David Ley said the ranking reflects his experience at the University as an undergraduate and graduate student. 

“There’s a lot of veteran resources on campus and there’s a strong veteran community,” Ley said. “The staff and faculty understand what veteran issues are – the things that come along with service all the way through just being a nontraditional student to navigating the GI Bill, that type of bureaucracy.”

“It can be a little scary being a non-traditional student, especially coming from a military background,” he added. “But UM is full of nontraditional students.”

Ley is on the cusp of graduating from UM’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law this semester. His journey as a Grizzly began in January 2018 as an undergrad, directly after leaving the Army in 2017. 

His path from veteran to college student to law school graduate wasn’t linear. Still, Ley said he found the community and support he needed at UM.

Ley was born in Indiana and moved across the Midwest. He was raised by a single dad – also a veteran – who inspired his decision to join the Army. 

“From the age I was able to walk, we were in the woods, he was painting my face, we were going hunting and I didn't really ever consider anything else,” Ley said.

Ley served for nine years, including two tours leading soldiers in Afghanistan. He experienced a crash course in leadership, responsibility and service that shaped who he is.

“The amount of responsibility that's placed on such young Americans is crazy,” he said. “At 22 years old, I was leading combat missions and taking squads of 12 soldiers into presidential palaces. I couldn't even rent a car back home stateside, but I'm leading international diplomatic missions like that.”  

While the sense of duty was immense, Ley was fulfilled, feeling he was doing something meaningful and important, both for his country and the soldiers for which he was responsible.  

“I brought every soldier back with all their arms and legs and toes,” he said.

After his time in the Army ended, Ley carried the sense of service and stewardship with him to Montana.  

Ley had never been to Montana before he enrolled at UM, but felt drawn to Big Sky Country’s untamed mountains and wildlife – a stark contrast to his Midwest roots. 

He began at UM as a wildlife biology student, inspired by the program's status as one of the best in the country. While in the Army, he listened to the podcast “MeatEater,” hosted by UM alumnus and honorary doctorate recipient Steven Rinella, which often hosts wildlife biologists who discuss hunting and recreating in Montana’s vast open spaces. 

“I was just building guns, listening to the ‘MeatEater’ podcast,” Levy said. “I was like, ‘If I'm going to move somewhere and start a family, I want to be able to get my kids access to that wilderness.’” 

Ley later swapped his major to environmental science for a better fit. He also dropped out after a semester. He then re-enrolled, dropped out again during the COVID-19 pandemic, re-enrolled once more and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 2022. 

“It's been a journey,” Ley said. “It took a little bit during my transition. I didn't know what community was, and I’d always moved around growing up. I didn't have any place-based relationships.”

Eventually, Ley found his stride by harkening back to service and stewardship. He started volunteering through UM and Missoula-area organizations like the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Missoula County, and others.

“The University was great. When I got back in, I was able to intern up on the PEAS Farm,” Ley said. “I felt like a crew member here in the community and opposed to just a passenger.”

He also found support and connection from UM’s Military and Veteran Services Office, both with navigating his VA benefits and forging relationships with veteran peers and staff. Ley credits Military and Veterans Services Director Patrick Beckwith and his team for fostering a culture of professionalism and responsiveness.

With that support, he’s now slated to complete his second UM degree a semester early.

Ley credits a 2021 policy change that allows veterans to use the full complement of their VA education benefits.

“Veterans can now use both their GI Bill and Vocational Rehabilitation, allowing those of us who qualify to earn debt-free undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees,” he said. “This is a game changer that lets veterans come to UM and really set themselves and their families up for success.”

Ley has made himself a resource for local veterans as commander of Missoula’s Ole Beck VFW Post 209. Under his leadership and with the unanimous support of members, the local VFW is shifting from a bar (the downtown building closed this year) to a veteran gym and resource center slated to open on Cooper Street. 

The CrossFit-style gym will include yoga classes, meditation and mindfulness courses, nutrition and lifestyle coaching, counseling and therapy, and other veteran support services. 

“We’re really trying to get at some of those underlying social determinants of health – socializing, different types of culture, harm reduction, the resource navigation that the VFW is already known for,” Ley said.

After graduating this semester, Ley plans to dedicate his legal career to public interest law. He said the work combines his love of problem solving with his commitment to advocating for veterans and working-class Montanans – the same people he has served through the VFW and his volunteer work.

“If I can go all in on veterans, that’s what I would do,” he said.

###

Contact: Dave Kuntz, UM vice president for marketing and communications, 406-243-5659, dave.kuntz@umontana.edu.