By Kate Wallace
“My Equity by Design classmates will be happy to hear that,” said Brian Volkmuth with a smile. When I stopped to interview Volkmuth for his Veterans Voices spotlight, I had no idea that our conversation would take a turn from veterans and head down a couple paths, including his time as an SCTCC student and an explanation of Information Technology, the program he teaches.
After learning about his experiences with students in the classroom and how the military in general is at the forefront of some social issues, I started to get at the heart of Volkmuth’s story: observation and change.
A self-proclaimed “horrible high school student,” Volkmuth knew that college directly after high school was not for him. Instead, he attempted to do something he thought was even more difficult: join the Marine Corps.
“You don’t join the Marines,” he explained. “You become one.”
While serving in the Marines, he did a job that no longer exists, copying Morse code with Signals Intelligence. That has morphed into cybersecurity and IT jobs now. He enjoyed the job, and it’s no surprise that he now teaches the information that his military experience has changed into. After getting discharged in 1989 for medical reasons, he came back to St. Cloud and worked at his family’s commercial printing company. He built the original networks and first email server for the company, learning it all on his own.
Eventually, the printing industry shrank, and Volkmuth had no post-high school degree, just experience in computers in the Marines and commercial printing.
“I thought I could be successful at [computers], and it was probably the safest thing for me to do” he said. “Because college still scared me at 42; that hadn’t changed a whole lot.”
Volkmuth graduated from the Information Technology program in 2010 with the Network Administration AAS, and directly after that, he was asked to teach the program starting January 2011. Since then, he’s earned his bachelor’s degree of Information Assurance from Metro State and his master’s degree of Information Assurance at St. Cloud State.
He hadn’t even finished his first semester of teaching at SCTCC when he was asked to be the faculty advisor for the Student Veterans Group, which was just re-forming at the time.
Going to college as a non-traditional student at 42 wasn’t as scary as he thought it’d be, and as an instructor, he really enjoys it when his classes have a lot of traditional and non-traditional students in it.
“I love a classroom that has 18- to 60-year-olds in it,” Volkmuth explains. It is so much fun. The different experiences and how they blend together – you can see them working with each other and the outcome is better because they have differences. The value of all these different experiences and different ways of thinking or coming at a problem are such a benefit for the students.”
It's not just the age differences of students that is a benefit to the classroom; one thing Volkmuth has noticed in his current students is the openness about their mental health. The fall of 2019, one of his classes was primarily traditionally aged students, and they had a very open discussion about their mental health on the first day of class.
“It floored me, the openness of what was going on. As I watched it progress throughout the semester, it became a more positive thing to me and I understood it much better.” Maybe it’s the type of thinking that needs to be done for IT work, but Volkmuth’s ability to observe and troubleshoot is not something he only relies on for his work with networks and computers.
Another thing he’s noticed is that many people don’t understand military culture, and his work as a veteran has included a lot of education for civilians to understand it better.
“A lot of times when we hear about the military, it’s either a lot about death and destruction and people being hurt. However, we’re no different than any other segment of society. All those things happen. Obviously, the scale is a little different,” Volkmuth explained.
Not too long ago, there used to be a question box outside the Veterans Resource Center, and someone had posted a photo of Abu Ghraib. An instructor asked him what to do with it, and he said “Leave it. It happened. Doing anything else would be covering something up and that’s not helpful.”
But, Volkmuth clarified, the military has led the way in almost every form of social justice or change. Societal change is very slow in general, so while it may seem like the military adoption of African-Americans in the military, women in combat roles, and LGBTQIA+ rights has taken a long time, compared to the country’s general attitude, it’s on the forefront. The United States Navy was recognized as a Fortune 500 company for Women in Leadership in 2010.
Volkmuth has seen the changes firsthand. While on active duty, one of his lifelong friends was drummed out of the Marine Corps for being gay.
“To see the pain that that’s caused him for years after is very impactful to those of us who are friends of his,” he said. “I think many of us are a voice to not let something like that happen again or to fight it. Changing what a society thinks is a norm is unbelievably challenging.”
Through its struggles and successes, Volkmuth is glad that the military has embraced and is known for both, because that’s what it takes to become a frontrunner in societal change.
Another topic he is passionate about is history, both in general and specifically military history. This subject has really made him focus on the veterans of the Cold War or Cold Conflict.
Commonly, veterans are known for the conflict they were a part of, like the Vietnam Vets, the Gulf War Vets. The veterans that don’t get a lot of attention are the folks who served between conflicts. There were bombers, submarines, and a lot of military presence 24/7 to monitor activity out of the USSR (now Russia).
“I feel as a group they’ve been not thought of as much as I think they should be. They should have some recognition to acknowledge the Cold War-era Vets,” said Volkmuth.
Volkmuth has always been active on the SCTCC campus to make sure the voices of student veterans, military members, and their families are heard. He’s been very thankful that the College is willing and open to how the Veterans Club shares military culture and educates others.
“It’s been a very welcoming environment since day one,” he said.
As a self-professed introvert, Volkmuth may seem a little stand-offish at first, but a welcoming environment is what he strives for. He became an Equity By Design fellow in spring 2023, and as a student of history, he can see how things may fit together currently and in the future. His keen observations connect the past and present and they help him notice what changes will make the better outcome, whether it’s in Information Technology or societal change. Whatever the troubleshooting may be, Volkmuth is ready to take on the challenge.