Military veterans make up a growing proportion of students attending community colleges. Current research shows that some veterans do not transition easily from the service into a higher education setting. One possible reason for this is that the military purposefully creates and sustains its service members' culture. This culture can be retained after separation from military service, making it difficult to understand, accept, and otherwise transition to the culture of higher education and other civilian contexts. These struggles include personal and institutional issues that student veterans must adjust to complete their post-secondary pursuits. Therefore, this dissertation will focus on Marine culture and the effects when transitioning to IHLs. It will focus on enlisted members of the U.S Marine Corps, as this branch is the smallest force but instills a deep sense of history and culture into its troops. These findings can then be extrapolated to the other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. Purposeful elitism evidences the strength and pervasiveness of the Marine culture. While the purpose of military culture is not meant to interfere with a service member's transition, literature shows that veterans have issues, such as personal and institutional problems, when separating from the military. The study of the U.S Marine Corps culture is relevant to this research on how military culture affects an individual. The pervasiveness of this idea of superiority and excellence is reinforced throughout a Marine's career via their consistent indoctrination, suggesting the Marines have a firmly and purposefully embedded culture. However, the Marines' common saying is "Once a Marine, always a Marine." This saying has been in use since 1907 and has several potential origins. Despite its murky beginnings, it remains a persistent saying in the Marines. With this saying in mind, it could be argued that the Marines are encultured to live their lives by Marine Corps values (honor, courage, and commitment) for the remainder of their lives. The Marine Corps' influence on its service members is an important aspect that should not be overlooked. The sheer effort that the U.S Marine Corps puts into consistently training their Marines and reinforcing the expectation of excellence at all times illustrates that this branch of the military has a more pervasive culture than the remainder of the U.S military - which is not to say that the other branches are lacking in power or prestige. By studying the underpinning of the Marine Corps culture, insights from this study can then be extrapolated to examine the effects of this training on all veterans when transitioning to civilian life, both positive and negative. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]