AMES, Iowa -- Doug Greving is part of a new class of 21st century college graduates--war veterans.
Greving served with the National Guard light infantry in Afghanistan for more than a year. He graduates Saturday from Iowa State University with a bachelor's degree in agricultural studies.
Greving left Iowa State in February 2004, serving in Afghanistan from May 2004 to June 2005. He returned to school in the fall of 2005.
Since the war began, 217 Iowa State students have been called up to serve. Of those, 154 returned to ISU following their tours of duty. A total of 63 have graduated, not including those who receive degrees this weekend.
In Afghanistan Greving was in a security force unit that provided protection for medical and aid personnel who went out into small towns to hold free clinics. Although the hours were long and tense, Greving did not face close combat.
Greving's ISU classmates in an agricultural leadership course sent him care packages and letters, and constructed a bulletin board to educate others about the hardships faced by Iowa State students who were called to active duty.
For Greving, the transition from providing convoy and base security in a war zone to attending classes and writing papers was "pretty smooth."
"Iowa State did a good job of getting me reinstated in classes that I had left in the middle of the semester," Greving said. "But a lot of my friends from before had graduated, so at first it felt like a setback."
Greving grew up on farm near Carroll, the fifth of six children. Four of his siblings are in the military. He has accepted a job with Twin Lakes Environmental Services in Rockwell City.