Davis Winkie is a second-year military history Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in the Department of History.
While most military-affiliated grads are transitioning from military life to civilian life, how was your experience transitioning from civilian life to military life?
I am an officer cadet (09R) assigned to the NC National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters in Raleigh. I also work with the NC National Guard Museum. I have about 1.5 years in service through the Simultaneous Membership Program, and I’ll commission as a signal officer this summer.
How is your Carolina degree to helping you make a difference?
An English Ph.D. student, Paul Blom, and myself are organizing “Popular Narratives and the Experience of War,” a public forum and veterans’ writing workshop. A public panel discussion of four veterans will compare and contrast the way American culture conceives of military service, their own cultural preconceptions of the military, and their lived experience in uniform. The writing workshop is open to all vets and will feature a free lunch and writing prompts similar to the panel discussion. This is happening on Saturday, April 27th, and workshop registration will be open soon — keep an eye out! Feel free to email me with any questions or if you’d like to get involved: jdavisw@live.unc.edu and follow us on twitter to stay updated @UNCVetsWriting
What is something you wish you had known before moving here?
I lived in downtown Nashville before coming here, so I thought that parking couldn’t be as insane here as it was there. Wrong.
What made you choose UNC/NC when deciding on a program/place to study?
My research looks at the role of the military and war memory in American culture throughout the 20th century, and the faculty here are an excellent fit to facilitate that work.