SALUTE Veterans National Honor Society

The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina is a participating school in the SALUTE Veterans National Honor Society. SALUTE is the first national honor society established for student veterans and military service members in 2-year and 4-year institutions of higher education. It was established in 2009 through the ACE/Wal-Mart Success for Veterans Grant and is headquartered out of Colorado State University.

Values: Service, Academics, Leadership, Unity, Tribute, Excellence

SALUTE is an acronym of the foundation blocks and core-values of the honor society, and is the basis of our success.

Service

​​An act of helpful activity or selflessness, help, and aid: The service member, who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, is able to continue their service to this Country with community-campus participation.

Academics

A scholar in an institute of education, in the environment concerned with the pursuit of research, learning, and scholarship: True scholars humbly realize the learning is a continuing process and are keenly aware of the level of dedicated and academics it will take to reach their goals of success. SALUTE supports our members through Scholarships, and we encourage our members to be peer mentors and sponsors at their colleges to incoming military-members.

Leadership

​Activity of influencing people to cooperate in achieving some common goal or objective. The quality to pull together as one, allows a person to contribute while retaining their uniqueness as individuals and leaders. SALUTE requests our Chapters to facilitate student involvement and engagement in activities.

Unity

​The state of being one; oneness; a thing forming a complex whole; being connected together, networking, for the good of the country and community.

Tribute

​Acknowledge of the valuable consideration paid by one to another, in the price of peace, security and protection. SALUTE may help nurture this core value by paying tribute to our fallen brothers and sisters, and through Philanthropy.

Excellence

​The state of excelling, if you are going to achieve excellence in the big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is a prevailing attitude and lifelong learning.

Standards for Student Membership:

All Undergraduate Students selected for induction to SALUTE must meet the following criteria (for graduate students, please see section below):

1. Qualify as military/veteran student under locally-derived and maintained definitions. Applicant must submit a DD-214 Member 4 copy that displays the character of service (honorable discharge). Applicants currently serving on active duty or in the Guard or Reserves must submit a copy of orders for their current duty assignment.
2. Be currently enrolled as a student, and have a minimum of 12 course credits, for undergraduates
3. Maintain the highest ethical standards.
4. The undergraduate GPA tiers are broken down according to the following:
   1. Alpha Tier GPA: 3.75 – 4.00
   2. Bravo Tier GPA: 3.50 – 3.74
   3. Charlie Tier GPA: 3.25 – 3.49
   4. Delta Tier GPA: 3.00 – 3.24

All Graduate Students need to have completed 9 credit hours, hold at least a 3.5 GPA, and will be classified as “SALUTE Gold Member”

SALUTE provides formal recognition for service and academics, leadership, volunteering and resume development, campus-community engagement, opportunities to network with as well as give and receive assistance to fellow veterans, eligibility for SALUTE scholarships, authorization to wear distinguishable honor cords and stole at graduation, letters of recommendation, federal hiring preference with honors merit & more!

The Citadel SALUTE Inductees