The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a generation of combat veterans leaving military service. The challenges faced by transitioning veterans who are entering college begin during the registration process. Many programs have been implemented to help streamline the process. Even with all of the effort universities are putting forth to help veteran students succeed, the individual veteran student in the classroom has been overlooked. Instructional communication research has studied effective methods to help enhance student learning in the classroom, but not all students will respond the same to the behaviors found to positively impact student outcomes. Rhetorical and relational goals theory (RRGT) states that both students and teachers enter a classroom with specific goals they wish to attain: rhetorical, relational, or both (Waldeck, and LaBelle, 2016). The aim of this work is to expand the target audience of instructional communication to include veteran students in the classroom.