
Military Institutional Betrayal: A Quantitative Analysis of Perceived Inadequate Transition Support and Institutional Betrayal Among U.S. Veterans
By: Andrew Higgins
References
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v11i2.758 | Journal eISSN: 2470-4768
Language: English
Page range: 109 - 122
Submitted on: Jun 26, 2025
Accepted on: Sep 17, 2025
Published on: Oct 6, 2025
Published by: Virginia Tech Publishing
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
© 2025 Andrew Higgins, published by Virginia Tech Publishing
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.