Whitewater, WI — Bradley J. Burt, founder of Outpost 422 and a University of Wisconsin–Whitewater 2023 summa cum laude undergraduate alumnus, has advanced to Round Two of Microsoft’s Hackathon 2025. Burt, a student veteran awarded the 10th Mountain Division Armed Forces Expeditionary Award, was selected as one of only 94 entrants nationwide accepted into the prestigious competition.
Burt’s acceptance into Hackathon 2025 builds upon a research-driven creative project launched as part of a convergent media independent study conducted from 2022–2023 under the guidance of Dr. Kathy Brady and Dr. James Kates in UW–Whitewater’s Communication Department. During this period, Burt developed and registered the trademark Outpost 422, a research and writing framework designed to explore the lived experiences of student veterans facing learning barriers associated with combat stress, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Burt presented Microsoft with a detailed account of how Outpost 422 functions as a form of gonzo research—a self-reflective, data-driven diary—built around Brady’s Feature Writing 303 story-weaving techniques. This approach merges Brady’s Interpersonal Communication 228 self-monitoring framework with Kates’ valedictory essay structure, resulting in a hybrid methodology Burt calls “Gonzo-19.” The model examines fear, stress, and academic dissonance from the perspective of a student veteran navigating higher education systems.
“My research examines what I describe as cultural incongruity—the often-unspoken friction between traditional students and student veterans working together on college campuses,” Burt said. “By documenting these experiences through self-reporting and reflective analysis, Outpost 422 attempts to create a bridge of understanding for educators, clinicians, and institutions.”
Burt’s work blends Veterans Health Administration patient self-reporting models with science communication, transforming introspective examination into structured qualitative data. This method formed a core variable in his undergraduate honors research and continues to guide his current academic pursuits. As a post-baccalaureate legal studies student at Milwaukee Area Technical College, while concurrently attending Madison Area Technical College, Burt applies the same reflective methodology alongside legal research and policy analysis.
Microsoft recognized Burt as a “hacker” entrant for his innovative, interdisciplinary approach. Advancement to Round Two—known as the “Make-a-thon”—places Burt among a select group of veteran participants nationwide tasked with developing practical, data-informed solutions.
Dr. Brady and Dr. Kates were instrumental in creating an academic environment that allowed Burt to explore gonzo journalism as a legitimate scholarly tool. Their support enabled him to transform personal writing challenges into a scalable research mechanism intended to assist future student veterans who struggle with academic writing.
“The Communication Department became an outlet for understanding symptoms I didn’t yet have language for,” Burt explained. “The Freedom of Academic Expression allowed me to explore unconventional writing methods—particularly gonzo journalism, popularized by Hunter S. Thompson—as a way to process service-related experiences and learning barriers tied to a traumatic brain injury I only discovered long after enrolling in college at age 42.”
During the Make-a-thon phase, Burt will collaborate on Microsoft’s “Care Connect” team, where he will create several datasets aimed at helping the company better understand Veterans Affairs patients and psychological stress disorders. His contribution will focus on transforming firsthand student veteran experiences into Microsoft Excel–based introspective analysis tools designed to provide structured outlets for emotional processing and frustration management.
Currently a law student, Burt uses gonzo research and science communication reporting as a counterbalance to the rigidity of legal writing. Following the conclusion of Hackathon 2025, he plans to file a patent related to his methodology. Burt will also conduct workshops with groups of student veterans, offering writing samples and self-monitoring techniques inspired by Brady’s “shift-on-the-fly” final project model. These efforts aim to support Microsoft’s exploration of artificial intelligence–driven patient self-reporting systems built upon micro-level introspective data.
Looking ahead, Burt hopes to return to UW–Whitewater in 2028 through its online programs to pursue a master’s degree in data analytics, alongside a graduate certificate in entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His long-term goal is to continue studying the psychological and sociological barriers student veterans face during college readjustment and reintegration.
That journey began with his undergraduate honors research, supported by Andersen Library librarian Dr. Naomi Schemm, who guided Burt through the creation of a comprehensive literature review.
“Dr. Schemm taught me how to build a reference list with confidence,” Burt said. “Her enthusiasm and professionalism embodied what student support should look like in higher education.”
Schemm helped Burt build the references list and develop an understanding with examining a scientifc variable as featured below:
Burt built Outpost 422 as a form of “stay-at-home” diary during the pandemic as a final project assignment with Brady’s Interpersonal Communication 228 course. Burt learned the greatest barrier to success was an undiagnosed traumatic brain injury and used the journaling method combined with scientific variable examination for treating learning disabilty symptoms.
Now, Burt will work with Microsoft to create a patient self-reporting method called “LightFighter Syndrome” that better serve VA patients through mindfulness and resilience symptom management. As a dataset, Burt’s Madison College/UW-W honors research will focus strictly upon the Madison College Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership (VITAL) program that currently needs auditing for VA patient college classroom instructor abuse Burt reported to the Dept. of Education. Upon evaluation, the VA patient adjudicator service of Outpost 422 will act as the auditing agency once the Microsoft VA project adjourns.
During 2026, Burt hopes to launch a pilot at the VA in the form of a creative writing newsroom called “The Jaded Patriot Press” that will capture the warrior managing a battle-ready mindset when dealing with a narcissist in the workplace or in the college classroom. Then, as Jaded Patriots, those who wish can use the self-regulation diary management symptoms for reporting disparate treatment to Outpost 422. The material will then be a part of a five-subcategory subset for analyzing secondary VA conditions resulting from hostile work and learning environments to collect data regarding disparate treatment in the form of cultural incongruity escalated by narcissists who abuse veterans in the workplace and college classroom.
Please continue to check the ongoing progress of this website as the process of developing a trading post of legal and VA patient advocacy research kicks off in 2026. Please click the “###JPP link below and see the sample of science communication variable examination develops the understanding of the battle-ready minded learner into resilience through a pseudonymal gonzo research approach. The Jaded Patriot Press examines fear, the crucible of loathing, honor, and glory modeled by those who exercise G.I. Education benefits.
Outpost 422 