Veteran's Day at a Military University

As many of you know, I teach Political Science at a military university. In  January about three dozen students will deploy to Afghanistan, one of the largest deployments in the college's history. It is also one of the largest National Guard deployments in Vermont's history.

After college a number of the students will commission into various branches of the military, others have already completed one or several tours to Iraq and/or Afghanistan--some of those are still on active duty MOS is to get a degree-- and some will never join the military but have chosen, for whatever reason, to attend a military school.

Yet the University does not have a ceremony or a day off on Veteran's Day. Not even a moment of silence.
In any year this is, I think, completely disrespectful, but most especially so in a year where so many students and citizens will deploy. So, I decided not to discuss the American bureaucracy as planned, but hold a class to honor veterans.

I began by expressing my opinion on the University's failure to officially notice Veteran's Day. Not surprisingly, the students agreed, and not because they would rather be playing video games than going to class. No, they felt that even though the University had a ceremony the day before that there should be some recognition of Veteran's Day on November 11. We then talked about Veteran's Day, why the date, how it differs from Memorial Day, who should be honored and remembered, that sort of thing.

Most of my students are freshmen, whose privileges for many things are curtailed, including being able to watch TV, so I showed them a news clip about the ceremony the previous day: Norwich Students to Deploy, a great clip of dogs greeting a soldier returning from 14 months in Iraq--yeah, yeah, of course I had to get dogs in there somewhere--(thanks for this one, Jane!) Greeting a returning friend and in my third class we also watched a you tube piece a student had received from his father: A Pittance of Time Terry Kelly.
I then asked how many students had family members who were currently serving in the military or were veterans. Almost 100%. I then asked how many had friends or knew people who were in the military or were veterans. 100%.

I pulled up a chair and sat down. "Okay," I said, "so tell us about them." Quiet. I pointed to a student and said, "You. You start. Talk about those people." And in each of my three classes they did. They talked about their mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, grandparents, great-grand parents, many great grands, and friends who served or are currently serving in the military. One or two were at Pearl Harbor, one ran out of his barracks in Vietnam just before the building blew up, one was at Omaha Beach, one served as nurse, one served as a civilian in military intelligence, one was recon in Vietnam,  three brothers are currently in Afghanistan or Iraq ("they're just doing their duty, Ma'am.Yeah, my mom worries but that's the way it is."), one sister just returned from Afghanistan, another sister was recently released on a medical discharge after a tour overseas, my nephew was a sniper in Iraq, a friend lost his eye in Huế, my father was a test pilot, my husband trained officers during Vietnam, one person spent years in submarines, another monitors missile silos, some served in Desert Storm, some in Korea, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, and one student can trace his family's military service back to 1066, the Battle of Hastings. One tour, five tours, nine tours, a career, "he's a great guy, but he is really crazy!," "he suffers from PTSD pretty bad," "he came back pretty messed up," "my dad and step dad are career military," "my friend enlisted yesterday".....

That's a lot of people, you guys. A lot of families, and a lot of friends. And that's why we celebrate Veteran's Day.

 

Old flags, Peacham 2009

Postscript: In my town there is a family who will send 5 men to Afghanistan in January. A father, his son, the father's brother and his son, and a second brother. "That's two generations of men, ma'am," said one of my students. Indeed.