{"id":9747,"date":"2017-11-09T16:16:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T22:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=9747"},"modified":"2017-11-09T16:37:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T22:37:49","slug":"meeting-and-greeting-local-american-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2017\/11\/09\/meeting-and-greeting-local-american-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting and Greeting Local American Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serving in the Armed Forces runs in the family for junior Reserve Officer\u2019s Training Corps (ROTC) cadet Perry Patton. <\/span><\/p>\n

Both Patton\u2019s father and grandfather served in the U.S. military. Patton\u2019s grandfather was an officer of the then United States Army Air Corps in World War II, as well as a pilot in both the Korean and Vietnam wars.\u00a0 <\/span>In total he had over 25,000 flights in his career. He retired in 1971 as a lieutenant colonel.<\/p>\n

Patton\u2019s father also served as an Army aviation officer. Following 9\/11, Patton\u2019s father received training on specialized helicopters but was never deployed. He has now retired and uses his flight skills to pilot the Vanderbilt Life-flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Patton is contracted to serve as an officer in the Army for eight years following college and intends either to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and enter the Aviation branch of the Army or pursue a career in Military Intelligence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Patton believes Veterans Day is an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices his father and grandfather made to give him the life he has now.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather and my dad both set aside many of their own personal matters to selflessly serve the United States of America, and for that I am grateful,\u201d Patton said. \u201cAs I prepare to serve in our nation\u2019s Army, I constantly look to my family lineage for inspiration\u2026 Motivated by those in my family who have gone before me, I hope to serve, no matter what my career path may be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Patton is one of the 24 students in the ROTC included among the various student veterans on campus, according to assistant professor of history and faculty liaison for ROTC Shawn Fisher. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c(Our student veterans) are from every branch of the armed forces,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cSome are in the Reserve or National Guard, others serve on active duty. Some of our student veterans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and others have just completed their preliminary training.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

To demonstrate the effect of veterans on the student body, Fisher also spoke of the number of family members of veterans currently enrolled.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a far greater number of military dependents on campus than we do veterans,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cThese are the children or spouses of a service member, many of which are using the educational benefits granted to them from a veteran.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To celebrate these student veterans and the veterans of the community, the American Studies Institute (ASI) hosted a Veterans Breakfast today in Cone Chapel at 7:30 a.m.. This is the third annual breakfast, and according to Excutive Director of ASI Kim Kirkman, last year there were approximately 120 veterans and guests in attendance.<\/span><\/p>\n

The intent of the breakfast was to thank local veterans as well as give students an opportunity to meet some of the men and women who fought for their freedom, Kirkman said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is amazing to meet so many of the veterans that live in Searcy and White County,\u201d Kirkman said.\u201d I enjoy hearing their stories of their experiences. I get a personal connection to our American history that cannot be read from a book. It is nice to have time to honor these men and women who have served our country so well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fisher urges students to ask veterans questions. He said older veterans are especially eager to talk about their stories and have many lessons they want to pass down to younger generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cListening and spending time with someone is a great way to show appreciation and to show love,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cIf all you have time for is to say, \u2018Thank you for your service,\u2019 fair enough. But if your grandfather, father, brother, uncle or even just a fellow church-goer is a veteran, ask them about their service and then listen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To freshman ROTC cadet Fraizer Thompson, the annual breakfast is an opportunity to commune with those who have served.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough fellowshipping with veterans, I believe that the community can better understand them, this country and why those men and women risked their lives for our sake,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cI also believe that through opportunities like this breakfast, American communities can gain better understanding of how much American soldiers need the support of those back home.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Patton said the breakfast reminds students of the importance of Veterans Day and encourages them to reach out to men and women in the service.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my hope that others will learn to respect and honor Veterans Day because it reflects the selflessness that many show through serving in our nation\u2019s Armed Forces,\u201d Patton said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thompson agreed, urging that students remember it doesn\u2019t have to be a holiday to encourage veterans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c(Veterans Day) reminds us that we have the responsibility to give back to them not only one day in a year, but all the days in a year,\u201d Thompson said.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Written by Alexandria Regida and Raianne Mason<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Serving in the Armed Forces runs in the family for junior Reserve Officer\u2019s Training Corps (ROTC) cadet Perry Patton. Both Patton\u2019s father and grandfather served in the U.S. military. Patton\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15079,"featured_media":9748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15079"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}