By Jay An, Contributing Writer
It was a cloudy and windy day, but that did not stop the Director of the Office of Military Affairs and Services, Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Braue, from organizing the Veterans Day ceremony on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 8.
The Veterans Day ceremony was planned to start with a parachute performance by the U.S. team but was canceled due to the weather that day.
The president of Saint Leo University, Edward Dadez, headed up on stage and shared that Saint Leo is the only university in the country that offers a four-year bachelor’s degree in veteran’s studies. Also, since 1973, Saint Leo has been dedicated to helping those who serve in any military branch.
The keynote speaker, General Raymond A. “Tony” Thomas III came up to the stage and enticed the audience with his military story. Thomas joined the military in 1976, a year after Saigon fell at the tail-end of the Vietnam War. Thomas was the Commander of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) spending about 40 years in the military.
“You cannot take the support of the American people for granted.” Thomas said, acknowledging the Vietnam veterans that attended to the ceremony. Thomas and the other veterans were supported by the American people after 40 years, yet he advised the servicemembers that they “must earn the support” of the American people.
Thomas added that the country needs the incoming servicemembers to be “our best and brightest to pursue serving this great country.”
After the ceremony, when asked about the purpose of the event, Dr. Larry Braue said, “Saint Leo has been serving military service members for 50 years, so this is a way for us to kick off that celebration.”
“Veterans Day is coming up on the 11, but because the University is closed for Veterans Day, getting them here on Tuesday was a better option,” said Braue. “We kind of expected to have parachute jump, but obviously with the weather, that was canceled. But I was expecting to have a wonderful guest speaker in General Thomas, who provided some very compelling words for our audience, and he delivered.”
Some students commented on their expectations of the event, and they felt inspired by the ceremony.
“I was for sure hoping for the parachute jump up, unfortunately, the winds are too severe for parachutes to land, but as far as expectations go, everything was expected as normal.” said Matt Yesair, a student majoring in criminal justice and specializing in homeland security.
“I think the mood was fairly well across all people, maybe some people felt inspired to join the military or maybe to think about it, and some people gave some expressed feelings about how their service in the military.” Yesair continued.
Yesair also gave advice to those who are interested in joining the military.
“The important thing is to do your research prior to it […] a lot of people go with the notion that they’re going to join and then get whatever they want done after they join.” Yesair said. “But you need to know what you want to do before you go in to really understand the whole concept of the military, understand the terminologies […] So, if anything, I would highly suggest for each and every individual who is going to join to do their research and know what they really want prior to it.”
In conclusion, as Dr. Larry Braue said earlier, the ceremony was a success despite the weather, but it didn’t stop veterans from coming over to the ceremony and students coming to offer their support. Saint Leo looks forward to the next event soon. Happy Veterans Day!
