Celebrating Veterans Day
Jim Pierson is a Chatham professor, chair of the business department, program director of the MBA and a veteran of the US Military. On Veterans Day 2019, he shares his perspective as we celebrate the veterans among our community.
Jim Pierson, Chatham Faculty and US Veteran
Veterans Day in America is recognized on Armistice Day, the day many countries celebrate the ending of major hostilities of World War I, which were ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, 101 years ago. Veterans day is a U.S. holiday to celebrate the service of all U.S. military veterans.
In a teaching moment relative to grammar and purpose, note that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides that the proper grammar for Veterans Day is the attributive (no apostrophe) rather than the possessive case for use as the official spelling “because it is not a day that ‘belongs’ to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans.”
As an army veteran who served seven years on active duty and one year in the active army reserves, by luck of history during peace time, I am very conscious and sensitive about Veterans Day, what it means to me, but also what it means to my fellow veterans. By my nature, I am not a flag waving, easily identifiable veteran. Like most veterans, I fly below the radar, busy with my life after military service. Although there are not many of us in the Chatham community, we indeed have veterans in our community as students, staff, faculty (both adjunct and full-time), and alumni.
Each veteran enters military service for various reasons: adventure, opportunity, the need for an immediate job and money, and the potential for college tuition benefits. But whether they acknowledge it or not, they also wanted to serve their country. They wanted to be part of history, not read about history. They are doers, they step forward. They don’t leave it for others to do.
Service to your country does not come free. Each veteran walks their own path, all risk being thrown into harm’s way, who will be thrown into harm’s way, and when is an unknown. Even in peace time, military duty is far more dangerous than people realize. I served in between major conflicts in Vietnam and Iraq, yet as a medic picked up the bodies of several soldiers killed in training accidents with tanks and jets. I also attended memorial services for young soldiers who died in various peace time helicopter training missions. If your military service time overlapped military conflict, the dangers you saw and personally faced increased tremendously. Each veteran has their own stories and thinks about and sees the faces and sights of those they served with on Veterans Day or moments of quiet reflection.
Being a veteran in some ways is the greatest denominator in life. Whether we came into the military rich or poor, black, brown, or white, any gender, we get each other. We don’t say much. We aren’t the touch feely types. But we are visceral. We know the tremendous highs and thrills of military service. But we also know the obligations and dangers it presents. We are grateful we had the opportunity to serve and we are grateful to come back home. And we know our fellow veterans have our backs.
Parades and speeches from politicians and community leaders are nice, but what I suspect many veterans most appreciate is the simple gesture of “thank you” from family, colleagues, friends and neighbors, people that matter most to them. Please join me in saluting and honoring our veterans on Veterans Day in our academic community and in your neighborhoods and personal network who have dedicated years of their life in service to something bigger than themselves, in the tradition of the brave veterans, fallen and unfallen, who have gone before them.
James J. Pierson
Business Department Chair, MBA Program Director & Assistant Professor