BENTONVILLE -- Todd Kitchen admitted to having second thoughts about his decision to enlist in the U.S. Army immediately upon arriving at basic training in 1989.
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"I'm done. You got to get me out of here," he recalled telling his mother during a phone call home from Fort Knox, Ky.
White Table Ceremony
Laura Cates, a Northwest Arkansas Community College staff member, explained the symbolism involved in the White Table Ceremony, represented by a small table set up in a corner of the room with a white tablecloth and a table setting for one person.
The table was in remembrance of prisoners of war and those who are missing in action. An inverted glass on the table, for example, was a reminder “they cannot toast with us this night,” Cates said. Salt on the plate represented the tears of family members of the missing. A chair tipped against the table represented that seat was saved for the missing in hopes they will return safely.
Source: Staff report
His mother sternly rejected his plea and told him to "suck it up," as Kitchen put it.
Kitchen, vice president of student services at Northwest Arkansas Community College, was the featured speaker Wednesday at the college's annual Veterans Day program, an event that attracted several dozen students, staff members and community members.
Kitchen initially was motivated to join the Army to earn money for college, but he wound up staying in the military for nine years. He quickly learned new respect for the U.S. flag, for which nearly 1.5 million Americans have died since World War I, he said.
He read a poem, "I Am the Flag," by Ruth Apperson Rous. He also recalled special orders drilled into him by the Army: honor the service of U.S. veterans, respect the flag, and thank a veteran at every opportunity.
Several students who are veterans also spoke at the event.
Maxine Filcher joined the Army National Guard in 2004 when she was 17 years old. She was deployed in Iraq for 18 months. Coming out of the National Guard years later, she said she lacked direction.
"I lost my sense of self and lost control," she said.
But Filcher, with the help of her husband, got back on track and ended up at the college studying computer science. The college has been an integral part of her transition, she said.
"When I started classes last year, I worried I wouldn't find my place. That hasn't been the case," she said.
She plans to attend the University of Washington to study cybersecurity, she said.
The college's Veterans Resources Department advises all veterans on campus, said Dianna Portillo, the department's director.
"I'm just glad she gave us that honor of trying to get her back on track," Portillo said. "It's been our pleasure and I'm glad she picked us."
Joshua Covert, another student at the college, shared his experience as a respiratory therapist in the U.S. Air Force.
"For my whole career I served veterans. You learn to appreciate the service and commitment veterans put in to the service of their country," Covert said.
Veterans of the most recent wars in the Middle East are "an interesting breed," he said.
"They are extremely humble and quiet. They have probably dealt with more problems, trouble and strife," Covert said.
Also among the speakers was Army Sgt. 1st Class Jean Generau, who is based in Rogers as a recruiter. Generau, who spent time in Iraq working in psychological operations, has been a soldier since 1986 and a recruiter since 2008. She described it as the most interesting job she's had.
Asked about Veterans Day, she said, "I don't think of what I do as something I need to be thanked for. But it's a nice day to meet people who want to come up and say thanks."
In conjunction with the program, students from professor Chris Huggard's service learning class ran a fundraiser for the Josh McCandless Scholarship. They sold food from a cookout and started a silent auction of 22 items including paintings, a chocolate gift basket and baseball tickets.
They raised $858 from the cookout. The auction is ongoing, Portillo said.
McCandless, a former student at the college, initiated the scholarship as part of a service-learning project in 2013. He is veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and a Purple Heart recipient.
Metro on 11/12/2015