We should honor veterans by giving them jobs and providing them with job training

By David A. Sam
Germanna Community College President

When I was young, I vividly remember my mother making a point to buy a poppy for each of us to wear on our clothing for “Remembrance Day,” as she still called November 11. We know it as Veterans’ Day, but she was born November 30, 1918, just nineteen days after the guns fell silent to end the War to End all Wars, and that is what the day was called when she was a child. She always reminded me of 11-11-11 because the Armistice took effect on November 11 at 11 am.

Today is another 11-11-11. And, unhappily, many wars have followed.

Today, at both Germanna Community College campuses, students, faculty, staff and community members read from the roll of those who have died in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today we also pause to thank our veterans and remember those not here to be thanked. It is the least we can do.

We can also:

- hire a veteran
- retrain a veteran
- assist a veteran in trouble
- pray for those who are serving and have served
or just feel a deep gratitude in our hearts for those who have answered the call and stood their ground so we can live without having to defend ourselves.

The poppies we wore memorialized the poppy fields in Flanders where many Americans lie instead of having come home. Around the cemetery, many battles were fought in the Ypres region. Heavy fighting over the years of the war cost about a million casualties. The battles were memorialized in a famous poem by a veteran of that war:

The poppies we were memorialized the poppy fields in Flanders where many Americans lie instead of having come home. Around the cemetery, many battles were fought in the Ypres region. Heavy fighting over the years of the war cost about a million casualties. The battles were memorialized in a famous poem by a veteran of that war:
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Veterans Department web site

Community invited to participate in GCC reading the names of the 6,200-plus casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan

To volunteer to be a reader, please call Kathryn A. Denner at 540/423-9123 or email her at kdenner@germanna.edu.

Members of the community are encouraged to join Germanna students, faculty and staff in a nationwide grass-roots effort to honor American service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade.
On Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, campus and community volunteers at more than 170 college and universities across the nation will spend eight hours reading the names of the 6,200-plus casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, now called Operation New Dawn.
The reading of the names will take nearly eight hours to complete as readers announce the names in chronological order.
Each GCC campus (both at Locust Grove and Fredericksburg) participating in Remembrance Day National Roll Call will organize its own full day of reading of names. At the two Germanna campuses, the readings will begin at 8:45 a.m.

Volunteer at the 2011 Marine Corps Half Marathon

The Germanna Student Veteran’s Association needs your support. Volunteer at the Marine Corps Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, representing Germanna Community College by passing out water to thirsty runners at Water Station No. 5.
Volunteers will need to commit from the hours of 6:00am to 10:30am on Sunday, May 15.
Directions for volunteer registration are as follows:
1. To register for the event, click on the following link:
http://www.marinemarathon.com/Register/Volunteer.htm
2. Click on the middle grey box that states “ Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon Join a Volunteer Group”
3. Group name is “Germanna Community College”
4. Password is “Dodgers10” make sure you capitalize the “D”
5. You will be asked to fill out the volunteer registration form and sent a confirmation email shortly after with further directions on the volunteering protocol
Students, staff, faculty, friends and family may join our volunteer group.
If you have any questions about volunteering or running the race, you may email GSVA club advisor Shelly Palomino at apalomino@germanna.edu or GSVA club president Meggen Sliger at mms2746@email.vccs.edu .
Volunteer Registration Deadline is April 27th!

Thanks for your support!
Germanna Student Veteran’s Association