November 6, 2024 • 43 mins
Since its founding days, Canyons District schools have planned assemblies, activities, and learning opportunities to mark the importance of Veterans Day. As Veterans Day 2024 approaches, Connect Canyons gives voice to CSD employees who have given so much of themselves in the service if our country. In this edition, released just days before the Monday, Nov. 11 federal holiday, we talk with HR Administrator and Navy veteran Everett Perry, Brighton High teacher and Army veteran Derek Chandler, and Jordan High Naval National Defense Cadet Corps coordinator Jonathan Ward. Our guests share why they chose to join the military, how their time in the military changed them as people, and how their service as soldiers and sailors impacted their work in education. “You know, it doesn't matter what you do. You're supporting the Constitution,” Ward says. “You're defending the Constitution, and the freedoms that we enjoy in this United States of America today is a direct result of our military personnel, and that's what I would like people to realize: these veterans are heroes.”
Episode Chapters
The End of World War I and Veterans Day
We explore the reason Veterans Day is held in November and not marked on the same day as the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
01:40 Everett Perry's U.S. Armed Forces Journey
CSD Human Resources Administrator Everett Perry shares what drove him to join the military and how the recommendation of one man led to saving dozens of lives.
05:42 Brighton teacher Derek Chandler's Unexpected Path to the U.S. Army
Art educator Derek Chandler explains how his path was never meant to lead to the military — but then one turn, followed by the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack, changed his life.
12:37 Jonathan Ward's Musical Service in the Military
Jonathan Ward explains how music led to his time in the service and brought him back to education and spearheading Jordan High’s new Navy National Defense Cadet Corps program.
19:25 Jordan High's New Naval Program
Jordan’s Navy National Defense Cadet Corps is in its inaugural year. Ward talks about how the first year is going, his hopes for the program in the coming years, and the program’s impact on students.
25:55 Military Influence on Personal Growth
Our veterans share how their time in the military changed them personally and the impact their service has had on how they approach working in education.
33:58 Veterans Day Programs
Canyons District has a storied history of honoring our local veterans with Veterans Day programs. Perry shares how they have provided him an opportunity to share his own families’ stories.
40:24 Message to Students on Veterans Day
Our veterans share what they want Canyons students to know about veterans and why we celebrate Veterans Day.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by
Canyon School District.
This is a show about what weteach, how we teach and why we
get up close and personal withsome of the people who make our
schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more.
We meet national experts too.
Learning is about makingconnections, so connect with us
(00:24):
experts too.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Learning is about making connections, so connect
with us In 1918, a temporarycessation of hostilities was
called between the Alliednations and Germany, effectively
ending World War I.
It went into effect in the 11thhour of the 11th day of the
(00:45):
11th month, while the officialTreaty of Versailles was not
signed until June of thefollowing year.
Veterans Day has continued tobe honored on November 11th.
The end of the war.
To end all wars.
Welcome to Connect Canyons.
I'm your host, frances Cook.
Here at Canyon School District,we strive to honor our veterans
on a daily basis in gratitudefor their service.
As we're approaching VeteransDay, we strive to honor our
(01:05):
veterans on a daily basis ingratitude for their service.
As we're approaching VeteransDay, we wanted to have a special
episode where we hear from afew of our own veterans.
Joining me today are EverettPerry, canyon's Human Resources
Administrator and Navy Veteran,derek Chandler, head of the
Brighton High School ArtDepartment and Army Veteran, as
well as Navy veteran JonathanWard, who oversees the new Navy
(01:27):
National Defense Cadet Corps atJordan High.
Gentlemen, thank you for yourservice and thank you for
joining us today.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I'd love to start with really just your decision
to join the military.
Everett, would you mindstarting us off?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
So my decision to join the military started when I
was 17 years old.
I was in high school.
I had nothing going for me, Ihad 2.1 grade point average and
realized that I come from a bluecollar family.
I didn't qualify forscholarships and I said you know
, I do want to go to schooleventually.
So I looked into militaryservice.
Navy just jumped out at me and Iwas going to be a diesel
(02:04):
mechanic, heavy diesel mechanic.
So I took the ASVAB.
I did all that stuff.
I went in and when I got toMEPS, the Military Entrance
Processing Center up there atFort Douglas, some guy sitting
at a desk said hey, you know,your ASVAB score is not really
diesel mechanic.
You should really go intomedicine or something else.
And well, no, I'm not qualifiedfor that.
And he goes yeah, you are Letto medicine or something else.
(02:24):
And well, no, I'm not qualified.
And he goes yeah, you're, let'sjust put you in this.
So we're going to make you aNavy corpsman.
I had no idea what that was.
I, truly, 17 year old, I had noclue.
So I just said okay and I signedup.
That was early entry, april of1986.
And I went to bootcamp.
Seven days after graduation,june 7th, I went to bootcamp.
(02:46):
I had a really tough boot camp.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I had to go to San Diego you know really tough
environment to have to be in,especially in June.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
I did my boot camp and ended up going to A school
which is core school, and thatwas again a really tough duty
station.
I had to go to Naval HospitalBalboa in San Diego, another
really tough duty station, itwas the old hospital and the old
barracks.
But I did my core school andthen I went to FMF school, fleet
Marine Force, which is your,basically your Navy corpsman.
(03:12):
You're a medic for the Marinesand I went to Pendleton to do
that part.
So I did the Marine side andthen Desert Storm rolled around.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Also in San Diego.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Well, you know a little North La Jolla.
I actually got called up August25th of 1990.
I was to replace the backfillof the corpsman that got
deployed to the sand and I wasup in Bremerton at Puget Sound
Naval Shipyard so I served upthere for a full year during
deployment.
We were the first Navy unit tobe recalled since Vietnam.
In fact we were the firstreserve unit to be recalled
(03:43):
since Vietnam.
And it was my fault Vietnam, Infact, we were the first reserve
unit to be recalled sinceVietnam, and it was my fault.
So my unit was not trained.
We had 80 people in our unit,we were medical and we sat
around on eight, 16 hours everyweekend doing pretty much
nothing, and yet I had doctors,nurses and others and we said
this is dumb, so let's get someequipment which I got donated
from hospitals, and we startedtraining and we became T1 and R1
, training, ready and readinesslevel one, and we were the only
(04:06):
Navy unit that in fact the onlyreserve unit was fully T1, R1.
And so we were the first unitcalled and we left August 25th.
I still remember the call at830 in the morning.
My lieutenant called me andsaid by the way, we're recalling
.
I said nice try.
He said no report by noon andbring your bag, we're going.
We were on a plane by one, so atone o'clock I was on an
(04:26):
airplane flying up to SeaTac andthen transported over to Puget
Sound because their corpsman hadalready left.
They were on their way to thesand, to Riyadh, and so we took
over their space and I was atthe shipyard there running the
emergency room, eight bed ER, 21bed occupational clinic and
three ambulances for a year.
And then midway through gotpulled into my FMF side, my
(04:48):
Marine Corps side, when FastCompany, the Fleet
Anti-Terrorism Security TeamCompany, came to Bremerton for
security purposes and needed adoc.
So I got attached to theanti-terrorism team and became
their corpsman.
So I would work four days aweek at the clinic and three
days a week with the Marines andvice versa, and did that for a
(05:08):
year and then after that I did atotal of eight years, got out,
realized it's time not to re-upbecause I developed an allergy
to bullets.
They react badly in my body andso shrapnel and bullets do bad
things.
So it's a good unit, but it's aboots on ground and 12-hour
unit.
So if something bad happens asan embassy or otherwise, our
units the one that would be sentin to go take care of it and I
(05:31):
decided that I'm going to raisea family.
That's probably not a goodenvironment, but I did eight
years, got an honorabledischarge and I've been happy
that I did it and I don'tremember all the bad things,
right.
You kind of focus on the goodstuff.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Sure, yeah, Derek.
How about you?
I was a little bit different.
I had no intentions at all ofever joining up.
I graduated high school.
I was a Taylorsville warrior,so born and raised here in Utah
and suddenly I find myself 20,21 years old and I'm going to
Salt Lake Community College, butI'm pulling B's and C's.
I don't really know what I wantto do with my life.
(06:06):
I broke up with my longtimegirlfriend and I said enough's
enough, I need to go on and dosomething bigger and better.
So, having no idea what I wasdoing, I just walked into a
recruiter station.
I didn't have a preference,other than when I was a little
boy I played army, playedsoldier.
So I walked in and asked him ifI could sign up and I made his
(06:28):
whole day.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
That never happens.
That's not how it happens, yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
So I did.
I signed up.
It was April.
I was shipped off in June,south Carolina, one of the
biggest training bases inAmerica, and I didn't even know
that you had a job in the Army,I didn't know.
So when they came time to pickyour MOS, I said, well, I'm just
going to basic training fornine weeks.
And they're like no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
(06:54):
That's where you start, that'swhere you become a soldier.
Then you can find an occupation.
I'm like, I'm, I can go toschool full time.
I can, like, really get my lifestarted.
And I went to South Carolinaand I was at Fort Jackson and we
(07:15):
finished our final rock marchto become a soldier much later
than we thought.
I was there in the dead ofsummer, from June to the
beginning of September.
And the humidity, and I washospitalized because from Utah,
you don't know about humiditylike that, so I didn't know
about body powder, I didn't know.
Anyways, long story short, ourgraduation day was September
(07:43):
12th of 2001.
So on 9-11, I was cleaning myboots and my gear and suddenly
our drill sergeant musters us,gets everyone together and they
start wheeling in TVs andturning it on.
We're like, oh, this is justanother muster drill.
So this is just, and you knowChina's attacking or you know we
would always have these wherewe had to go, go, go within 24
hours Simulations.
And then we watched the firstor the second plane crash.
(08:06):
This was in the morning I wason the East Coast and when they
opened up the phones to any NewYork residents to try to get a
hold of family members, whenthey opened up anyone on the
East Coast, when they lockeddown the base, that's when we
went.
This is real and the army Ithought I had joined was no
longer, no longer.
(08:31):
So priorities change real quickwhen, instead of graduation,
you're having my parents and myum previous girlfriend, now wife
, happily married.
Um, nothing makes the heartgrow fonder than you know
distance.
But, um, they were trying toboard a plane, and this was
early on in the days of cellphones, and I mean we, like.
They had been dropped off andthe airport was shut down.
So, um, really quickly, I knewmy life was going to change.
I did go to Fort Bliss, texas.
(08:53):
It could not be worsely named.
It is one of the worst placesin the world, right on the
borders of El Paso.
Did my MOS training there.
I picked the shortest MOS Icould get for training wise
because I didn't want to be gonefor long.
So it was six weeks to become atruck driver, so 88 Mike.
I had no idea what that wouldinvolve but I was about to have
(09:13):
backbreaking work and anyways, Ilove those 10 ton trucks.
I did come back to Utah.
The next biggest event afternine 11 for the nation that was
potential terrorist threat wasright here in Utah with the
winter Olympics.
So, I got activated right away.
I got home at the end ofOctober.
I was activated by December,went up to Colorado to do some
train ups and whatnot, and so weended up spending six weeks 12
(09:38):
hour shifts on, 12 hours off,driving around the national
guard and EOD FBI to all thedifferent events, and we were
driving at two in the morning,six in the morning, I mean
nonstop, and on this private 2and driving around 60-pack buses
with all these guys.
Anyways, long story short, Iended up.
I knew Iraq was coming.
The writing was on the wall.
(09:58):
We had gone into Afghanistanalready and I love being a
reservist, nothing against beinga weekend warrior.
But if I was going to go andput my life on the line, I
wanted to do it with a group ofguys that lived, ate and
breathed soldier.
So I went active duty that Julyand, of course, immediately got
stationed in Germany.
So my wife and I had justbarely gotten married that April
(10:21):
and she was planning on comingover with me.
Except when I got to Germanythey told me I was going to be
deployed to Kosovo for ninemonths.
So that was out.
So, she ended up staying andliving with my parents while I
did K4.
It was a peacekeeping mission.
Nine months doing that Finallygot back to Germany.
I was stationed in the south ofGermany and just 11 miles away
(10:43):
from Grafenwoehr where ElvisPresley did his training and
fell in love with Germany.
I could not have been morehappy.
My wife ended up did, comingover finally making it, and we
were so happy we were going tobe together.
And then we invaded Iraq.
So I was part of OIF too.
I wasn't home for more thanmaybe six months.
In those six months we were inthe field half the time training
(11:04):
anyways.
We I was.
It was a tank battalion, so bigM1A1 Abrams tanks, and I was a
truck driver.
So we were either hauling 2,000gallons of fuel, which is
really fun when you get shot at,or I was hauling ammunition or
food supplies of that nature.
And I was a .50 cal gunner inIraq, so did 13 months boots on
the ground in Iraq, stationednorth of it was outside of a
(11:29):
little place called Bakuba.
It was in the Diyala province,which they really liked Saddam
Hussein, because he made themall very rich, and so when we
came in and ousted him they werenot happy with us, but I was
part of a really good unit.
Our sister unit took heavycasualties, but our unit we were
able to really do some positivethings, get some ends with the
natives, some goodintel.
(11:50):
I was a corporal with a groupof five guys through Iraq.
We all came home with all ofour fingers and toes and same
kind of deal.
I knew what I didn't want to doanymore once I got home.
So I went back to being areservist.
After three years of activeduty, went to the University of
Utah, the Montgomery GI Bill.
I used all of that and thenthey said hey, if you were in
(12:10):
the war on terror, here'sanother 10,000.
And hey, if you serve for 9-11,here's another 10,000.
So I was able to go to schoolfull time and make more money
doing that.
The reservists at the time theyhad a really good deal where
they just waived your tuition.
So I was getting the MontgomeryGI Bill.
That was going to nothing butmy living situation and I could
not.
I would never take it back.
Love my experiences.
(12:31):
I've talked way too long, butthat's that.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Well, thank you for sharing that, jonathan.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So if I get a little emotional, I got to apologize
because I'm five days being aveteran.
I just actually left activeduty five days ago.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Congratulations.
No apology needed.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And I love listening to veterans and I love their
stories.
These two gentlemen here.
It's phenomenal and I thinkmore veterans need to.
We need to hear their storiesbecause defend freedom,
democracy around the world.
There's there's less than onehalf of 1% of the United States
population that actually gets toserve in our country, whatever
(13:14):
service you choose.
So it's phenomenal.
But I had quite a bit differentstory than these two gentlemen.
So I went to Utah State,graduated in music education and
then went to University ofLouisville in music performance.
And while I was at theUniversity of Louisville I saw a
little sign on the bulletinboard that says hey, get paid to
(13:35):
play.
Well, that's what I was doing,I'm a musician.
So I went out and auditionedfor the Army Reserve Band, 101st
Division in Fort Knox, kentucky, joined them for three years,
fort Knox, kentucky, joined themfor three years, and then, when
I graduated from University ofLouisville, I wanted to do it
full time.
Actually, I taught school for acouple of years as a band
(13:56):
director and realized that I wasnot performing.
And someone came through myreserve unit and says, hey, if
you really want to play, you gotto go check out the Navy.
So I checked out the Navy andin the Navy music program you
have to audition to get in andyou got to go check out the Navy
.
So I checked out the Navy, andin the Navy music program you
have to audition to get in andyou have to.
It's pretty difficult to get inand so I auditioned for the
Navy music program.
What was able to get in thatsituation?
(14:18):
And basically, 27 years later,here I am.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
I have served.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
There's really nine units in the Navy music program
that I could go, and I think Iserved in most of them in the
States.
I was able to get over to Italy,and one of the really cool
experiences I had when I was inItaly we were requested to
perform in Iraq, and so theysent the band down to Baghdad,
(14:47):
and what was really wild is thatI felt almost like the
president of the United States,because when we blew into that
airport and then we were drivingto the embassy there is that I
had an armored suburban on oneside.
An armored suburban on theother side had an armored
suburban in front of us.
I had an armored suburbanbehind us.
We were wearing fullbulletproof jackets, we were
(15:08):
wearing helmet, we were wearingfull bulletproof jackets, we
were wearing helmet, we werewearing all the gear.
And so there's this convoygoing down the street.
I go holy cow, this must bewhat the president feels like,
or anybody from the Senate,every time they move.
And so we actually touredSaddam Hussein's palace, which
is still bombed out at the time.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
Golden toilets, but my service was phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I've played for presidents.
I've played for presidents,I've played for dignitaries, I
played for the president of Iraqat that place.
So it has been.
I have nothing bad to say aboutmy service in the military and
I think the further removed fromit, like you said, I will
remember none of the bad times,because there's challenging
times, challenging times theseparations from family, the
(15:51):
long deployments.
You know missing everythingthat you can imagine that your
kids are doing.
Missing birthdays,anniversaries, everything you
can imagine.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
You know you give up, but man, to serve your country
and the camaraderie that youfill with your unit it's
indescribable Learning to standin attention and fall asleep
while having your eyes open.
Oh, my goodness, all thosemoments I can't Queuing in a
line somewhere.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
So we're not going to remember the bad times right,
exactly.
We're just going to rememberthe powerful moments that you
affect change and I'll tell you.
I got to tell you one morething.
So, as a musician for 27 yearsI've played musician One of the
most powerful things I've everseen is when I'm marching a
parade and I see a veteranthat's sitting in a wheelchair,
(16:33):
that he's got oxygen and as wemarch by with the flag right in
front of us, they will struggleto stand with tears running down
their eyes.
You just can't describe that andyou don't know, unless you
served to be quite honest withyou.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You know it's funny.
I wish I could figure out whothat guy was at MEPS right back
in 1986, who that was that toldme to go into core school,
because I'd love to go meet himtoday, if he's alive, and come
back and say, listen, you know,you've saved 32 people's lives.
That's amazing.
I mean in's in my career.
That was 32 people I was ableto save their life in some way.
(17:09):
Whether it's bleeding out orheart attacks or whatever 32
people's lives from that guy.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Because he made a suggestion, Because that guy
said why?
Speaker 4 (17:17):
don't you go into medical?
I'm like I don't know anything.
I know first aid from BoyScouts, but I mean seriously.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I'm not in that anymore.
I mean the good that themilitary has done, especially in
the Gulf War and things likethat.
You're a lot of the negativethings, but what you did over
there in the Gulf War, that's Imean that's.
I was never able other thanplaying for dignitaries.
I was never in a combat zone ornever able to.
But you know we were musicians,are kind of the face of the
(17:46):
Navy because, the people thathave never seen Navy before.
They see a military band come inand play in uniform and they
equivalent us to the military,and so so, in my own little way,
I think I did something, but Imean what you gentlemen did.
That was phenomenal.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Every service is going to be different.
It's not equal, it's justequally honorable.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
You talk about how the band is kind of the face of
the Navy.
I remember, even as a kid, wewere stationed at Hill Air Force
Base, which is actually where Iwas born, and then we moved
around quite a bit and came backand I remember every year going
to see Tops in Blue, which isthe Air Force choir, and just
(18:28):
had I joined the military theywould have been.
Why Hands down?
I want to do that, I want totour the world and sing in a
choir, but it truly is kind of asymbol, if you will.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Now you're going to have to hold me to it, but next
year they're doing Salt LakeNavy Week.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
And.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Salt Lake Navy Week.
I just recently came from aNavy band in Southwest where I
was playing in a band there, butthey actually come up and
perform for Navy.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Week Salt Lake.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
City.
So what I'm trying to dobecause I still have huge
connections down there is I'mtrying to get them to come up
and I'm sorry you might have tocome over to Jordan to hear them
.
But I'm trying to get them tocome up and I'm sorry you might
have to come over to Jordan tohear them but I'm trying to get
my band to come up to Jordan.
It's a rock band and put on aconcert for my Jordan High
School, so I'm hoping that'llhappen.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I'm working on it.
You guys heard it here first.
I'd love to actually that's agreat segue, if you will into
what's going on at Jordan Highright now.
This is the inaugural year forJordan High's Naval program.
Can you talk to us about whatthe program is and how this
first kind of you know?
(19:38):
In sports they call it abuilding year.
How's that going for you?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
So currently we have 32 Naval cadets and those 32
Naval cadets are Really excitedabout the program.
We actually because it's takena while.
I didn't get here until a weekbefore school and so we
basically had our first uniformday, because one of the
(20:03):
requirements is you wear auniform one day a week, and they
wore them for the first timetwo weeks ago.
Because it's taken that long toget my uniforms in and get them
all situated and things likethat.
So the cadets were really,really excited and get my
uniforms in and get them allsituated and things like that.
So the cadets were really,really excited.
We are what's called, as yousaid in your opening, a Navy
National Defense Cadet Corps,which means we're in our
inaugural.
We want to be an NJROTC unit,which I think most people
(20:25):
understand clear, and we're notquite there yet.
We have to maintain certainstandards for three years before
the Navy will come in and say,yeah, we're going to fund your
program.
Right now, canyons District isfunding the program, but it's
really fantastic because whatI've seen in Jordan High School
and maybe Canyons District,because I have multiple cadets
coming from different highschools throughout the canyon,
(20:45):
because you're able to come.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
So if anybody's listened to this from any of the
high schools in Canyon District, come on over.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Is that there's not a whole lot of military awareness
in this district.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
In the state, yeah, in the state, outside of.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Oregon and as I talk to cadets about, hey, what do
you think about maybe looking atthe military as a career path
besides college or trade schoolor going into the workforce?
They're just not aware of it.
So I think having a NavyNational Defense Career Corps or
NJRTC program, I think it'sbringing great awareness and the
first thing we do is it's acitizenship development program.
(21:20):
This is not a recruitingprogram for the military, it's
also a leadership developmentprogram.
So within the unit, you know,I've got my cadet commanding
officer, I've got my cadetexecutive officer, I've got my
senior enlisted cadet, I've gotmy admin officer, I've got my PA
enlisted cadet.
I've got my admin officer, I'vegot my PAO public affairs
(21:40):
officer, I've got my supplyofficer.
So we're giving all of thesecadets opportunity to grow and
lead and really become morefamiliar with the military.
So I think it's going prettygood, but we can always use more
.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Well, and you'll be competing as well.
I mean I can't quite do my16-count manual arms anymore.
I mean it's been a few years,but again you'll be competing as
well.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
And part of that program is there's teams.
What you're referring to isthere's teams associated with it
.
So I have an orienteering team,I've got a drill team, I've got
an unarmed team which aren'tfunctioning yet because I don't
really have the equipment to dothat, and so they're learning
drill.
They're learning military,everything about the military.
(22:20):
We actually competed atorienteering meet here about
three weeks ago and we ended uptaking third in state, which was
really kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
for a very small unit , that's great.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
So we're coming along , we're slowly building the
program, but I'm really excitedthat this gives cadets, this
gives students in the districtJordan and the school district
an opportunity to belong tosomething that maybe they don't
fit into athletics, or maybethey don't fit into band, or
maybe they don't fit into someof the other clubs.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
This gives them a place where they can come and
feel that camaraderie and reallyexcel.
Yeah, so that'saderie andreally excel.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
So that's a little bit about it.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
That's beautiful.
Like you were talking aboutearlier, it's that camaraderie
feeling, in that it becomes afamily of sorts.
And I think to your point.
We have Hill Air Force Base butunless you live in Ogden or
Layton or that area, it's not asbig.
When you're referring to, say,camp Williams and things like
(23:17):
that, utah is definitely not aColorado Springs where your
entire community is built aroundmilitary, you know, great Salt
Lake, those big ships out there.
Right, right.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
You see carriers every day, you know all the time
, most sorties every day, andthat's been of interest because
throughout my military career itwas a little different in that
I was either at a training base,so I wasn't in the surrounding
area, because they lock us downpretty good.
And then, when I was stationedin Germany, we were either going
into Germany and hanging outwith the Europeans, which was
(23:49):
fantastic, or we were on base.
And it's almost like when youwent on vacation because you're
already over there, it's likeyou didn't want to see any
Americans.
You know you want to get in theculture, yeah.
And so by the time I got backand I was a reservist I hadn't
really lived in those manysubcultures, because the
military, it's just Americaunder a microscope.
I mean, it's every walk of lifeIn Iraq.
(24:12):
We have cell phones and satphones were still really limited
, so we had a call center, not acall center.
It was like basically eightphones, you know, in a blown out
base and we would line up andyou would wait for hours in line
to get in.
And one of my favorite storiesis the Georgians at the time, I
think south of Russia, thosetype of Georgians.
They were assisting us on someof our runs and different routes
(24:36):
and whatnot, and with our rulesof engagement they could do
certain things that we couldn't,and so they, you know.
So we were feeding them, theywere on our base.
Anyways, we were standing inline and all of a sudden a tap
on my shoulder and I turn aroundand the Georgian says what is
America?
And I'm like, what do you mean?
What is America?
And he said me Georgian, tapshis friend, he says him Georgian
(25:06):
, georgian, you Japanese,mexican, puerto Rican.
And I realized in this eightphone little tiny room there was
every single race and ethnicityyou could think of and we were
speaking eight differentlanguages.
So it's an experience that noother nation has.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, that's a really great point.
You know you've all shared suchwonderful stories.
I'm curious how your time inthe military has impacted you as
a person, but also how has itimpacted you know how you teach
or how you operate working ineducation?
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Well, I'm obviously going to go with veterans'
preference in hiring people, youknow, let's put that out there.
Because, obviously I have alittle tinge of preference
towards those veterans that Iwant to be able to bring in and
help get a foot upCanyonsdistrictorg Jobs.
No, I think it's had a directimpact.
(25:58):
I mean, obviously I grew up alittle bit, I mean literally
physically and mentally.
I went into boot camp.
I was five foot six and about130 pounds wet.
I came out five foot 11 and 185pounds and was like a whole
different person.
No one knew who I was back homein the little town of Brigham
City, so that was kind of fun.
No, as I grow through theprocess and I've learned the
(26:18):
discipline travels across all ofthe different areas I've worked
in.
I mean human resources.
Obviously I manage 6,000employee services and make sure
that they don't do things thatshould hit us on the news.
But at the same time, I thinkthe influence that I've had in
medicine and other thingsclearly plays a role in all the
stuff that I do and I want tomake sure that we are finding
(26:40):
people that we can work with.
It's interesting we only havetwo people right now that are in
the military and 6,000employees.
We have two people One's goingback in and one is in.
That's it.
I mean in the whole district wehave two people and it's
fascinating, you're right, it'sa back in and one is in.
That's it.
I mean, in the whole districtwe have two people and it's
fascinating.
You're right, it's a littlemicrocosm of people out there.
It's that less than half of 1%of the population.
(27:02):
But education has not been abig founding of pushing people
into the military.
I mean, it's obviously guns andother things of that nature.
However, those that do go inare so dedicated They'll stay,
and we've had several of ouremployees that have finished out
30 years and 20 years, etcetera, that did that and have
been through that process and wework with them nonstop.
Right if something happens.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Canyons operates in a
way that you can still beactive military.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
No, absolutely.
I mean, you see, obviously thelaw says we will do that up to
five years of accommodation, butwe took that.
We took it one step further.
So our board came back and saidwe want to do one step further
than that and we offeredmilitary leave that in the past
we did this.
You could do up to 30 days, youknow, you go out on your two
week whatever, and we will makeup the difference if you're
short on pay, because you don'talways get paid, the same as
(27:48):
what you would do with us.
However, we went further thanthat.
What we said is now we don'tjust make it up, we actually
just give them 15 days of theirpay with us and they get their
military pay as well, and thenthe other 15 days.
we make up the difference.
Now, if they go out beyond that, we'll obviously hold their job
, we'll reinstate them, we puttheir seniority and everything
back in place if they have to bedeployed, and that happens.
But that piece is that extracaveat we just put in this year.
(28:16):
So now, if they get to go outfor less than 30 days, they're
getting those 15 days of fullpay and their military pay, and
then we'll make up thedifference.
So I mean, we're becomingmilitary friendly more so, and
that's the goal of what we'relooking for is that we want to
attract more and we're going tosee what happens and if we have
to do the guardian program andwe have to start looking outside
.
You know where I'm going tostart, which is armed guardians.
I'm going to work with myveterans groups because training
(28:38):
is easy.
Right, it's a piece of cake.
They could probably tear itdown and put it back together.
That's my goal.
It makes life a little biteasier.
But that's some of the thingswe're going to have to look for
in the future is ways that wecan recruit.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
So, yes, am I active in that Absolutely and have been
.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
I've been here 16 years almost I'm an artist and
I've seen what art can do.
We always joke that it's cheaperthan therapy.
Well, it is.
And then the other joke is if Ileft, if I led a group of five
guys through Iraq for 13 months,I can teach students art.
So I've always been an artistmy whole life.
When I was deployed I would dolittle comics for morale to try
to that.
I would go and just zero rocksat the time and tape to walls,
(29:20):
and you know just day of day inthe life of kind of stories.
And so it's weird to think thatmy service would transfer over,
but I think it does.
I mean the military will teachyou step one, step two, step
three.
It'll teach you how to.
I mean it's all problem solvingand at the end of the day I
tell my students that's what artis as well.
It's problem solving.
There's no right or wronganswer, but what's the better
(29:41):
and best answer?
And the military?
It turns you into a creativeand critical thinker day one,
because you have to figure outhow to do these movements.
You have to figure out how tomake your platoon sergeant happy
, you have to.
So anyways, I think it's.
The building blocks are there.
After I came back from beingdeployed.
Everything was easy, nice.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Adapt improvise overcome yeah.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
That's it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Well, it still affects every day of my life
because I'm in the NJROTCprogram.
But just little things.
Like I can't stand not beingearly, you know what?
Speaker 4 (30:15):
I mean.
To be late, I mean you guysknow, if you're on time, you're
late, you know in the military.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
If you're late to a muster, you're getting written
up.
Oh no, don't talk to my wifeabout that you know.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
it's like I'm always early.
It's just the nature of that.
If you are on time, you're late.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
That's right.
I great interpersonal skills.
Like in the military, you'rereally more concerned about the
people you're leading than thepeople than yourself most of the
time.
So, you become very absorbedwith other people and I think as
a school teacher, that reallyworks hand in hand, because
you're more concerned about yourstudents, what you can do to
help your students get to whereyou want them to be.
So I mean, there's reallynothing about the military that
(30:52):
hasn't affected my life.
I mean we could all go on forlike days, probably to be quite
honest with you the discipline,I mean the ability to follow an
order, the ability to listen, Imean just all of these things
that you don't see sometimes inyour students.
You know, like I need you towear a uniform on this day and
someone shows up not in uniform.
Well, I didn't realize we hadto wear uniforms.
(31:12):
What's up with that?
Yeah, so just yeah, it's reallythe military has.
I'm so grateful for themilitary.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Well, and you're fresh out of it.
I mean, I'm still green man.
You're like five days out.
I think I'm 30 plus years right, I got out in 94.
I was 2005 when I got out, yeah, so you'll start looking back
like yeah, that was a day or twoago 2009,.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Technically I did my eighth by.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
I was a reservist IRR Right inactive ready.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yep, you know, the technology that this school
district uses is kind of blowingme away now, because the
military has its own technology.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Right, but the stuff we're using here is like oh my
goodness.
Parent.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Square.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
How do I use this?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, it's good.
The learning curve is real.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
The military has the best technology.
It's just what you actually getand use.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, yeah, Very, very different what you have
access to.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Yeah but the stuff that actually works is not
technology.
That stuff you don't rely on.
You've got to rely oneverything else.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
You know, and I think the other thing that's really
kind of cool about the militaryis that you really see pretty
quickly the impact you're havingon society.
The impact you're having onnational security, the impact
you know, like art.
You see the impact you'rehaving on sailors, on soldiers
and things like that, and it'ssometimes you don't see that
impact initially as quick as youdo in the military, in this
(32:32):
public school system that I'veseen.
Sure, and I'm sure it's therebut maybe it's delayed a little
bit.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Probably, Like Everett said, he wishes he could
go back and say thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
It's funny how this works.
That being with the troops is avery different thing, and so
you know it's been 30 plus yearsfor me being out of that, and
so I work together with aveterans group locally with
community nursing service forpeople in hospice and we go out
and do recognitions for them andwe actually do a flag and
everything else for that group,and I've been out on like 35 of
those.
It's been an amazing.
(33:02):
But here's the cool part isthat I go out with this group.
It's being back with the troopsagain now.
It is me and a bunch of colonelsand generals, but that's a real
unique experience but, you knowlieutenant colonels, colonels
and generals, but it's beingback with the troops and that's
the part that all of them havesaid with this group that we go
out with is the same thing.
It's being with the troopsagain and we go in uniform, but
(33:23):
to be back in a uniform again,it's a really unique experience
when you've been out that longand fitting into them, also
Because we've never changedsince we were 19 and 20.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
No, of course not.
That's never changed since wewere 19 or 20.
No, of course not, that's neverchanged.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Same build, yeah, yeah, I'm not saying I didn't
order a new one, but in the endI mean, reality is it's being
with the troops and it doesn'tchange 30 years ago or five days
ago.
It's still.
There's a camaraderie ofbrotherhood that takes place,
that it doesn't matter how longago it was.
Just make sure you carry yourchallenge coins.
You don't want to buy drinks.
Other than that, it's all good.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
It just clicks instantly.
It does.
That's beautiful.
Now, Jonathan, this is yourfirst year with Canyons.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (34:03):
This is my first year .
Speaker 3 (34:04):
yes, so this is going to be your first time
experiencing some of ourVeterans Day programs and events
that we have going on here.
I'm really excited for you tosee that.
I feel like our district goesabove and beyond when it comes
to each of our schools doessomething right.
They have a parade.
They bring in their parents,their grandparents and, you know
(34:25):
, grandpa comes in his uniformand to see these kids stand up,
you know in third grade, andsalute grandpa is just, it's so
beautiful.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
So I've had the privilege of being able to help
with a lot of those.
So I've had the opportunity totell two stories.
Which has been really fun isthat I come in and talk about it
and it's generational.
So my grandfather-in-law wasWorld War II vet and I get to
tell his story.
And it's been a really coolexperience for me is that I'll
come up and I get to talk abouthim being on the USS Princeton.
(34:55):
He was on a flat top smallcarrier that was a cruiser
converted.
He was in the Battle of LaetheGulf and I get to talk about
this battle that we didn't knowanything about until a couple
years ago when we watched SavingPrivate Ryan with him and at
the end he goes I guess weshould talk about this and he
starts talking.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
My grandpa same thing .
I have no idea what in theworld.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
It wasn't until yeah, but he was on this carrier down
in the hangar and Zero gotthrough into the group and they
didn't notice it and he droppeda 500 pound bomb through the
elevator door that's right inthe center of the ship on this
one and it skidded through andit didn't detonate.
And he's walking down the deckand this bomb slides right by
him, three feet away, and it'ssparking all the way down the
(35:34):
deck and unfortunately they'refueling torpedo planes down
there and the lines are cutacross and it just severed all
those fuel lines, so the wholething becomes an inferno finally
hits the back of the deck,which hits the pumps and the
fuel and the motor, and it blowsthem all out.
So there's no pumps, no water,no motor and at that point, 12
hours, they're fighting thisthing.
You would have the reno and thebuckingham come up next to the
(35:57):
ship and spray on from otherships trying to keep it out and
but in they'd have to pull awaybecause another zero comes
through and it's no one knew hewas in there 12 hours going down
grabbing people and bringingthem up, going down grabbing
people, bringing them upGoodness and basically dropping
them overboard, right down theseropes down to these boats, and
then finally they had to givethe abandoned ship.
(36:18):
There was no salvage at thatpoint and so they abandoned ship
and he was in the water andthere was no boats left.
So he was in the water for like23 hours, wow, and there were
sharks and they lost a lot ofpeople to sharks, and so he told
this story of he finally got tothe USS Reno and they got nets
dropped over the back of theship and these nets are down so
they could climb up, and they'reexhausted and tired and he
(36:38):
starts to climb up the net andthe anti-aircraft guns go off
again and he's like oh, here wego again.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
And they're aiming down and Aircraft guns go off
again.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
And he's like, oh, here we go again and they're
aiming down.
And he goes they were aimingdown, they were shooting the
water.
And he's like what's going on?
What's going on?
I mean, he's a 17, 18-year-oldkid and he says what's going on?
Oh, we're killing the sharks.
So they had these biganti-aircraft guns aimed down
and they were actually shooting.
I mean, this is a kid who'sjoined.
When he was four, he lied whenhe was like 15 years old to the
(37:06):
Merchant Marines and then liedagain to get in the Navy at 16.
But this experience was lost,right.
Nobody knew.
He'd never talked about it,never shared it with anybody.
And then I was able to find therecords and actually see a
picture of him, Robert Anderson,signing in on the USS Reno
after his ship blew up andseeing pictures of him in the
lifeboat when he finally gotonto the lifeboat to get up into
(37:27):
the ship.
I mean all those kind of thingswe were able to see it.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Because you watched Saving Private Ryan, yeah.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
And so I get to tell that story.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
That's great.
So the interesting thing aboutthat is most veterans don't talk
about their service.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
They don't yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
And so if you want to hear a veteran's story, you
have to ask, you have to developa relationship and you have to
talk to them, because most of usaren't going to share some of
the stuff.
It's pretty personal.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
Right, no, and he didn't.
And it was funny because Ididn't know, right, I had no
idea that this had happened.
And so he just starts talkingand I'm like, oh, he's probably
told everybody else, andeverybody's sitting there just
staring, staring, I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
We did record it, though we did come back later
and do it again and put it onvideo.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
But that's the thing with the veterans is a lot of
them won't talk about it.
And so this opportunity now forme to be able to brag a little
bit about my grandfather-in-lawand to share this story that's
lost with these kids, even youngkids.
They just sit there in awe,going wow, and of course I share
pictures and all that.
And then in the end thePrinceton exploded and was sunk.
I mean, it lost the ship.
But to have this experiencelost and, by the way, the USS
(38:30):
Princeton is the only aircraftcarrier to ever sink a Japanese
sub because they ran over it.
So in the middle of the nightthey were zigzagging that's
great, they're driving acrossand all of a sudden they hit
something.
Obviously the whole ship jumpedit.
And they hit something.
Obviously the whole ship jumped, it bounced the whole ship.
It's not a major carrier, butone of the screws went right
(38:50):
across the center of that sub,bent the shaft, damaged the
screw and it cut the sub rightin half.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
So they stopped the ship, no way they hit something.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
They thought they'd been hit and they stopped and
they get the floodlights out andthis sub is coming up to the
surface and they see this subsplit in half, basically, and
then sink back to the bottom.
Wow, that's crazy, but they hadto get back to Bremerton, where
I was stationed, as fast asthey could, because otherwise
they'd have to wait two years toget it fixed.
So they had to run on twoscrews, no zigzag and run as
fast as they could to Bremertonto get back into service.
(39:19):
Wow and so he had been in thevery dry docks that I'd been in
was my grandfather-in-law was inthere, and so it's kind of cool
to see the full circle, comeback around.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
This you know, uss Princeton.
Thank you for sharing that,these little veteran stories you
don't know about.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yeah, and it's lost.
You know, jonathan, I'm likeyou.
I could be here for days andhours and just any veteran who
wants chooses to share theirstory, and I realize what a a
treasure that is, because somany don't you know it's.
We need to hear more of them.
We want to hear more of them,so I hope they know that.
You know there are people outthere who want to hear their
(39:57):
stories and, like you said, haveit.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Have their stories no longer be lost and have people
if they can and there's somethey can, sometimes you can.
The pain is just too much andthere's some things they
probably shouldn't share.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
And that's understandable.
I'd love if you know, as we'retalking about sharing these
stories and having theopportunity to speak with the
younger generations, as they'regrowing up, about your military
experiences, what message wouldyou share with Canyon students
in the Canyon's community as weapproach Veterans Day?
Speaker 5 (40:33):
I think just letting them know that it is a valid and
honorable course, it'ssomething they can choose.
I don't think they know there'sa lot of those opportunities or
options.
I mean they see the recruiterscome in, you know, at lunchtime
a couple times a week and theydo a good job.
Don't get me wrong, but it'sjust.
It is putting yourself on theline and even possibly your life
(40:56):
.
But it's so much more than that.
It is something that can startyour life and get you adulting
out of the gate, and it is avalid career path that has many
options and many resources andultimately especially if you
don't know what you're doing andyou want to grow up and you
want to do something outside ofyourself, beyond yourself, be a
member of your not only yourcommunity, but your country I
(41:19):
don't think there's a morehonorable decision you can make.
Freedom isn't free right.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
It's paid for.
It's paid for by the slut bloodof patriots who stand up and
say I will defend theConstitution.
When I swore an oath to theConstitution on that day April
10th 1986, it didn't have anexpiration date.
So even though I got out of themilitary, it doesn't change for
me.
Speaker 5 (41:42):
I was a soldier for life.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
That's it.
Once you're a soldier, always asoldier, once a Marine, always
a Marine.
I mean, it's just the way it is.
I've always done that.
You know, on Veterans Day, ifyou drive by my house, all the
flags are flying except SpaceForce.
You know that's even CoastGuard flows, but sorry, space
Force doesn't have their flag.
But I fly all the flags infront of my house because it's a
symbol of what is it about,right?
(42:04):
Memorial?
Day as well, and so those thingsthat swearing an oath is more
to it than you know.
It is a lifestyle choice and Iwill have that lifestyle for the
rest of my life, and my kidsknow it.
I fly a flag in my front yardevery day.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
There's very few occupations in this life that
you have to support, to defendthe Constitution of the United
States of America, that youactually take an oath to do that
, and that's pretty awesome.
And I think what I would lovestudents to realize is that when
you look at a veteran, thoseare our heroes.
I mean, those are the guys andI've said it a couple of times
(42:42):
they're the ones that aredefending freedom, regardless of
what your MOS is, youroccupation, or we say in the
Navy, our NEC, it doesn't matterwhat you do.
You're supporting theConstitution, you're defending
the Constitution, and thefreedoms that we enjoy in this
United States of America todayis a direct result of our
military personnel.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
And that's what I would like them to realize.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
These veterans are heroes.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Gentlemen, I'm honored that you joined us and
that you shared your stories.
I couldn't put it better.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
Thank you, thank you for your service.
Thank you for joining us HappyVeterans Day.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect
Canyons.
Connect with us on Twitter,facebook or Instagram at Canyons
District or on our website,canyonsdistrictorg.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by
Canyon School District.
This is a show about what weteach, how we teach and why we
get up close and personal withsome of the people who make our
schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more.
We meet national experts too.
Learning is about makingconnections, so connect with us
(00:24):
experts too.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Learning is about making connections, so connect
with us In 1918, a temporarycessation of hostilities was
called between the Alliednations and Germany, effectively
ending World War I.
It went into effect in the 11thhour of the 11th day of the
(00:45):
11th month, while the officialTreaty of Versailles was not
signed until June of thefollowing year.
Veterans Day has continued tobe honored on November 11th.
The end of the war.
To end all wars.
Welcome to Connect Canyons.
I'm your host, frances Cook.
Here at Canyon School District,we strive to honor our veterans
on a daily basis in gratitudefor their service.
As we're approaching VeteransDay, we strive to honor our
(01:05):
veterans on a daily basis ingratitude for their service.
As we're approaching VeteransDay, we wanted to have a special
episode where we hear from afew of our own veterans.
Joining me today are EverettPerry, canyon's Human Resources
Administrator and Navy Veteran,derek Chandler, head of the
Brighton High School ArtDepartment and Army Veteran, as
well as Navy veteran JonathanWard, who oversees the new Navy
(01:27):
National Defense Cadet Corps atJordan High.
Gentlemen, thank you for yourservice and thank you for
joining us today.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I'd love to start with really just your decision
to join the military.
Everett, would you mindstarting us off?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
So my decision to join the military started when I
was 17 years old.
I was in high school.
I had nothing going for me, Ihad 2.1 grade point average and
realized that I come from a bluecollar family.
I didn't qualify forscholarships and I said you know
, I do want to go to schooleventually.
So I looked into militaryservice.
Navy just jumped out at me and Iwas going to be a diesel
(02:04):
mechanic, heavy diesel mechanic.
So I took the ASVAB.
I did all that stuff.
I went in and when I got toMEPS, the Military Entrance
Processing Center up there atFort Douglas, some guy sitting
at a desk said hey, you know,your ASVAB score is not really
diesel mechanic.
You should really go intomedicine or something else.
And well, no, I'm not qualifiedfor that.
And he goes yeah, you are Letto medicine or something else.
(02:24):
And well, no, I'm not qualified.
And he goes yeah, you're, let'sjust put you in this.
So we're going to make you aNavy corpsman.
I had no idea what that was.
I, truly, 17 year old, I had noclue.
So I just said okay and I signedup.
That was early entry, april of1986.
And I went to bootcamp.
Seven days after graduation,june 7th, I went to bootcamp.
(02:46):
I had a really tough boot camp.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I had to go to San Diego you know really tough
environment to have to be in,especially in June.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
I did my boot camp and ended up going to A school
which is core school, and thatwas again a really tough duty
station.
I had to go to Naval HospitalBalboa in San Diego, another
really tough duty station, itwas the old hospital and the old
barracks.
But I did my core school andthen I went to FMF school, fleet
Marine Force, which is your,basically your Navy corpsman.
(03:12):
You're a medic for the Marinesand I went to Pendleton to do
that part.
So I did the Marine side andthen Desert Storm rolled around.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Also in San Diego.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Well, you know a little North La Jolla.
I actually got called up August25th of 1990.
I was to replace the backfillof the corpsman that got
deployed to the sand and I wasup in Bremerton at Puget Sound
Naval Shipyard so I served upthere for a full year during
deployment.
We were the first Navy unit tobe recalled since Vietnam.
In fact we were the firstreserve unit to be recalled
(03:43):
since Vietnam.
And it was my fault Vietnam, Infact, we were the first reserve
unit to be recalled sinceVietnam, and it was my fault.
So my unit was not trained.
We had 80 people in our unit,we were medical and we sat
around on eight, 16 hours everyweekend doing pretty much
nothing, and yet I had doctors,nurses and others and we said
this is dumb, so let's get someequipment which I got donated
from hospitals, and we startedtraining and we became T1 and R1
, training, ready and readinesslevel one, and we were the only
(04:06):
Navy unit that in fact the onlyreserve unit was fully T1, R1.
And so we were the first unitcalled and we left August 25th.
I still remember the call at830 in the morning.
My lieutenant called me andsaid by the way, we're recalling
.
I said nice try.
He said no report by noon andbring your bag, we're going.
We were on a plane by one, so atone o'clock I was on an
(04:26):
airplane flying up to SeaTac andthen transported over to Puget
Sound because their corpsman hadalready left.
They were on their way to thesand, to Riyadh, and so we took
over their space and I was atthe shipyard there running the
emergency room, eight bed ER, 21bed occupational clinic and
three ambulances for a year.
And then midway through gotpulled into my FMF side, my
(04:48):
Marine Corps side, when FastCompany, the Fleet
Anti-Terrorism Security TeamCompany, came to Bremerton for
security purposes and needed adoc.
So I got attached to theanti-terrorism team and became
their corpsman.
So I would work four days aweek at the clinic and three
days a week with the Marines andvice versa, and did that for a
(05:08):
year and then after that I did atotal of eight years, got out,
realized it's time not to re-upbecause I developed an allergy
to bullets.
They react badly in my body andso shrapnel and bullets do bad
things.
So it's a good unit, but it's aboots on ground and 12-hour
unit.
So if something bad happens asan embassy or otherwise, our
units the one that would be sentin to go take care of it and I
(05:31):
decided that I'm going to raisea family.
That's probably not a goodenvironment, but I did eight
years, got an honorabledischarge and I've been happy
that I did it and I don'tremember all the bad things,
right.
You kind of focus on the goodstuff.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Sure, yeah, Derek.
How about you?
I was a little bit different.
I had no intentions at all ofever joining up.
I graduated high school.
I was a Taylorsville warrior,so born and raised here in Utah
and suddenly I find myself 20,21 years old and I'm going to
Salt Lake Community College, butI'm pulling B's and C's.
I don't really know what I wantto do with my life.
(06:06):
I broke up with my longtimegirlfriend and I said enough's
enough, I need to go on and dosomething bigger and better.
So, having no idea what I wasdoing, I just walked into a
recruiter station.
I didn't have a preference,other than when I was a little
boy I played army, playedsoldier.
So I walked in and asked him ifI could sign up and I made his
(06:28):
whole day.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
That never happens.
That's not how it happens, yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
So I did.
I signed up.
It was April.
I was shipped off in June,south Carolina, one of the
biggest training bases inAmerica, and I didn't even know
that you had a job in the Army,I didn't know.
So when they came time to pickyour MOS, I said, well, I'm just
going to basic training fornine weeks.
And they're like no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
(06:54):
That's where you start, that'swhere you become a soldier.
Then you can find an occupation.
I'm like, I'm, I can go toschool full time.
I can, like, really get my lifestarted.
And I went to South Carolinaand I was at Fort Jackson and we
(07:15):
finished our final rock marchto become a soldier much later
than we thought.
I was there in the dead ofsummer, from June to the
beginning of September.
And the humidity, and I washospitalized because from Utah,
you don't know about humiditylike that, so I didn't know
about body powder, I didn't know.
Anyways, long story short, ourgraduation day was September
(07:43):
12th of 2001.
So on 9-11, I was cleaning myboots and my gear and suddenly
our drill sergeant musters us,gets everyone together and they
start wheeling in TVs andturning it on.
We're like, oh, this is justanother muster drill.
So this is just, and you knowChina's attacking or you know we
would always have these wherewe had to go, go, go within 24
hours Simulations.
And then we watched the firstor the second plane crash.
(08:06):
This was in the morning I wason the East Coast and when they
opened up the phones to any NewYork residents to try to get a
hold of family members, whenthey opened up anyone on the
East Coast, when they lockeddown the base, that's when we
went.
This is real and the army Ithought I had joined was no
longer, no longer.
(08:31):
So priorities change real quickwhen, instead of graduation,
you're having my parents and myum previous girlfriend, now wife
, happily married.
Um, nothing makes the heartgrow fonder than you know
distance.
But, um, they were trying toboard a plane, and this was
early on in the days of cellphones, and I mean we, like.
They had been dropped off andthe airport was shut down.
So, um, really quickly, I knewmy life was going to change.
I did go to Fort Bliss, texas.
(08:53):
It could not be worsely named.
It is one of the worst placesin the world, right on the
borders of El Paso.
Did my MOS training there.
I picked the shortest MOS Icould get for training wise
because I didn't want to be gonefor long.
So it was six weeks to become atruck driver, so 88 Mike.
I had no idea what that wouldinvolve but I was about to have
(09:13):
backbreaking work and anyways, Ilove those 10 ton trucks.
I did come back to Utah.
The next biggest event afternine 11 for the nation that was
potential terrorist threat wasright here in Utah with the
winter Olympics.
So, I got activated right away.
I got home at the end ofOctober.
I was activated by December,went up to Colorado to do some
train ups and whatnot, and so weended up spending six weeks 12
(09:38):
hour shifts on, 12 hours off,driving around the national
guard and EOD FBI to all thedifferent events, and we were
driving at two in the morning,six in the morning, I mean
nonstop, and on this private 2and driving around 60-pack buses
with all these guys.
Anyways, long story short, Iended up.
I knew Iraq was coming.
The writing was on the wall.
(09:58):
We had gone into Afghanistanalready and I love being a
reservist, nothing against beinga weekend warrior.
But if I was going to go andput my life on the line, I
wanted to do it with a group ofguys that lived, ate and
breathed soldier.
So I went active duty that Julyand, of course, immediately got
stationed in Germany.
So my wife and I had justbarely gotten married that April
(10:21):
and she was planning on comingover with me.
Except when I got to Germanythey told me I was going to be
deployed to Kosovo for ninemonths.
So that was out.
So, she ended up staying andliving with my parents while I
did K4.
It was a peacekeeping mission.
Nine months doing that Finallygot back to Germany.
I was stationed in the south ofGermany and just 11 miles away
(10:43):
from Grafenwoehr where ElvisPresley did his training and
fell in love with Germany.
I could not have been morehappy.
My wife ended up did, comingover finally making it, and we
were so happy we were going tobe together.
And then we invaded Iraq.
So I was part of OIF too.
I wasn't home for more thanmaybe six months.
In those six months we were inthe field half the time training
(11:04):
anyways.
We I was.
It was a tank battalion, so bigM1A1 Abrams tanks, and I was a
truck driver.
So we were either hauling 2,000gallons of fuel, which is
really fun when you get shot at,or I was hauling ammunition or
food supplies of that nature.
And I was a .50 cal gunner inIraq, so did 13 months boots on
the ground in Iraq, stationednorth of it was outside of a
(11:29):
little place called Bakuba.
It was in the Diyala province,which they really liked Saddam
Hussein, because he made themall very rich, and so when we
came in and ousted him they werenot happy with us, but I was
part of a really good unit.
Our sister unit took heavycasualties, but our unit we were
able to really do some positivethings, get some ends with the
natives, some goodintel.
(11:50):
I was a corporal with a groupof five guys through Iraq.
We all came home with all ofour fingers and toes and same
kind of deal.
I knew what I didn't want to doanymore once I got home.
So I went back to being areservist.
After three years of activeduty, went to the University of
Utah, the Montgomery GI Bill.
I used all of that and thenthey said hey, if you were in
(12:10):
the war on terror, here'sanother 10,000.
And hey, if you serve for 9-11,here's another 10,000.
So I was able to go to schoolfull time and make more money
doing that.
The reservists at the time theyhad a really good deal where
they just waived your tuition.
So I was getting the MontgomeryGI Bill.
That was going to nothing butmy living situation and I could
not.
I would never take it back.
Love my experiences.
(12:31):
I've talked way too long, butthat's that.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Well, thank you for sharing that, jonathan.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So if I get a little emotional, I got to apologize
because I'm five days being aveteran.
I just actually left activeduty five days ago.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Congratulations.
No apology needed.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And I love listening to veterans and I love their
stories.
These two gentlemen here.
It's phenomenal and I thinkmore veterans need to.
We need to hear their storiesbecause defend freedom,
democracy around the world.
There's there's less than onehalf of 1% of the United States
population that actually gets toserve in our country, whatever
(13:14):
service you choose.
So it's phenomenal.
But I had quite a bit differentstory than these two gentlemen.
So I went to Utah State,graduated in music education and
then went to University ofLouisville in music performance.
And while I was at theUniversity of Louisville I saw a
little sign on the bulletinboard that says hey, get paid to
(13:35):
play.
Well, that's what I was doing,I'm a musician.
So I went out and auditionedfor the Army Reserve Band, 101st
Division in Fort Knox, kentucky, joined them for three years,
fort Knox, kentucky, joined themfor three years, and then, when
I graduated from University ofLouisville, I wanted to do it
full time.
Actually, I taught school for acouple of years as a band
(13:56):
director and realized that I wasnot performing.
And someone came through myreserve unit and says, hey, if
you really want to play, you gotto go check out the Navy.
So I checked out the Navy andin the Navy music program you
have to audition to get in andyou got to go check out the Navy
.
So I checked out the Navy, andin the Navy music program you
have to audition to get in andyou have to.
It's pretty difficult to get inand so I auditioned for the
Navy music program.
What was able to get in thatsituation?
(14:18):
And basically, 27 years later,here I am.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
I have served.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
There's really nine units in the Navy music program
that I could go, and I think Iserved in most of them in the
States.
I was able to get over to Italy,and one of the really cool
experiences I had when I was inItaly we were requested to
perform in Iraq, and so theysent the band down to Baghdad,
(14:47):
and what was really wild is thatI felt almost like the
president of the United States,because when we blew into that
airport and then we were drivingto the embassy there is that I
had an armored suburban on oneside.
An armored suburban on theother side had an armored
suburban in front of us.
I had an armored suburbanbehind us.
We were wearing fullbulletproof jackets, we were
(15:08):
wearing helmet, we were wearingfull bulletproof jackets, we
were wearing helmet, we werewearing all the gear.
And so there's this convoygoing down the street.
I go holy cow, this must bewhat the president feels like,
or anybody from the Senate,every time they move.
And so we actually touredSaddam Hussein's palace, which
is still bombed out at the time.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
Golden toilets, but my service was phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I've played for presidents.
I've played for presidents,I've played for dignitaries, I
played for the president of Iraqat that place.
So it has been.
I have nothing bad to say aboutmy service in the military and
I think the further removed fromit, like you said, I will
remember none of the bad times,because there's challenging
times, challenging times theseparations from family, the
(15:51):
long deployments.
You know missing everythingthat you can imagine that your
kids are doing.
Missing birthdays,anniversaries, everything you
can imagine.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
You know you give up, but man, to serve your country
and the camaraderie that youfill with your unit it's
indescribable Learning to standin attention and fall asleep
while having your eyes open.
Oh, my goodness, all thosemoments I can't Queuing in a
line somewhere.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
So we're not going to remember the bad times right,
exactly.
We're just going to rememberthe powerful moments that you
affect change and I'll tell you.
I got to tell you one morething.
So, as a musician for 27 yearsI've played musician One of the
most powerful things I've everseen is when I'm marching a
parade and I see a veteranthat's sitting in a wheelchair,
(16:33):
that he's got oxygen and as wemarch by with the flag right in
front of us, they will struggleto stand with tears running down
their eyes.
You just can't describe that andyou don't know, unless you
served to be quite honest withyou.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You know it's funny.
I wish I could figure out whothat guy was at MEPS right back
in 1986, who that was that toldme to go into core school,
because I'd love to go meet himtoday, if he's alive, and come
back and say, listen, you know,you've saved 32 people's lives.
That's amazing.
I mean in's in my career.
That was 32 people I was ableto save their life in some way.
(17:09):
Whether it's bleeding out orheart attacks or whatever 32
people's lives from that guy.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Because he made a suggestion, Because that guy
said why?
Speaker 4 (17:17):
don't you go into medical?
I'm like I don't know anything.
I know first aid from BoyScouts, but I mean seriously.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I'm not in that anymore.
I mean the good that themilitary has done, especially in
the Gulf War and things likethat.
You're a lot of the negativethings, but what you did over
there in the Gulf War, that's Imean that's.
I was never able other thanplaying for dignitaries.
I was never in a combat zone ornever able to.
But you know we were musicians,are kind of the face of the
(17:46):
Navy because, the people thathave never seen Navy before.
They see a military band come inand play in uniform and they
equivalent us to the military,and so so, in my own little way,
I think I did something, but Imean what you gentlemen did.
That was phenomenal.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Every service is going to be different.
It's not equal, it's justequally honorable.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
You talk about how the band is kind of the face of
the Navy.
I remember, even as a kid, wewere stationed at Hill Air Force
Base, which is actually where Iwas born, and then we moved
around quite a bit and came backand I remember every year going
to see Tops in Blue, which isthe Air Force choir, and just
(18:28):
had I joined the military theywould have been.
Why Hands down?
I want to do that, I want totour the world and sing in a
choir, but it truly is kind of asymbol, if you will.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Now you're going to have to hold me to it, but next
year they're doing Salt LakeNavy Week.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
And.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Salt Lake Navy Week.
I just recently came from aNavy band in Southwest where I
was playing in a band there, butthey actually come up and
perform for Navy.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Week Salt Lake.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
City.
So what I'm trying to dobecause I still have huge
connections down there is I'mtrying to get them to come up
and I'm sorry you might have tocome over to Jordan to hear them
.
But I'm trying to get them tocome up and I'm sorry you might
have to come over to Jordan tohear them but I'm trying to get
my band to come up to Jordan.
It's a rock band and put on aconcert for my Jordan High
School, so I'm hoping that'llhappen.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I'm working on it.
You guys heard it here first.
I'd love to actually that's agreat segue, if you will into
what's going on at Jordan Highright now.
This is the inaugural year forJordan High's Naval program.
Can you talk to us about whatthe program is and how this
first kind of you know?
(19:38):
In sports they call it abuilding year.
How's that going for you?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
So currently we have 32 Naval cadets and those 32
Naval cadets are Really excitedabout the program.
We actually because it's takena while.
I didn't get here until a weekbefore school and so we
basically had our first uniformday, because one of the
(20:03):
requirements is you wear auniform one day a week, and they
wore them for the first timetwo weeks ago.
Because it's taken that long toget my uniforms in and get them
all situated and things likethat.
So the cadets were really,really excited and get my
uniforms in and get them allsituated and things like that.
So the cadets were really,really excited.
We are what's called, as yousaid in your opening, a Navy
National Defense Cadet Corps,which means we're in our
inaugural.
We want to be an NJROTC unit,which I think most people
(20:25):
understand clear, and we're notquite there yet.
We have to maintain certainstandards for three years before
the Navy will come in and say,yeah, we're going to fund your
program.
Right now, canyons District isfunding the program, but it's
really fantastic because whatI've seen in Jordan High School
and maybe Canyons District,because I have multiple cadets
coming from different highschools throughout the canyon,
(20:45):
because you're able to come.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
So if anybody's listened to this from any of the
high schools in Canyon District, come on over.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Is that there's not a whole lot of military awareness
in this district.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
In the state, yeah, in the state, outside of.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Oregon and as I talk to cadets about, hey, what do
you think about maybe looking atthe military as a career path
besides college or trade schoolor going into the workforce?
They're just not aware of it.
So I think having a NavyNational Defense Career Corps or
NJRTC program, I think it'sbringing great awareness and the
first thing we do is it's acitizenship development program.
(21:20):
This is not a recruitingprogram for the military, it's
also a leadership developmentprogram.
So within the unit, you know,I've got my cadet commanding
officer, I've got my cadetexecutive officer, I've got my
senior enlisted cadet, I've gotmy admin officer, I've got my PA
enlisted cadet.
I've got my admin officer, I'vegot my PAO public affairs
(21:40):
officer, I've got my supplyofficer.
So we're giving all of thesecadets opportunity to grow and
lead and really become morefamiliar with the military.
So I think it's going prettygood, but we can always use more
.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Well, and you'll be competing as well.
I mean I can't quite do my16-count manual arms anymore.
I mean it's been a few years,but again you'll be competing as
well.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
And part of that program is there's teams.
What you're referring to isthere's teams associated with it
.
So I have an orienteering team,I've got a drill team, I've got
an unarmed team which aren'tfunctioning yet because I don't
really have the equipment to dothat, and so they're learning
drill.
They're learning military,everything about the military.
(22:20):
We actually competed atorienteering meet here about
three weeks ago and we ended uptaking third in state, which was
really kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
for a very small unit , that's great.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
So we're coming along , we're slowly building the
program, but I'm really excitedthat this gives cadets, this
gives students in the districtJordan and the school district
an opportunity to belong tosomething that maybe they don't
fit into athletics, or maybethey don't fit into band, or
maybe they don't fit into someof the other clubs.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
This gives them a place where they can come and
feel that camaraderie and reallyexcel.
Yeah, so that'saderie andreally excel.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
So that's a little bit about it.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
That's beautiful.
Like you were talking aboutearlier, it's that camaraderie
feeling, in that it becomes afamily of sorts.
And I think to your point.
We have Hill Air Force Base butunless you live in Ogden or
Layton or that area, it's not asbig.
When you're referring to, say,camp Williams and things like
(23:17):
that, utah is definitely not aColorado Springs where your
entire community is built aroundmilitary, you know, great Salt
Lake, those big ships out there.
Right, right.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
You see carriers every day, you know all the time
, most sorties every day, andthat's been of interest because
throughout my military career itwas a little different in that
I was either at a training base,so I wasn't in the surrounding
area, because they lock us downpretty good.
And then, when I was stationedin Germany, we were either going
into Germany and hanging outwith the Europeans, which was
(23:49):
fantastic, or we were on base.
And it's almost like when youwent on vacation because you're
already over there, it's likeyou didn't want to see any
Americans.
You know you want to get in theculture, yeah.
And so by the time I got backand I was a reservist I hadn't
really lived in those manysubcultures, because the
military, it's just Americaunder a microscope.
I mean, it's every walk of lifeIn Iraq.
(24:12):
We have cell phones and satphones were still really limited
, so we had a call center, not acall center.
It was like basically eightphones, you know, in a blown out
base and we would line up andyou would wait for hours in line
to get in.
And one of my favorite storiesis the Georgians at the time, I
think south of Russia, thosetype of Georgians.
They were assisting us on someof our runs and different routes
(24:36):
and whatnot, and with our rulesof engagement they could do
certain things that we couldn't,and so they, you know.
So we were feeding them, theywere on our base.
Anyways, we were standing inline and all of a sudden a tap
on my shoulder and I turn aroundand the Georgian says what is
America?
And I'm like, what do you mean?
What is America?
And he said me Georgian, tapshis friend, he says him Georgian
(25:06):
, georgian, you Japanese,mexican, puerto Rican.
And I realized in this eightphone little tiny room there was
every single race and ethnicityyou could think of and we were
speaking eight differentlanguages.
So it's an experience that noother nation has.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, that's a really great point.
You know you've all shared suchwonderful stories.
I'm curious how your time inthe military has impacted you as
a person, but also how has itimpacted you know how you teach
or how you operate working ineducation?
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Well, I'm obviously going to go with veterans'
preference in hiring people, youknow, let's put that out there.
Because, obviously I have alittle tinge of preference
towards those veterans that Iwant to be able to bring in and
help get a foot upCanyonsdistrictorg Jobs.
No, I think it's had a directimpact.
(25:58):
I mean, obviously I grew up alittle bit, I mean literally
physically and mentally.
I went into boot camp.
I was five foot six and about130 pounds wet.
I came out five foot 11 and 185pounds and was like a whole
different person.
No one knew who I was back homein the little town of Brigham
City, so that was kind of fun.
No, as I grow through theprocess and I've learned the
(26:18):
discipline travels across all ofthe different areas I've worked
in.
I mean human resources.
Obviously I manage 6,000employee services and make sure
that they don't do things thatshould hit us on the news.
But at the same time, I thinkthe influence that I've had in
medicine and other thingsclearly plays a role in all the
stuff that I do and I want tomake sure that we are finding
(26:40):
people that we can work with.
It's interesting we only havetwo people right now that are in
the military and 6,000employees.
We have two people One's goingback in and one is in.
That's it.
I mean in the whole district wehave two people and it's
fascinating, you're right, it'sa back in and one is in.
That's it.
I mean, in the whole districtwe have two people and it's
fascinating.
You're right, it's a littlemicrocosm of people out there.
It's that less than half of 1%of the population.
(27:02):
But education has not been abig founding of pushing people
into the military.
I mean, it's obviously guns andother things of that nature.
However, those that do go inare so dedicated They'll stay,
and we've had several of ouremployees that have finished out
30 years and 20 years, etcetera, that did that and have
been through that process and wework with them nonstop.
Right if something happens.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Canyons operates in a
way that you can still beactive military.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
No, absolutely.
I mean, you see, obviously thelaw says we will do that up to
five years of accommodation, butwe took that.
We took it one step further.
So our board came back and saidwe want to do one step further
than that and we offeredmilitary leave that in the past
we did this.
You could do up to 30 days, youknow, you go out on your two
week whatever, and we will makeup the difference if you're
short on pay, because you don'talways get paid, the same as
(27:48):
what you would do with us.
However, we went further thanthat.
What we said is now we don'tjust make it up, we actually
just give them 15 days of theirpay with us and they get their
military pay as well, and thenthe other 15 days.
we make up the difference.
Now, if they go out beyond that, we'll obviously hold their job
, we'll reinstate them, we puttheir seniority and everything
back in place if they have to bedeployed, and that happens.
But that piece is that extracaveat we just put in this year.
(28:16):
So now, if they get to go outfor less than 30 days, they're
getting those 15 days of fullpay and their military pay, and
then we'll make up thedifference.
So I mean, we're becomingmilitary friendly more so, and
that's the goal of what we'relooking for is that we want to
attract more and we're going tosee what happens and if we have
to do the guardian program andwe have to start looking outside
.
You know where I'm going tostart, which is armed guardians.
I'm going to work with myveterans groups because training
(28:38):
is easy.
Right, it's a piece of cake.
They could probably tear itdown and put it back together.
That's my goal.
It makes life a little biteasier.
But that's some of the thingswe're going to have to look for
in the future is ways that wecan recruit.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
So, yes, am I active in that Absolutely and have been
.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
I've been here 16 years almost I'm an artist and
I've seen what art can do.
We always joke that it's cheaperthan therapy.
Well, it is.
And then the other joke is if Ileft, if I led a group of five
guys through Iraq for 13 months,I can teach students art.
So I've always been an artistmy whole life.
When I was deployed I would dolittle comics for morale to try
to that.
I would go and just zero rocksat the time and tape to walls,
(29:20):
and you know just day of day inthe life of kind of stories.
And so it's weird to think thatmy service would transfer over,
but I think it does.
I mean the military will teachyou step one, step two, step
three.
It'll teach you how to.
I mean it's all problem solvingand at the end of the day I
tell my students that's what artis as well.
It's problem solving.
There's no right or wronganswer, but what's the better
(29:41):
and best answer?
And the military?
It turns you into a creativeand critical thinker day one,
because you have to figure outhow to do these movements.
You have to figure out how tomake your platoon sergeant happy
, you have to.
So anyways, I think it's.
The building blocks are there.
After I came back from beingdeployed.
Everything was easy, nice.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Adapt improvise overcome yeah.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
That's it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Well, it still affects every day of my life
because I'm in the NJROTCprogram.
But just little things.
Like I can't stand not beingearly, you know what?
Speaker 4 (30:15):
I mean.
To be late, I mean you guysknow, if you're on time, you're
late, you know in the military.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
If you're late to a muster, you're getting written
up.
Oh no, don't talk to my wifeabout that you know.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
it's like I'm always early.
It's just the nature of that.
If you are on time, you're late.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
That's right.
I great interpersonal skills.
Like in the military, you'rereally more concerned about the
people you're leading than thepeople than yourself most of the
time.
So, you become very absorbedwith other people and I think as
a school teacher, that reallyworks hand in hand, because
you're more concerned about yourstudents, what you can do to
help your students get to whereyou want them to be.
So I mean, there's reallynothing about the military that
(30:52):
hasn't affected my life.
I mean we could all go on forlike days, probably to be quite
honest with you the discipline,I mean the ability to follow an
order, the ability to listen, Imean just all of these things
that you don't see sometimes inyour students.
You know, like I need you towear a uniform on this day and
someone shows up not in uniform.
Well, I didn't realize we hadto wear uniforms.
(31:12):
What's up with that?
Yeah, so just yeah, it's reallythe military has.
I'm so grateful for themilitary.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Well, and you're fresh out of it.
I mean, I'm still green man.
You're like five days out.
I think I'm 30 plus years right, I got out in 94.
I was 2005 when I got out, yeah, so you'll start looking back
like yeah, that was a day or twoago 2009,.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Technically I did my eighth by.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
I was a reservist IRR Right inactive ready.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yep, you know, the technology that this school
district uses is kind of blowingme away now, because the
military has its own technology.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Right, but the stuff we're using here is like oh my
goodness.
Parent.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Square.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
How do I use this?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, it's good.
The learning curve is real.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
The military has the best technology.
It's just what you actually getand use.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, yeah, Very, very different what you have
access to.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Yeah but the stuff that actually works is not
technology.
That stuff you don't rely on.
You've got to rely oneverything else.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
You know, and I think the other thing that's really
kind of cool about the militaryis that you really see pretty
quickly the impact you're havingon society.
The impact you're having onnational security, the impact
you know, like art.
You see the impact you'rehaving on sailors, on soldiers
and things like that, and it'ssometimes you don't see that
impact initially as quick as youdo in the military, in this
(32:32):
public school system that I'veseen.
Sure, and I'm sure it's therebut maybe it's delayed a little
bit.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Probably, Like Everett said, he wishes he could
go back and say thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
It's funny how this works.
That being with the troops is avery different thing, and so
you know it's been 30 plus yearsfor me being out of that, and
so I work together with aveterans group locally with
community nursing service forpeople in hospice and we go out
and do recognitions for them andwe actually do a flag and
everything else for that group,and I've been out on like 35 of
those.
It's been an amazing.
(33:02):
But here's the cool part isthat I go out with this group.
It's being back with the troopsagain now.
It is me and a bunch of colonelsand generals, but that's a real
unique experience but, you knowlieutenant colonels, colonels
and generals, but it's beingback with the troops and that's
the part that all of them havesaid with this group that we go
out with is the same thing.
It's being with the troopsagain and we go in uniform, but
(33:23):
to be back in a uniform again,it's a really unique experience
when you've been out that longand fitting into them, also
Because we've never changedsince we were 19 and 20.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
No, of course not.
That's never changed since wewere 19 or 20.
No, of course not, that's neverchanged.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Same build, yeah, yeah, I'm not saying I didn't
order a new one, but in the endI mean, reality is it's being
with the troops and it doesn'tchange 30 years ago or five days
ago.
It's still.
There's a camaraderie ofbrotherhood that takes place,
that it doesn't matter how longago it was.
Just make sure you carry yourchallenge coins.
You don't want to buy drinks.
Other than that, it's all good.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
It just clicks instantly.
It does.
That's beautiful.
Now, Jonathan, this is yourfirst year with Canyons.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (34:03):
This is my first year .
Speaker 3 (34:04):
yes, so this is going to be your first time
experiencing some of ourVeterans Day programs and events
that we have going on here.
I'm really excited for you tosee that.
I feel like our district goesabove and beyond when it comes
to each of our schools doessomething right.
They have a parade.
They bring in their parents,their grandparents and, you know
(34:25):
, grandpa comes in his uniformand to see these kids stand up,
you know in third grade, andsalute grandpa is just, it's so
beautiful.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
So I've had the privilege of being able to help
with a lot of those.
So I've had the opportunity totell two stories.
Which has been really fun isthat I come in and talk about it
and it's generational.
So my grandfather-in-law wasWorld War II vet and I get to
tell his story.
And it's been a really coolexperience for me is that I'll
come up and I get to talk abouthim being on the USS Princeton.
(34:55):
He was on a flat top smallcarrier that was a cruiser
converted.
He was in the Battle of LaetheGulf and I get to talk about
this battle that we didn't knowanything about until a couple
years ago when we watched SavingPrivate Ryan with him and at
the end he goes I guess weshould talk about this and he
starts talking.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
My grandpa same thing .
I have no idea what in theworld.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
It wasn't until yeah, but he was on this carrier down
in the hangar and Zero gotthrough into the group and they
didn't notice it and he droppeda 500 pound bomb through the
elevator door that's right inthe center of the ship on this
one and it skidded through andit didn't detonate.
And he's walking down the deckand this bomb slides right by
him, three feet away, and it'ssparking all the way down the
(35:34):
deck and unfortunately they'refueling torpedo planes down
there and the lines are cutacross and it just severed all
those fuel lines, so the wholething becomes an inferno finally
hits the back of the deck,which hits the pumps and the
fuel and the motor, and it blowsthem all out.
So there's no pumps, no water,no motor and at that point, 12
hours, they're fighting thisthing.
You would have the reno and thebuckingham come up next to the
(35:57):
ship and spray on from otherships trying to keep it out and
but in they'd have to pull awaybecause another zero comes
through and it's no one knew hewas in there 12 hours going down
grabbing people and bringingthem up, going down grabbing
people, bringing them upGoodness and basically dropping
them overboard, right down theseropes down to these boats, and
then finally they had to givethe abandoned ship.
(36:18):
There was no salvage at thatpoint and so they abandoned ship
and he was in the water andthere was no boats left.
So he was in the water for like23 hours, wow, and there were
sharks and they lost a lot ofpeople to sharks, and so he told
this story of he finally got tothe USS Reno and they got nets
dropped over the back of theship and these nets are down so
they could climb up, and they'reexhausted and tired and he
(36:38):
starts to climb up the net andthe anti-aircraft guns go off
again and he's like oh, here wego again.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
And they're aiming down and Aircraft guns go off
again.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
And he's like, oh, here we go again and they're
aiming down.
And he goes they were aimingdown, they were shooting the
water.
And he's like what's going on?
What's going on?
I mean, he's a 17, 18-year-oldkid and he says what's going on?
Oh, we're killing the sharks.
So they had these biganti-aircraft guns aimed down
and they were actually shooting.
I mean, this is a kid who'sjoined.
When he was four, he lied whenhe was like 15 years old to the
(37:06):
Merchant Marines and then liedagain to get in the Navy at 16.
But this experience was lost,right.
Nobody knew.
He'd never talked about it,never shared it with anybody.
And then I was able to find therecords and actually see a
picture of him, Robert Anderson,signing in on the USS Reno
after his ship blew up andseeing pictures of him in the
lifeboat when he finally gotonto the lifeboat to get up into
(37:27):
the ship.
I mean all those kind of thingswe were able to see it.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Because you watched Saving Private Ryan, yeah.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
And so I get to tell that story.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
That's great.
So the interesting thing aboutthat is most veterans don't talk
about their service.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
They don't yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
And so if you want to hear a veteran's story, you
have to ask, you have to developa relationship and you have to
talk to them, because most of usaren't going to share some of
the stuff.
It's pretty personal.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
Right, no, and he didn't.
And it was funny because Ididn't know, right, I had no
idea that this had happened.
And so he just starts talkingand I'm like, oh, he's probably
told everybody else, andeverybody's sitting there just
staring, staring, I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
We did record it, though we did come back later
and do it again and put it onvideo.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
But that's the thing with the veterans is a lot of
them won't talk about it.
And so this opportunity now forme to be able to brag a little
bit about my grandfather-in-lawand to share this story that's
lost with these kids, even youngkids.
They just sit there in awe,going wow, and of course I share
pictures and all that.
And then in the end thePrinceton exploded and was sunk.
I mean, it lost the ship.
But to have this experiencelost and, by the way, the USS
(38:30):
Princeton is the only aircraftcarrier to ever sink a Japanese
sub because they ran over it.
So in the middle of the nightthey were zigzagging that's
great, they're driving acrossand all of a sudden they hit
something.
Obviously the whole ship jumpedit.
And they hit something.
Obviously the whole ship jumped, it bounced the whole ship.
It's not a major carrier, butone of the screws went right
(38:50):
across the center of that sub,bent the shaft, damaged the
screw and it cut the sub rightin half.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
So they stopped the ship, no way they hit something.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
They thought they'd been hit and they stopped and
they get the floodlights out andthis sub is coming up to the
surface and they see this subsplit in half, basically, and
then sink back to the bottom.
Wow, that's crazy, but they hadto get back to Bremerton, where
I was stationed, as fast asthey could, because otherwise
they'd have to wait two years toget it fixed.
So they had to run on twoscrews, no zigzag and run as
fast as they could to Bremertonto get back into service.
(39:19):
Wow and so he had been in thevery dry docks that I'd been in
was my grandfather-in-law was inthere, and so it's kind of cool
to see the full circle, comeback around.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
This you know, uss Princeton.
Thank you for sharing that,these little veteran stories you
don't know about.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yeah, and it's lost.
You know, jonathan, I'm likeyou.
I could be here for days andhours and just any veteran who
wants chooses to share theirstory, and I realize what a a
treasure that is, because somany don't you know it's.
We need to hear more of them.
We want to hear more of them,so I hope they know that.
You know there are people outthere who want to hear their
(39:57):
stories and, like you said, haveit.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Have their stories no longer be lost and have people
if they can and there's somethey can, sometimes you can.
The pain is just too much andthere's some things they
probably shouldn't share.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
And that's understandable.
I'd love if you know, as we'retalking about sharing these
stories and having theopportunity to speak with the
younger generations, as they'regrowing up, about your military
experiences, what message wouldyou share with Canyon students
in the Canyon's community as weapproach Veterans Day?
Speaker 5 (40:33):
I think just letting them know that it is a valid and
honorable course, it'ssomething they can choose.
I don't think they know there'sa lot of those opportunities or
options.
I mean they see the recruiterscome in, you know, at lunchtime
a couple times a week and theydo a good job.
Don't get me wrong, but it'sjust.
It is putting yourself on theline and even possibly your life
(40:56):
.
But it's so much more than that.
It is something that can startyour life and get you adulting
out of the gate, and it is avalid career path that has many
options and many resources andultimately especially if you
don't know what you're doing andyou want to grow up and you
want to do something outside ofyourself, beyond yourself, be a
member of your not only yourcommunity, but your country I
(41:19):
don't think there's a morehonorable decision you can make.
Freedom isn't free right.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
It's paid for.
It's paid for by the slut bloodof patriots who stand up and
say I will defend theConstitution.
When I swore an oath to theConstitution on that day April
10th 1986, it didn't have anexpiration date.
So even though I got out of themilitary, it doesn't change for
me.
Speaker 5 (41:42):
I was a soldier for life.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
That's it.
Once you're a soldier, always asoldier, once a Marine, always
a Marine.
I mean, it's just the way it is.
I've always done that.
You know, on Veterans Day, ifyou drive by my house, all the
flags are flying except SpaceForce.
You know that's even CoastGuard flows, but sorry, space
Force doesn't have their flag.
But I fly all the flags infront of my house because it's a
symbol of what is it about,right?
(42:04):
Memorial?
Day as well, and so those thingsthat swearing an oath is more
to it than you know.
It is a lifestyle choice and Iwill have that lifestyle for the
rest of my life, and my kidsknow it.
I fly a flag in my front yardevery day.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
There's very few occupations in this life that
you have to support, to defendthe Constitution of the United
States of America, that youactually take an oath to do that
, and that's pretty awesome.
And I think what I would lovestudents to realize is that when
you look at a veteran, thoseare our heroes.
I mean, those are the guys andI've said it a couple of times
(42:42):
they're the ones that aredefending freedom, regardless of
what your MOS is, youroccupation, or we say in the
Navy, our NEC, it doesn't matterwhat you do.
You're supporting theConstitution, you're defending
the Constitution, and thefreedoms that we enjoy in this
United States of America todayis a direct result of our
military personnel.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
And that's what I would like them to realize.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
These veterans are heroes.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Gentlemen, I'm honored that you joined us and
that you shared your stories.
I couldn't put it better.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
Thank you, thank you for your service.
Thank you for joining us HappyVeterans Day.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect
Canyons.
Connect with us on Twitter,facebook or Instagram at Canyons
District or on our website,canyonsdistrictorg.
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