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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2000)
5 Veterans' Day 'M time to remember war, and pray for peace P rì H i E ClACkAMAS WEdNEsdAy, N ovemòer 8, 2000 P r ÌNT TAM OLIVER Feature Co-Editor Clackamas Community College gZ will be closed Friday, Nov. 10, in SLhonor of Veterans’ Day, a na- Sj M tional holiday originating with the signing of an armistice, be- tween the Allies and Germany, to UBi-ind World War I. Z Twhen the armistice was signed on.'the eleventh hour of the elev enth day of the eleventh month of the year” in 1918, it was prayed that the end of this “war to end all wars” would signify the be- ’ ginning of world peace. A year K latjer, November 11 was named HE Arimistice Day. It was intended year, merchants would suspend business transactions for two minutes to honor the soldiers that had fought for America. In 1921, following the burial of an unidentified French soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the burial of an unidentified En glish soldier at Westminster Ab bey in London, an unnamed sol dier was buried at Arlington Na tional Cemetery in Washington, DC. This gravesite became the focal point for the national ob servance of Armistice Day. Hopes for peace Hopes for world peace were shattered only a few years after Armistice Day was proclaimed a national holiday in 1938. The be ginning of World War II drummed out the message that world peace is a difficult goal to attain. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill to change the name of the holiday to Veterans’ Day, in order to honor all Americans who have served their country during wars. Unknown Soldiers. It is guarded Arlington tr><Iay day and night by an honQ.r.-—-An aipphitheatre surrounds the guard that silently keeps | tomb. Qr^VàBrans’Day, attera color over the symbols/q^affiftrppH*~ guardcdn^isting^jf members __ i _____ £ from _____ cans who have^MCw^ liV?s -» all military services plays “taps”, a in America’sy^ui^^zi W-V';- : \ ceremony takes^tf&^\iside, usu- After the Viethan/Waf; memo- » ally honored with the presence of rial cereiftpA^s across the die country’s highest pfffees. country began to shift their' Ibis holiday has been so dear to focus to ipaaee rather tharr the people of America that when marching Friendsvpft&y Congress passed a lav£m( I968 to ten quietlyittót the Vietnam change its observanceiolhe fourth Tomb of the Unknowns Memorial, which is referred to by Mondamin OctoWri,Aray a few many as “Thè, Waft,” and rela years passed,beft>r& nyany states tives who wah.t^tp'tpuch thè Returned to oljffer^tn^ it on Nov. names of theipJ&yt^ph^4fi£^ ¡KI, Due to theistrong nationally Today, four unidentified sol diers are buried at Arlington in honor of World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and the site has be come known as the Tomb of the scribed in the stark,gran--—sentiment, the federal govern- ite wall line up by the thousands E meni changed the date back to every year at the memorial. 975 J.. ftlackamas Army veteran practices heroism daily I I G that at 11 a.m. on this date every SANDY LUPO Opinion Editor Clackamas student Jennifer Eskola, age 30, has always taken ts trai . ertM ;ceJ trail d i| mel tfl s rtl deol the road less traveled. After a year in college in Ken tucky, Jennifer entered the United States Army in 1990, when women were still a real minority in the mili tary. She served out her two-year enlistment in Korea, where she chose to live among the Korean people rather than on the army post, experiencing local buses, trains and other conveniences (and inconveniences). She left the army as a PFC (private first class). “Not bad for two years,” she re marked, grinning. After being diagnosed with leu kemia three years ago, Eskola close to enter a test study at Or egon Health Sciences University (OHSU), and is one of four people in the world in complete remission after treatment with the drug ST571, scheduled for Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approval Administration, for her military ser- next January. Today, Eskola is a full-time wife “You still see some flak when to her husband Cliff, mother toiler^/ people hear you are a veteran,” sjie five year old daughter Ayinter?'*?, <1; remarked, “like they think we’re in kindergarten, ahef sthdent ih going to get a free ride.” Clackamas’ Microelectronics Sys- * While Eskola loved the hard tern Technology .program, where physical life in the Army, she Icftit she plans to earn her associate of with a bum knee from the running, applied sciencedegree,“ I and a badly healed dislocated No military, no freedom When askedwhat she would like to have Clackamas students under- stand this Veterans’ Day, about serving in the military, Eskola spoke shoulder that has since required surgSjry. ifiose injuries ended her previous pastime of kayaking, And _ she still owes $3000 for -L.3T222 7. her ffrst bone marrow after her leuke- proudly. mia diagnosis, which her Army “The people who serve are the medical benefits did not cover. ones who make things possible (in “I’m a true, veteran,” she America). If we did ript have the equipped, “painfully brpke.’’,^ ..... j not --1 be 1-- free- r--- ’ Despite insufficient medical and military, therewould dom. Everybody in the military'con- " educational veterans benefits,- Eskola would not trade her s„qr^l® tri butes, regardless of whht they lo her country. do—a lot of time peopledoi^t alize the lowest person is still Valwig ?“Pthink^y®^bbdy‘'sbthld sews /Z- , two years,” she said, “because able,” she remarked. Eskola is grateful for and sensjyr^^etB-loLntor^ understanding tive to educational assistance she for what you have. You take more now receives from the Veterans’ pride in your country; you have more of a stake in it. It’s something that gets in your heart and won’t let go. I still get mad if I see a uni form that doesn’t look nice, or see a soldier walk into a building with his hat on—‘take that hat off,’ I say, ‘you are representing us all’.” ’CrfQ ^nce a soldier... “Once a soldier, always a sol dier* sfieexclaimed. Eskola and her family live in Hillsboro. Holidays and birth days “mean a lot more” since the leukemia was diagnosed, and Eskfola^&erv active in her church with the teen outreach pr|ig®m^.S»Siie teaches Sunday school and has started a cancer support group. The OHSU leukemia study re- quires blood tests every three to five weeks, and bone marrows, for which Eskola must be sedated, ev- ery three months, but Eskola takes these interruptions in stride. She looks forward to finishing school, and perhaps starting a small busi ness with other veterans in the MIKE POLLOCK I Clackamas Print Jennifer Eskola hopes for recognition of veterans. microelectronics program. The comradeship with fellow veterans is central to Eskola, as the military service was central to her life. She hopes students will recognize the contributions of all veterans. “When you think of a veteran, don’t just think of a name on a wall, or at a nice grave," Eskola said. “ They (veterans) all did their time; they all were willing to say ‘ I would give my life for my country’.” ‘■JSS Cole tragedy stirs memories and concerns ti: On Oct. 12,2000, 17 U.S. sailors re died and 39 were injured as the ship thi: they were stationed on, the USS ists. A bomb explosion ripped a hole in the port side of the guided missile , destroyer, rendering the ship immo- . ! bile. The crew consisted of 26 offic ers and 296 en listed crewmembers. ■ Thé US Navy is probably the most feared and well-organized mili- tary might in the world today. Ask almost anyone, and the answer is, I no one has a more powerful military II arsenal. But how much assurance ( I ■ does someone going into the Navy have that he is safe? I During my four-year stint with the US Navy, from 1995-99,1 was in war lime conditions with an attack on my ship possible at any time. I also rved during peacetime. 1 had a deep fear at times because my ship, an aircraft carrier, was be a very large and possible tar get for Iraq when ve were called off )ur deployment 0 the Persian Gulf or air support in Operation Desert Jhield. Even with all the tate of the art ;quipment onboard, long-range tracking arid the ability to shoot down any air craft inbound, the threat of danger was still very real to me. Injury and death The USS Cole suffered what any sailor fears worst while on board a ship—a surprise attack and injury and death to fellow sailors. I cannot imagine what was going through the minds of the sailors on board the Cole when the bomb blasted off. Were they going about their daily duties, following the routines they performed each day? Were they enjoying chow below decks, laughing and joking with friends? Were they on watch, thinking the routine refueling and re-supply would be over soon and they would be back to sea running drills and continuing to their next port? And suddenly chaos The next minute, chaos sur rounded them as a large blast rocked the small attack destroyer. Fol lowing was not the silence that reassures everyone that every thing is all right; but instead the alarms and screams from fellow comrades that tell you everything is not all right. There are drills and procedures to train naval personnel on board a naval ship to deal with such inci dents., Dog hatches. Lockdown doors. Prepare for the worst. But drills cannot prepare a sailor for his reactions and feelings when the real deal happens. Especially when he trusted the ship was safe; they were safe, in a friendly port. I lost four friends while at sea, and each was a loss greater than I thought I could handle. Two of them died while running ops on deck dur ing the Desert Shield Operation. Neither could have been saved. Even though I believed I could have possibly done something to prevent if, there was nothing I could have done. Both men had launched and trapped aircraft hun dreds of times; they knew what they were doing. But in a danger ous environment like an aircraft carrier’s flight deck, accidents can happen at anytime. I learned the hard way, by losing close friends. In peacetime, I lost two other friends. One was doing routine checks on fire-seal safety, the other was lost overboard. None ever thought about what kind of danger he might have been in, and realistically, no one in the Navy ever does, until its too late. The Navy may be a huge super power, but no one in the Navy is ever truly safe. Most have a false sense of security. Because the US is feared worldwide for its military power, we have nothing to fear, we are protected. So we think. Just because we have a mighty hand to crush our enemies does not mean our hand cannot be burned or broken. No one really thinks that anyone, in any job, is at risk of injury or death at anytime. And in the Navy, risks are largely increased. The sailors on the USS Cole who lost their lives were brave and honorable, just as my friends were, buttheir deaths were not justified. I understand firsthand how hard Navy life can be, not only physi cally but also mentally. And not until I had finished my first deploy ment did I truly realize the losses that attend to protecting freedom. Nor did I really know how men tally tough some issues are to deal with. At the time, I was not ready to accept those losses, as I am sure some of the sailors on the USS Cole are not ready today. Good or bad, Navy experiences will be with us our entire lives. / Maybe the odds are that some disaster like the USS Cole will not happen. But how do we tell that & the brave men and women who lost comrades on the USS Cole? How do those who survived the attack, who have to deal with the horror and loss feel safe again? Who is protecting these men and women while they protect all of us?
