|
|||||
 | |||||
|
Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 11/20/06 |
|
|
In
the News Archive - Year:
November 9, 2006 University pays tribute to student soldiers, vets UWGB alumni honored at ceremony By Nathan Phelps
Around them, other veterans of current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and past military endeavors were in a mix of dress uniforms and civilian clothing. Aside from the shared experience of military service, they all shared another common thread — they are part of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay community.
On Wednesday the university paid tribute to its veterans, just days ahead of Veterans Day on Saturday.
Lange, 22, of Green Bay said that even after spending a year on the roads of Iraq, where he and the guys he served with faced the threat of attack, he doesn't feel like someone who has been through combat.
"I see these people walking around and I don't feel any different than them," he said.
The university currently has 10 people deployed overseas and another five waiting to go.
Joel Ponshock, a 22-year-old native of Milladore, did two tours of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps. He's now back at UWGB working on a business degree.
He was one of 14 students recognized by name for their military service by the university.
"When I was still in (the Marines), I was worried about if I was going to get deployed ... and here the only thing I have to worry about is doing my schoolwork," he said.
Throughout the military, young people like Ponshock, who was discharged as a sergeant, are given the responsibility of leading people in a hostile environment.
"I don't think (the public) really realizes or grasps what these kids go through and what's asked of them in those kinds of environments," he said. "It's just a very stressful situation they have to deal with on a daily basis."
Schmitz said that after serving on active duty he joined the National Guard and wanted to serve overseas, something he did in Iraq, but he's now focused on getting his education.
"You have so much more appreciation ... because you went through so much, not knowing if you'd come back or not," the 29-year-old Crivitz native said.
Both Lange and Schmitz served in the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry, that provided armed escorts to convoys in Kuwait and Iraq. Both said they didn't think of themselves as combat veterans.
"I just wanted to go back to my normal life," Schmitz said.
He'll go back to school in January to pick up the schooling he left to go to war.
"I just feel really blessed," Lange said. "I never knew how lucky I was to live in America until I went overseas. ... I couldn't be happier."
| |
