Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Ep 96: Canyons District Veterans Share Stories, Inspiration Ahead of Veterans Day
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.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyon School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us experts too.
Speaker 3:Learning is about making connections, so connect with us In 1918, a temporary cessation of hostilities was called between the Allied nations and Germany, effectively ending World War I. It went into effect in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, while the official Treaty of Versailles was not signed until June of the following year. Veterans Day has continued to be honored on November 11th. The end of the war. To end all wars. Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, frances Cook.
Speaker 3:Here at Canyon School District, we strive to honor our veterans on a daily basis in gratitude for their service. As we're approaching Veterans Day, we strive to honor our veterans on a daily basis in gratitude for their service. As we're approaching Veterans Day, we wanted to have a special episode where we hear from a few of our own veterans. Joining me today are Everett Perry, canyon's Human Resources Administrator and Navy Veteran, derek Chandler, head of the Brighton High School Art Department and Army Veteran, as well as Navy veteran Jonathan Ward, who oversees the new Navy National Defense Cadet Corps at Jordan High. Gentlemen, thank you for your service and thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 4:Thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 3:I'd love to start with really just your decision to join the military. Everett, would you mind starting us off?
Speaker 4: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, I had 2.1 grade point average and realized that I come from a blue collar family. I didn't qualify for scholarships and I said you know, I do want to go to school eventually. So I looked into military service.
Speaker 4:Navy just jumped out at me and I was going to be a diesel mechanic, heavy diesel mechanic. So I took the ASVAB. I did all that stuff. I went in and when I got to MEPS, the Military Entrance Processing Center up there at Fort Douglas, some guy sitting at a desk said hey, you know, your ASVAB score is not really diesel mechanic. You should really go into medicine or something else. And well, no, I'm not qualified for that. And he goes yeah, you are Let to medicine or something else. And well, no, I'm not qualified. And he goes yeah, you're, let's just put you in this. So we're going to make you a Navy corpsman. I had no idea what that was. I, truly, 17 year old, I had no clue.
Speaker 4:So I just said okay and I signed up. That was early entry, april of 1986. And I went to bootcamp. Seven days after graduation, june 7th, I went to bootcamp. I had a really tough boot camp.
Speaker 3:I had to go to San Diego you know really tough environment to have to be in, especially in June.
Speaker 4:I did my boot camp and ended up going to A school which is core school, and that was again a really tough duty station. I had to go to Naval Hospital Balboa in San Diego, another really tough duty station, it was the old hospital and the old barracks. But I did my core school and then I went to FMF school, fleet Marine Force, which is your, basically your Navy corpsman. You're a medic for the Marines and I went to Pendleton to do that part. So I did the Marine side and then Desert Storm rolled around.
Speaker 2:Also in San Diego.
Speaker 4:Well, you know a little North La Jolla. I actually got called up August 25th of 1990. I was to replace the backfill of the corpsman that got deployed to the sand and I was up in Bremerton at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard so I served up there for a full year during deployment. We were the first Navy unit to be recalled since Vietnam. In fact we were the first reserve unit to be recalled since Vietnam. And it was my fault Vietnam, In fact, we were the first reserve unit to be recalled since Vietnam, 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 every weekend doing pretty much nothing, and yet I had doctors, nurses and others and we said this is dumb, so let's get some equipment which I got donated from hospitals, and we started training and we became T1 and R1, training, ready and readiness level one, and we were the only Navy unit that in fact the only reserve unit was fully T1, R1. And so we were the first unit called and we left August 25th. I still remember the call at 830 in the morning. My lieutenant called me and said by the way, we're recalling. I said nice try. He said no report by noon and bring your bag, we're going.
Speaker 4:We were on a plane by one, so at one o'clock I was on an airplane flying up to SeaTac and then transported over to Puget Sound because their corpsman had already left. They were on their way to the sand, to Riyadh, and so we took over their space and I was at the shipyard there running the emergency room, eight bed ER, 21 bed occupational clinic and three ambulances for a year. And then midway through got pulled into my FMF side, my Marine Corps side, when Fast Company, the Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team Company, came to Bremerton for security purposes and needed a doc. So I got attached to the anti-terrorism team and became their corpsman. So I would work four days a week at the clinic and three days a week with the Marines and vice versa, and did that for a year and then after that I did a total of eight years, got out, realized it's time not to re-up because I developed an allergy to bullets.
Speaker 4:They react badly in my body and so shrapnel and bullets do bad things. So it's a good unit, but it's a boots on ground and 12-hour unit. So if something bad happens as an embassy or otherwise, our units the one that would be sent in to go take care of it and I decided that I'm going to raise a family. That's probably not a good environment, but I did eight years, got an honorable discharge and I've been happy that I did it and I don't remember all the bad things, right. You kind of focus on the good stuff.
Speaker 5:Sure, yeah, Derek. How about you? I was a little bit different. I had no intentions at all of ever 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, but I'm pulling B's and C's. I don't really know what I want to do with my life. I broke up with my longtime girlfriend and I said enough's enough, I need to go on and do something bigger and better. So, having no idea what I was doing, I just walked into a recruiter station. I didn't have a preference, other than when I was a little boy I played army, played soldier. So I walked in and asked him if I could sign up and I made his whole day.
Speaker 3:That never happens. That's not how it happens, yeah.
Speaker 5:So I did. I signed up. It was April. I was shipped off in June, south Carolina, one of the biggest training bases in America, and I didn't even know that you had a job in the Army, I didn't know. So when they came time to pick your MOS, I said, well, I'm just going to basic training for nine weeks. And they're like no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's where you start, that's where you become a soldier. Then you can find an occupation. I'm like, I'm, I can go to school full time. I can, like, really get my life started. And I went to South Carolina and I was at Fort Jackson and we finished our final rock march to become a soldier much later than we thought. I was there in the dead of summer, from June to the beginning of September. And the humidity, and I was hospitalized because from Utah, you don't know about humidity like that, so I didn't know about body powder, I didn't know. Anyways, long story short, our graduation day was September 12th of 2001.
Speaker 5:So on 9-11, I was cleaning my boots and my gear and suddenly our drill sergeant musters us, gets everyone together and they start wheeling in TVs and turning it on. We're like, oh, this is just another muster drill. So this is just, and you know China's attacking or you know we would always have these where we had to go, go, go within 24 hours Simulations. And then we watched the first or the second plane crash. This was in the morning I was on the East Coast and when they opened up the phones to any New York residents to try to get a hold of family members, when they opened up anyone on the East Coast, when they locked down the base, that's when we went. This is real and the army I thought I had joined was no longer, no longer. So priorities change real quick when, instead of graduation, you're having my parents and my um previous girlfriend, now wife, happily married. Um, nothing makes the heart grow fonder than you know distance. But, um, they were trying to board a plane, and this was early on in the days of cell phones, and I mean we, like. They had been dropped off and the airport was shut down. So, um, really quickly, I knew my life was going to change.
Speaker 5:I did go to Fort Bliss, texas. It could not be worsely named. It is one of the worst places in the world, right on the borders of El Paso. Did my MOS training there. I picked the shortest MOS I could get for training wise because I didn't want to be gone for long. So it was six weeks to become a truck driver, so 88 Mike. I had no idea what that would involve but I was about to have backbreaking work and anyways, I love those 10 ton trucks. I did come back to Utah. The next biggest event after nine 11 for the nation that was potential terrorist threat was right here in Utah with the winter Olympics.
Speaker 5:So, I got activated right away. I got home at the end of October. I was activated by December, went up to Colorado to do some train ups and whatnot, and so we ended up spending six weeks 12 hour shifts on, 12 hours off, driving around the national guard and EOD FBI to all the different events, and we were driving at two in the morning, six in the morning, I mean nonstop, and on this private 2 and driving around 60-pack buses with all these guys. Anyways, long story short, I ended up. I knew Iraq was coming. The writing was on the wall.
Speaker 5:We had gone into Afghanistan already and I love being a reservist, nothing against being a weekend warrior. But if I was going to go and put my life on the line, I wanted to do it with a group of guys that lived, ate and breathed soldier. So I went active duty that July and, of course, immediately got stationed in Germany. So my wife and I had just barely gotten married that April and she was planning on coming over with me. Except when I got to Germany they told me I was going to be deployed to Kosovo for nine months. So that was out.
Speaker 5:So, she ended up staying and living with my parents while I did K4. It was a peacekeeping mission. Nine months doing that Finally got back to Germany. I was stationed in the south of Germany and just 11 miles away from Grafenwoehr where Elvis Presley did his training and fell in love with Germany. I could not have been more happy. My wife ended up did, coming over finally making it, and we were so happy we were going to be together.
Speaker 5:And then we invaded Iraq. So I was part of OIF too. I wasn't home for more than maybe six months. In those six months we were in the field half the time training anyways. We I was.
Speaker 5:It was a tank battalion, so big M1A1 Abrams tanks, and I was a truck driver. So we were either hauling 2,000 gallons 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 in Iraq, so did 13 months boots on the ground in Iraq, stationed north of it was outside of a little place called Bakuba. It was in the Diyala province, which they really liked Saddam Hussein, because he made them all very rich, and so when we came in and ousted him they were not happy with us, but I was part of a really good unit. Our sister unit took heavy casualties, but our unit we were able to really do some positive things, get some ends with the natives, some good
Speaker 5:intel. I was a corporal with a group of five guys through Iraq. We all came home with all of our fingers and toes and same kind of deal. I knew what I didn't want to do anymore once I got home. So I went back to being a reservist. After three years of active duty, went to the University of Utah, the Montgomery GI Bill. I used all of that and then they said hey, if you were in the war on terror, here's another 10,000. And hey, if you serve for 9-11, here's another 10,000. So I was able to go to school full time and make more money doing that. The reservists at the time they had a really good deal where they just waived your tuition.
Speaker 5:So I was getting the Montgomery GI Bill. That was going to nothing but my living situation and I could not. I would never take it back. Love my experiences. I've talked way too long, but that's that.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for sharing that, jonathan.
Speaker 2:So if I get a little emotional, I got to apologize because I'm five days being a veteran. I just actually left active duty five days ago.
Speaker 5:Congratulations. No apology needed.
Speaker 2:And I love listening to veterans and I love their stories. These two gentlemen here. It's phenomenal and I think more veterans need to. We need to hear their stories because defend freedom, democracy around the world. There's there's less than one half of 1% of the United States population that actually gets to serve in our country, whatever service you choose. So it's phenomenal. But I had quite a bit different story than these two gentlemen.
Speaker 2:So I went to Utah State, graduated in music education and then went to University of Louisville in music performance. And while I was at the University of Louisville I saw a little sign on the bulletin board that says hey, get paid to play. Well, that's what I was doing, I'm a musician. So I went out and auditioned for the Army Reserve Band, 101st Division in Fort Knox, kentucky, joined them for three years, fort Knox, kentucky, joined them for three years, and then, when I graduated from University of Louisville, I wanted to do it full time.
Speaker 2:Actually, I taught school for a couple of years as a band director and realized that I was not performing. And someone came through my reserve unit and says, hey, if you really want to play, you got to go check out the Navy. So I checked out the Navy and in the Navy music program you have to audition to get in and you got to go check out the Navy. So I checked out the Navy, and in the Navy music program you have to audition to get in and you have to. It's pretty difficult to get in and so I auditioned for the Navy music program. What was able to get in that situation? And basically, 27 years later, here I am.
Speaker 3:I have served.
Speaker 2:There's really nine units in the Navy music program that I could go, and I think I served in most of them in the States.
Speaker 2:I was able to get over to Italy, and one of the really cool experiences I had when I was in Italy we were requested to perform in Iraq, and so they sent the band down to Baghdad, and what was really wild is that I felt almost like the president of the United States, because when we blew into that airport and then we were driving to the embassy there is that I had an armored suburban on one side. An armored suburban on the other side had an armored suburban in front of us. I had an armored suburban behind us. We were wearing full bulletproof jackets, we were wearing helmet, we were wearing full bulletproof jackets, we were wearing helmet, we were wearing all the gear. And so there's this convoy going down the street. I go holy cow, this must be what the president feels like, or anybody from the Senate, every time they move. And so we actually toured Saddam Hussein's palace, which is still bombed out at the time.
Speaker 5:Golden toilets, but my service was phenomenal.
Speaker 2:I've played for presidents. I've played for presidents, I've played for dignitaries, I played for the president of Iraq at that place. So it has been. I have nothing bad to say about my service in the military and I think the further removed from it, like you said, I will remember none of the bad times, because there's challenging times, challenging times the separations from family, the long deployments. You know missing everything that you can imagine that your kids are doing. Missing birthdays, anniversaries, everything you can imagine.
Speaker 4:You know you give up, but man, to serve your country and the camaraderie that you fill with your unit it's indescribable Learning to stand in attention and fall asleep while having your eyes open. Oh, my goodness, all those moments I can't Queuing in a line somewhere.
Speaker 2:So we're not going to remember the bad times right, exactly. We're just going to remember the powerful moments that you affect change and I'll tell you. I got to tell you one more thing. So, as a musician for 27 years I've played musician One of the most powerful things I've ever seen is when I'm marching a parade and I see a veteran that's sitting in a wheelchair, that he's got oxygen and as we march by with the flag right in front of us, they will struggle to stand with tears running down their eyes.
Speaker 2:You just can't describe that and you don't know, unless you served to be quite honest with you.
Speaker 4:You know it's funny. I wish I could figure out who that guy was at MEPS right back in 1986, who that was that told me to go into core school, because I'd love to go meet him today, 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 able to save their life in some way. Whether it's bleeding out or heart attacks or whatever 32 people's lives from that guy.
Speaker 1:Because he made a suggestion, Because that guy said why?
Speaker 4:don't you go into medical? I'm like I don't know anything. I know first aid from Boy Scouts, but I mean seriously.
Speaker 2:I'm not in that anymore. I mean the good that the military has done, especially in the Gulf War and things like that. You're a lot of the negative things, but what you did over there in the Gulf War, that's I mean that's. I was never able other than playing for dignitaries. I was never in a combat zone or never able to. But you know we were musicians, are kind of the face of the Navy because, the people that have never seen Navy before.
Speaker 2:They see a military band come in and play in uniform and they equivalent us to the military, and so so, in my own little way, I think I did something, but I mean what you gentlemen did. That was phenomenal.
Speaker 5:Every service is going to be different. It's not equal, it's just equally honorable.
Speaker 3:You talk about how the band is kind of the face of the Navy. I remember, even as a kid, we were stationed at Hill Air Force Base, which is actually where I was born, and then we moved around quite a bit and came back and I remember every year going to see Tops in Blue, which is the Air Force choir, and just had I joined the military they would have been. Why Hands down? I want to do that, I want to tour the world and sing in a choir, but it truly is kind of a symbol, if you will.
Speaker 2:Now you're going to have to hold me to it, but next year they're doing Salt Lake Navy Week.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 2:Salt Lake Navy Week. I just recently came from a Navy band in Southwest where I was playing in a band there, but they actually come up and perform for Navy.
Speaker 4:Week Salt Lake.
Speaker 2:City. So what I'm trying to do because I still have huge connections down there is I'm trying to get them to come up and I'm sorry you might have to come over to Jordan to hear them. But I'm trying to get them to come up and I'm sorry you might have to come over to Jordan to hear them but I'm trying to get my band to come up to Jordan. It's a rock band and put on a concert for my Jordan High School, so I'm hoping that'll happen.
Speaker 3:I'm working on it. You guys heard it here first. I'd love to actually that's a great segue, if you will into what's going on at Jordan High right now. This is the inaugural year for Jordan High's Naval program. Can you talk to us about what the program is and how this first kind of you know? In sports they call it a building year. How's that going for you?
Speaker 2:So currently we have 32 Naval cadets and those 32 Naval cadets are Really excited about the program. We actually because it's taken a while. I didn't get here until a week before school and so we basically had our first uniform day, because one of the requirements is you wear a uniform one day a week, and they wore them for the first time two weeks ago. Because it's taken that long to get my uniforms in and get them all situated and things like that.
Speaker 2:So the cadets were really, really excited and get my uniforms in and get them all situated and things like that. So the cadets were really, really excited. We are what's called, as you said 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 understand clear, and we're not quite there yet. We have to maintain certain standards for three years before the Navy will come in and say, yeah, we're going to fund your program. Right now, canyons District is funding the program, but it's really fantastic because what I've seen in Jordan High School and maybe Canyons District, because I have multiple cadets coming from different high schools throughout the canyon, because you're able to come.
Speaker 5:So if anybody's listened to this from any of the high schools in Canyon District, come on over.
Speaker 2:Is that there's not a whole lot of military awareness in this district.
Speaker 5:In the state, yeah, in the state, outside of.
Speaker 2:Oregon and as I talk to cadets about, hey, what do you think about maybe looking at the military as a career path besides college or trade school or going into the workforce? They're just not aware of it. So I think having a Navy National Defense Career Corps or NJRTC program, I think it's bringing great awareness and the first thing we do is it's a citizenship development program. This is not a recruiting program for the military, it's also a leadership development program. So within the unit, you know, I've got my cadet commanding officer, I've got my cadet executive officer, I've got my senior enlisted cadet, I've got my admin officer, I've got my PA enlisted cadet. I've got my admin officer, I've got my PAO public affairs officer, I've got my supply officer. So we're giving all of these cadets opportunity to grow and lead and really become more familiar with the military. So I think it's going pretty good, but we can always use more. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, and you'll be competing as well. I mean I can't quite do my 16-count manual arms anymore. I mean it's been a few years, but again you'll be competing as well.
Speaker 2:And part of that program is there's teams. What you're referring to is there'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't functioning yet because I don't really have the equipment to do that, and so they're learning drill. They're learning military, everything about the military. We actually competed at orienteering meet here about three weeks ago and we ended up taking third in state, which was really kind of cool.
Speaker 1:for a very small unit, that's great.
Speaker 2:So we're coming along, we're slowly building the program, but I'm really excited that this gives cadets, this gives students in the district Jordan and the school district an opportunity to belong to something that maybe they don't fit into athletics, or maybe they don't fit into band, or maybe they don't fit into some of the other clubs.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:This gives them a place where they can come and feel that camaraderie and really excel. Yeah, so that'saderie and really excel.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's a little bit about it.
Speaker 3:That's beautiful. Like you were talking about earlier, it's that camaraderie feeling, in that it becomes a family of sorts. And I think to your point. We have Hill Air Force Base but unless you live in Ogden or Layton or that area, it's not as big. When you're referring to, say, camp Williams and things like that, utah is definitely not a Colorado Springs where your entire community is built around military, you know, great Salt Lake, those big ships out there. Right, right.
Speaker 5:You see carriers every day, you know all the time, most sorties every day, and that's been of interest because throughout my military career it was a little different in that I was either at a training base, so I wasn't in the surrounding area, because they lock us down pretty good. And then, when I was stationed in Germany, we were either going into Germany and hanging out with the Europeans, which was fantastic, or we were on base.
Speaker 5:And it's almost like when you went on vacation because you're already over there, it's like you didn't want to see any Americans. You know you want to get in the culture, yeah. And so by the time I got back and I was a reservist I hadn't really lived in those many subcultures, because the military, it's just America under a microscope. I mean, it's every walk of life In Iraq. We have cell phones and sat phones were still really limited, so we had a call center, not a call center. It was like basically eight phones, you know, in a blown out base and we would line up and you would wait for hours in line to get in.
Speaker 5:And one of my favorite stories is the Georgians at the time, I think south of Russia, those type of Georgians. They were assisting us on some of our runs and different routes and whatnot, and with our rules of engagement they could do certain things that we couldn't, and so they, you know. So we were feeding them, they were on our base. Anyways, we were standing in line and all of a sudden a tap on my shoulder and I turn around and the Georgian says what is America? And I'm like, what do you mean? What is America? And he said me Georgian, taps his friend, he says him Georgian, georgian, you Japanese, mexican, puerto Rican. And I realized in this eight phone little tiny room there was every single race and ethnicity you could think of and we were speaking eight different languages. So it's an experience that no other nation has.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a really great point. You know you've all shared such wonderful stories. I'm curious how your time in the military has impacted you as a person, but also how has it impacted you know how you teach or how you operate working in education?
Speaker 4:Well, I'm obviously going to go with veterans' preference in hiring people, you know, let's put that out there.
Speaker 4:Because, obviously I have a little tinge of preference towards those veterans that I want to be able to bring in and help get a foot up Canyonsdistrictorg Jobs. No, I think it's had a direct impact. I mean, obviously I grew up a little bit, I mean literally physically and mentally. I went into boot camp. I was five foot six and about 130 pounds wet. I came out five foot 11 and 185 pounds and was like a whole different person. No one knew who I was back home in the little town of Brigham City, so that was kind of fun.
Speaker 4:No, as I grow through the process and I've learned the discipline travels across all of the different areas I've worked in. I mean human resources. Obviously I manage 6,000 employee services and make sure that they don't do things that should hit us on the news. But at the same time, I think the influence that I've had in medicine and other things clearly plays a role in all the stuff that I do and I want to make sure that we are finding people that we can work with.
Speaker 4:It's interesting we only have two people right now that are in the military and 6,000 employees. We have two people One's going back in and one is in. That's it. I mean in the whole district we have two people and it's fascinating, you're right, it's a back in and one is in. That's it. I mean, in the whole district we have two people and it's fascinating. You're right, it's a little microcosm of people out there. It's that less than half of 1% of the population. But education has not been a big founding of pushing people into the military. I mean, it's obviously guns and other things of that nature. However, those that do go in are so dedicated They'll stay, and we've had several of our employees that have finished out 30 years and 20 years, et cetera, that did that and have been through that process and we work with them nonstop. Right if something happens.
Speaker 3:Correct me if I'm wrong, but Canyons operates in a way that you can still be active military.
Speaker 4:No, absolutely. I mean, you see, obviously the law says we will do that up to five years of accommodation, but we took that. We took it one step further. So our board came back and said we want to do one step further than that and we offered military leave that in the past we did this. You could do up to 30 days, you know, you go out on your two week whatever, and we will make up the difference if you're short on pay, because you don't always get paid, the same as what you would do with us. However, we went further than that. What we said is now we don't just make it up, we actually just give them 15 days of their pay with us and they get their military pay as well, and then the other 15 days.
Speaker 4:we make up the difference. Now, if they go out beyond that, we'll obviously hold their job, we'll reinstate them, we put their seniority and everything back in place if they have to be deployed, and that happens. But that piece is that extra caveat we just put in this year. So now, if they get to go out for less than 30 days, they're getting those 15 days of full pay and their military pay, and then we'll make up the difference.
Speaker 4:So I mean, we're becoming military friendly more so, and that's the goal of what we're looking for is that we want to attract more and we're going to see what happens and if we have to do the guardian program and we have to start looking outside.
Speaker 4:You know where I'm going to start, which is armed guardians. I'm going to work with my veterans groups because training is easy. Right, it's a piece of cake. They could probably tear it down and put it back together. That's my goal. It makes life a little bit easier. But that's some of the things we're going to have to look for in the future is ways that we can recruit.
Speaker 3:So, yes, am I active in that Absolutely and have been.
Speaker 5:I've been here 16 years almost I'm an artist and I've seen what art can do.
Speaker 5:We always joke that it's cheaper than therapy. Well, it is. And then the other joke is if I left, if I led a group of five guys through Iraq for 13 months, I can teach students art. So I've always been an artist my whole life. When I was deployed I would do little comics for morale to try to that. I would go and just zero rocks at the time and tape to walls, and you know just day of day in the life of kind of stories.
Speaker 5:And so it's weird to think that my service would transfer over, but I think it does. I mean the military will teach you step one, step two, step three. It'll teach you how to. I mean it's all problem solving and at the end of the day I tell my students that's what art is as well. It's problem solving. There's no right or wrong answer, but what's the better and best answer? And the military? It turns you into a creative and critical thinker day one, because you have to figure out how to do these movements. You have to figure out how to make your platoon sergeant happy, you have to. So anyways, I think it's. The building blocks are there. After I came back from being deployed. Everything was easy, nice.
Speaker 4:Adapt improvise overcome yeah.
Speaker 5:That's it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, it still affects every day of my life because I'm in the NJROTC program. But just little things. Like I can't stand not being early, you know what?
Speaker 4:I mean. To be late, I mean you guys know, if you're on time, you're late, you know in the military.
Speaker 2:If you're late to a muster, you're getting written up. Oh no, don't talk to my wife about that you know.
Speaker 4:it's like I'm always early. It's just the nature of that. If you are on time, you're late.
Speaker 2:That's right. I great interpersonal skills. Like in the military, you're really more concerned about the people you're leading than the people than yourself most of the time. So, you become very absorbed with other people and I think as a school teacher, that really works hand in hand, because you're more concerned about your students, what you can do to help your students get to where you want them to be. So I mean, there's really nothing about the military that hasn't affected my life.
Speaker 2:I mean we could all go on for like days, probably to be quite honest with you the discipline, I mean the ability to follow an order, the ability to listen, I mean just all of these things that you don't see sometimes in your students. You know, like I need you to wear a uniform on this day and someone shows up not in uniform. Well, I didn't realize we had to wear uniforms. What's up with that? Yeah, so just yeah, it's really the military has. I'm so grateful for the military.
Speaker 4: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 two ago 2009,.
Speaker 5:Technically I did my eighth by.
Speaker 4:I was a reservist IRR Right inactive ready.
Speaker 2:Yep, you know, the technology that this school district uses is kind of blowing me away now, because the military has its own technology.
Speaker 3:Right, but the stuff we're using here is like oh my goodness. Parent.
Speaker 2:Square.
Speaker 3:How do I use this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's good. The learning curve is real.
Speaker 5:The military has the best technology. It's just what you actually get and use.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, Very, very different what you have access to.
Speaker 4:Yeah but the stuff that actually works is not technology. That stuff you don't rely on. You've got to rely on everything else.
Speaker 2:You know, and I think the other thing that's really kind of cool about the military is that you really see pretty quickly the impact you're having on society. The impact you're having on national security, the impact you know, like art. You see the impact you're having on sailors, on soldiers and things like that, and it's sometimes you don't see that impact initially as quick as you do in the military, in this public school system that I've seen. Sure, and I'm sure it's there but maybe it's delayed a little bit.
Speaker 3:Probably, Like Everett said, he wishes he could go back and say thank you.
Speaker 4:It's funny how this works. That being with the troops is a very different thing, and so you know it's been 30 plus years for me being out of that, and so I work together with a veterans group locally with community nursing service for people in hospice and we go out and do recognitions for them and we 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. But here's the cool part is that I go out with this group. It's being back with the troops again now.
Speaker 4:It is me and a bunch of colonels and generals, but that's a real unique experience but, you know lieutenant colonels, colonels and generals, but it's being back with the troops and that's the part that all of them have said with this group that we go out with is the same thing. It's being with the troops again and we go in uniform, but to be back in a uniform again, it's a really unique experience when you've been out that long and fitting into them, also Because we've never changed since we were 19 and 20.
Speaker 1:No, of course not. That's never changed since we were 19 or 20. No, of course not, that's never changed.
Speaker 4:Same build, yeah, yeah, I'm not saying I didn't order a new one, but in the end I mean, reality is it's being with the troops and it doesn't change 30 years ago or five days ago. It's still. There's a camaraderie of brotherhood that takes place, that it doesn't matter how long ago it was. Just make sure you carry your challenge coins. You don't want to buy drinks. Other than that, it's all good.
Speaker 3:It just clicks instantly. It does. That's beautiful. Now, Jonathan, this is your first year with Canyons.
Speaker 1:Is that correct?
Speaker 2:This is my first year.
Speaker 3:yes, so this is going to be your first time experiencing some of our Veterans Day programs and events that we have going on here. I'm really excited for you to see that. I feel like our district goes above and beyond when it comes to each of our schools does something right. They have a parade. They bring in their parents, their grandparents and, you know, grandpa comes in his uniform and to see these kids stand up, you know in third grade, and salute grandpa is just, it's so beautiful.
Speaker 4:So I've had the privilege of being able to help with a lot of those. So I've had the opportunity to tell two stories. Which has been really fun is that I come in and talk about it and it's generational. So my grandfather-in-law was World War II vet and I get to tell his story. And it's been a really cool experience for me is that I'll come up and I get to talk about him being on the USS Princeton. He was on a flat top small carrier that was a cruiser converted. He was in the Battle of Laethe Gulf and I get to talk about this battle that we didn't know anything about until a couple years ago when we watched Saving Private Ryan with him and at the end he goes I guess we should talk about this and he starts talking.
Speaker 5:My grandpa same thing. I have no idea what in the world.
Speaker 4:It wasn't until yeah, but he was on this carrier down in the hangar and Zero got through into the group and they didn't notice it and he dropped a 500 pound bomb through the elevator door that's right in the center of the ship on this one and it skidded through and it didn't detonate. And he's walking down the deck and this bomb slides right by him, three feet away, and it's sparking all the way down the deck and unfortunately they're fueling torpedo planes down there and the lines are cut across and it just severed all those fuel lines, so the whole thing becomes an inferno finally hits the back of the deck, which hits the pumps and the fuel and the motor, and it blows them all out.
Speaker 4:So there's no pumps, no water, no motor and at that point, 12 hours, they're fighting this thing. You would have the reno and the buckingham come up next to the ship and spray on from other ships trying to keep it out and but in they'd have to pull away because another zero comes through and it's no one knew he was in there 12 hours going down grabbing people and bringing them up, going down grabbing people, bringing them up Goodness and basically dropping them overboard, right down these ropes down to these boats, and then finally they had to give the abandoned ship.
Speaker 4:There was no salvage at that point and so they abandoned ship and he was in the water and there was no boats left. So he was in the water for like 23 hours, wow, and there were sharks and they lost a lot of people to sharks, and so he told this story of he finally got to the USS Reno and they got nets dropped over the back of the ship and these nets are down so they could climb up, and they're exhausted and tired and he starts to climb up the net and the anti-aircraft guns go off again and he's like oh, here we go again.
Speaker 5:And they're aiming down and Aircraft guns go off again.
Speaker 4:And he's like, oh, here we go again and they're aiming down. And he goes they were aiming down, 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-old kid and he says what's going on? Oh, we're killing the sharks. So they had these big anti-aircraft guns aimed down and they were actually shooting.
Speaker 4:I mean, this is a kid who's joined. When he was four, he lied when he was like 15 years old to the Merchant Marines and then lied again 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 the records and actually see a picture of him, Robert Anderson, signing in on the USS Reno after his ship blew up and seeing pictures of him in the lifeboat when he finally got onto the lifeboat to get up into the ship. I mean all those kind of things we were able to see it.
Speaker 2:Because you watched Saving Private Ryan, yeah.
Speaker 4:And so I get to tell that story.
Speaker 2:That's great. So the interesting thing about that is most veterans don't talk about their service.
Speaker 3:They don't yeah.
Speaker 2:And so if you want to hear a veteran's story, you have to ask, you have to develop a relationship and you have to talk to them, because most of us aren't going to share some of the stuff. It's pretty personal.
Speaker 4:Right, no, and he didn't. And it was funny because I didn't know, right, I had no idea that this had happened. And so he just starts talking and I'm like, oh, he's probably told everybody else, and everybody's sitting there just staring, staring, I didn't know.
Speaker 2:We did record it, though we did come back later and do it again and put it on video.
Speaker 4:But that's the thing with the veterans is a lot of them won't talk about it. And so this opportunity now for me to be able to brag a little bit about my grandfather-in-law and to share this story that's lost with these kids, even young kids. They just sit there in awe, going wow, and of course I share pictures and all that. And then in the end the Princeton exploded and was sunk. I mean, it lost the ship. But to have this experience lost and, by the way, the USS Princeton is the only aircraft carrier to ever sink a Japanese sub because they ran over it. So in the middle of the night they were zigzagging that's great, they're driving across and all of a sudden they hit something. Obviously the whole ship jumped it. And they hit something. Obviously the whole ship jumped, it bounced the whole ship. It's not a major carrier, but one of the screws went right across the center of that sub, bent the shaft, damaged the screw and it cut the sub right in half.
Speaker 1:So they stopped the ship, no way they hit something.
Speaker 4:They thought they'd been hit and they stopped and they get the floodlights out and this sub is coming up to the surface and they see this sub split in half, basically, and then sink back to the bottom. Wow, that's crazy, but they had to get back to Bremerton, where I was stationed, as fast as they could, because otherwise they'd have to wait two years to get it fixed. So they had to run on two screws, no zigzag and run as fast as they could to Bremerton to get back into service.
Speaker 4:Wow and so he had been in the very dry docks that I'd been in was my grandfather-in-law was in there, and so it's kind of cool to see the full circle, come back around.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 4:This you know, uss Princeton. Thank you for sharing that, these little veteran stories you don't know about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's lost. You know, jonathan, I'm like you. I could be here for days and hours and just any veteran who wants chooses to share their story, and I realize what a a treasure that is, because so many 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 out there who want to hear their stories and, like you said, have it.
Speaker 4:Have their stories no longer be lost and have people if they can and there's some they can, sometimes you can. The pain is just too much and there's some things they probably shouldn't share.
Speaker 3:And that's understandable. I'd love if you know, as we're talking about sharing these stories and having the opportunity to speak with the younger generations, as they're growing up, about your military experiences, what message would you share with Canyon students in the Canyon's community as we approach Veterans Day?
Speaker 5:I think just letting them know that it is a valid and honorable course, it's something they can choose. I don't think they know there's a lot of those opportunities or options. I mean they see the recruiters come in, you know, at lunchtime a couple times a week and they do a good job. Don't get me wrong, but it's just. It is putting yourself on the line and even possibly your life. But it's so much more than that. It is something that can start your life and get you adulting out of the gate, and it is a valid career path that has many options and many resources and ultimately especially if you don't know what you're doing and you want to grow up and you want to do something outside of yourself, beyond yourself, be a member of your not only your community, but your country I don't think there's a more honorable decision you can make. Freedom isn't free right.
Speaker 4:It's paid for. It's paid for by the slut blood of patriots who stand up and say I will defend the Constitution. When I swore an oath to the Constitution on that day April 10th 1986, it didn't have an expiration date. So even though I got out of the military, it doesn't change for me.
Speaker 5:I was a soldier for life.
Speaker 4:That's it. Once you're a soldier, always a soldier, 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, if you drive by my house, all the flags are flying except Space Force. You know that's even Coast Guard flows, but sorry, space Force doesn't have their flag. But I fly all the flags in front of my house because it's a symbol of what is it about, right? Memorial?
Speaker 4:Day as well, and so those things that swearing an oath is more to it than you know. It is a lifestyle choice and I will have that lifestyle for the rest of my life, and my kids know it. I fly a flag in my front yard every day.
Speaker 2:There's very few occupations in this life that you have to support, to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, that you actually take an oath to do that, and that's pretty awesome. And I think what I would love students to realize is that when you look at a veteran, those are our heroes. I mean, those are the guys and I've said it a couple of times they're the ones that are defending freedom, regardless of what your MOS is, your occupation, or we say in the Navy, our NEC, it doesn't matter what you do. You're supporting the Constitution, 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.
Speaker 3:And that's what I would like them to realize.
Speaker 2:These veterans are heroes.
Speaker 3:Gentlemen, I'm honored that you joined us and that you shared your stories. I couldn't put it better.
Speaker 4:Thank you, thank you for your service. Thank you for joining us Happy Veterans Day. Thank you.
Speaker 1: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.
