By Charles M. Kelly
Seal Beach residents paused Monday morning, Nov. 11, to pay their respects to those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces this week at the annual Veterans Day Ceremony in Eisenhower Park.
Riley Whaling described the rigors of Officers Candidate Training. He said the training pushes you to your mental and physical limits. “The moment you crack, you fail,” he said.
He said the training experience gave him the courage to face the truth about himself. He said that being married to a wonderful woman affords you many opportunities to learn about how you need to change.
Working as a paramedic in Long Beach, Whaling said he had seen too many veterans who were on the street, many of them because they wouldn’t ask for the help they needed.
Steven Kuykendall, the president and CEO of Fisher House Southern California Inc., said that less than 10% of young people who are in the qualifying age group are capable of meeting the physical, mental and background investigation requirements of military service.
He pointed out that it is hard to find people who have time to vote or serve on a jury, let alone serve in the military. He also pointed out that the young people who serve in the miliary are volunteers.
He said that those who have looked upon a combat death have had their lives changed forever. Kuykendall got a master’s degree through the GI Bill and found his wife because of his military service.
He said many young people who enter the service do so without direction in life. In 1973, he was a captain in the Marines. Then one Monday he found he was a management trainee at the bank. People there got so excited about a report. This struck the combat veteran, who had once been responsible for making sure his men stayed safe, accomplished their mission, were fed and were paid.
Pointing out that less than 7% of the U.S. population were veterans, he encouraged veterans to make sure their families and the people around them know about their service.
