Veteran Service Award
Robert Boyette Sponsored By:
Veteran Service Award honoree continues to work for those who served By MIKE BOLLINGER
R
obert Boyette may have retired from the military, but he hasn’t retired from helping veterans. After retiring from the U.S. Army and Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel with 30 years of service, Boyette is now the veteran service officer for Johnston County. “I do whatever I can do to help veterans every single day,” he said. Boyette served from 1985-2015. He served in Iraq, Fort Benning, Fort Stuart and Fort Gordon in Georgia, Fort Irwin in California, Fort Bragg in North Carolina and in Washington, D.C. “I started as an E-1 private when I was 17 years old. My first job was to do whatever I was told, no questions asked,” he said. After becoming a commissioned officer, he was a platoon leader, company commander and a brigade operations officer for air operations. From 2003-05, he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He started there as a training officer for the Iraqi military and ended up as a brigade operations officer. “I coordinated air space to meet the needs of our soldiers. I would call in close air support. Anything that 34 | [ JOHNSTON NOW ]
had to do with anything flying in the air, I coordinated it,” Boyette said. Every day in Iraq was different. “I would fly in a helicopter, and some days it would be fine and some days it wasn’t. Some days weren’t eventful, and the next day you would wonder if you were going to come home,” he said. “It was just not a conventional war. There were no front lines. I was never in imminent danger for any extended period of time. I wasn’t out on the ground kneeling in doors. I was providing air support for those who were.” “We were shot at a few times,” Boyette continued. “Most of the time, you didn’t know where it was coming from. It was not engagement, they shot and ran. They didn’t stand and fight. The worst thing was the IEDs. I was blessed never to hit one while I was there. We did lose some troops from that.” The best thing about the military, he said, is being part of a team and learning how important teamwork is. Boyette said about 1% of Americans join the military. “The other 99 percent is missing a great blessing. I think society would be different if 99 percent of people were
veterans. When you served with someone, it didn’t matter what color a person was or what their gender or religion was. There comes a time when those things are not important,” he said. “I wish there were more veterans involved in politics.” When the time came to retire, Boyette said he hated to leave. “At some point in time, you have to let someone else come in,” he said. Becoming the county’s veteran service officer was a natural next step. “I wanted to find something to be involved with that 1%,” he said. “I get to have conversations with them every day. I was blessed to spend all that time in service, and I am blessed to still be able speak the jargon with those who served. It’s a language all its own. Some people come in the office I haven’t seen in 20 years. And even if you don’t know them, you know them.” When he was a junior in high school, he realized his parents wouldn’t be financially able to send him to college. “I knew it would take money we didn’t have. I realized my father and grandfather had served in the Army. It didn’t hurt them, so I tried it,” Boyette said.
