SCOTT MEEHAN
A TALE OF SERVICE, ESPIONAGE AND COURAGE
O
ne thing that many of SCOTT MEEHAN’s ’89 former classmates and professors may not know, is that during his time at Southeastern, Scott was working undercover. With a 25-year career in the U.S. military, Scott’s plethora of experiences have led him into several, almost movie-like situations, ranging from his espionage during the Cold War to his connection to the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Scott initially enlisted in the United States Army Special Forces in 1980, three years after his high school graduation. “I knew I needed something challenging in my life,” Scott recalled. “When I learned about what the Green Berets 28 SOUTHEASTERN
do and heard about their work with indigenous people, it reminded me a lot of what I did with my parents on the mission field.” Originally from Baltimore, Md., Scott was in second grade when his father first received the call to missions. This led their family on a journey traveling state to state and preparing for the mission field internationally for many years, including learning Spanish in Costa Rica and completing jungle training in Mexico. It wasn’t until Scott was in 10th grade that his parents got their first assignment in Colombia in 1973. By the time Scott was in the midst of his training for the Green Berets, his parents had wrapped up their fouryear term in Colombia and were reassigned to the Amazon jungles of
Ecuador. When he was presented the opportunity to take some time off, he traveled to see them. Little did he know, he would be meeting his future wife on his trip. “Staying right next door to my parents was this school teacher on a two-year short-term mission. I knew after the first week that she was the woman the Lord had for me,” Scott reminisced. Scott met TRENA (BASS) ’76 in March of 1981, and by October of that same year, they were married. Trena went on to teach in both public and private schools for more than 30 years. Within that time period, she also served as a principal for 15 years. Later down the road, Trena would be the one to encourage Scott to attend Southeastern. When Scott officially
