Veterans Day Issue (Issue 10)

Record The Horace Mann

NOVEMBER 11TH, 2019 || VOLUME 117, ISSUE 10

HORACE MANN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1903

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Veterans Day Issue Photo spread: Alumni who have served their country

Seth Morgulas ‘89 Elizabeth Vieyra ‘04

John Martin ‘96 Christian Hernandez ‘16

Jenny Wang ‘16

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THE RECORD VETERANS DAY ISSUE NOVEMBER 11TH, 2019

From maroon and white to Green Beret Courtesy of Daniel Katz

SMILE Katz poses for a military portrait.

Talia Winiarsky Staff Writer Daniel Katz ‘00 was enamored with the military for as long as he can remember, he said. “If you asked my friends at Horace Mann, I was known for being the guy who knew a lot about aircraft, and in particular, military aircraft.”

However, coming from an affluent Jewish family in the Northeast, joining the Army did not always seem like a plausible career option for Katz. He mostly thought about the military as a topic for history papers and leisure reading. He believed that after he finished his undergraduate engineering studies at the University of Pennsylvania, he would apply his education in the finance field, a well-paved path for Horace Mann alumni.

His thinking changed, however, in the wake of 9/11 during his sophomore year of college and developed more as the nation became embroiled in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. “Given the situation the country was in—and I had always been a big supporter of the military—I felt kind of duty-bound to do my time and support the nation and do at least one term of service.”

Furthermore, after completing finance classes and internships, he realized that it was not the right career for him and started con-

sidering a career in defense. Military service struck him as a necessary first step on that path. “I felt that there were certain things about the organization that you could only learn by serving.”

He began thinking seriously about joining the military in the summer of 2003 before his senior year of college. His first idea was that he would serve as an officer in the Intelligence branch of the United States Army. It wasn’t until he attended a career fair in his senior year of college that he discovered the option to enlist as a Special Forces Recruit. “I wanted to be in the fight,” he said. “The Army was at the center of the fight, and the Special Forces was at the center of the Army’s fight.”

Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets, specialize in unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, special reconnaissance, and humanitarian aid. One of their primary roles is training foreign military and paramilitary forces around the world. The minimum enlistment contract for a Special Forces Recruit is five years.

Katz underwent intense training for two years and nine months.

“Special Forces training is more intense, but the instructors’ attitude is more laid back [than standard Army training],” he said.

“They don’t do a lot of yelling. Get caught breaking the rules or can’t keep up? Goodbye.”

The intense training tested Katz’s physical and mental limits.

“You march for miles with over a hundred pounds of gear, you endure cold, heat, hunger, sleep deprivation and physical exhaustion.

Most candidates quit, many more are physically broken down and get injured. Those who endure have demonstrated the mental and physical toughness to accomplish the mission the nation needs of Special Forces.”

In Special Forces, soldiers are organized into 12-person Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) teams. Each has two functional specialists in engineering, weapons, communications, and medicine, as well as an intelligence sergeant, an operations sergeant, a warrant officer and a captain. Katz decided early on that he would become a medic in order to help both soldiers and the indigenous population. “If guys were getting hit, I wanted to be the one patching them up and saving them.”

After training, Katz was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group in May of 2007. He served two tours of duty in Baghdad, Iraq.

In his first deployment, Katz worked as a medic in a small detention center where high-value detainees—people suspected of being leaders of terrorist or insurgent groups—were interrogated. While there, his job was to look after their health and human rights.

A typical day for Katz started with physical training in the morn-

ing. Once on duty, sick call for the detainees came first, followed by medical documentation, delivering any longer treatments the detainees required, and conducting preventative medicine checks of the facility. The remainder of the day, he was in the office on standby to check detainees before and after interrogation, and conduct longer medical examinations of arriving or departing detainees.

“Every time a detainee went into or came out of an interrogation cell, I had to look him up and down and verify that he was in good condition.” He and his junior medic worked 12-hour shifts each for seven months with no days off. He passed the time between checks by studying Arabic, reading about Iraq and physical training and, towards the end of his deployment there, studying for the GREs. On his second deployment in 2009, Katz was assigned to an ODA team that was partnered with a battalion of the Iraqi Emergency Response Brigade (ERB), the Ministry of the Interior’s federal SWAT team. During the day, the team trained the ERB in close quarters battle and at night, the team and ERB performed counter-terrorism missions. The team was on alert every evening for intelligence on target locations and, if received, would sortie (head out) with the ERB to capture the individual.

The “jackpots” Katz’s team achieved—missions on which they captured their target—were his proudest moments in the military.

“You’re going out and bringing really, really bad people off the street. It’s exciting, and you know you’re doing real good.” His team knew that they were saving lives by capturing terrorists.

Although Katz’s time in the Special Forces is over, his subsequent career was influenced by his service and all his jobs have been related to defense. His current job is at Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor. “I can point to multiple opportunities that I’ve had that have enhanced my career because I’ve served in the Army.”

When Katz applied for his first civilian job in the defense department, his resume was picked out of the stack because it said that he had served in Iraq, he said.

Moreover, Katz takes the lessons that he learned in the Army Special Forces still remain in his life, such as the importance of good judgement. “‘Special Forces demonstrate superior judgement so they don’t have to demonstrate their superior abilities,’ a very experienced Special Forces instructor taught us.”

This Veterans Day, Katz honors the service of other veterans and the sacrifices that they have made. “I encountered some really great soldiers, the ones you see in movies, the ones who take down the enemy by the dozen and bring everyone else home alive. They’re real. The nation is very fortunate to have people like that.”

Military law runs in the Feldmeier family Julia Goldberg Staff Writer

With grandfathers, aunts, uncles, and a father all involved in military service, siblings Elizabeth Feldmeier Vieyra ‘04 and Robert Feldmeier ‘97 are continuing a family tradition by serving as officers in the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAGs).

“The mission of the Judge Advocate Generals is to provide good officers and good attorneys who are ready to assist commanders in conducting their operations lawfully,” Feldmeier said. “As a judge advocate, you’re spending 80% of your time ‘lawyering’ and 20% of your time ‘soldiering.’”

However, the importance of military preparation cannot be overstated, Feldmeier said. “You need to do the same things as every other soldier: qualify on your assigned personal weapon, pass the Army Physical Fitness Test, maintain height to weight standards, and complete assignment-appropriate training.” For example, when Feldmeier was in South Korea, he had to participate in exercises to prepare for a potential invasion from the North.

Courtesy of Robert Feldmeier

GEARED UP Feldmeier in full ACUs.

Furthermore, Vierya and Feldmeier both have completed airborne training, Feldmeier said. “If we had to—theoretically, at least—we could jump out of an airplane into a zone of active combat,” he said. “At the end of the day, you, like everyone else, are wearing an Army green uniform, and you need to be competent as a soldier if something were to go wrong.”

Feldmeier’s father served as a JAG, which required him to leave home one weekend a month as well as two weeks during the summer for drills and training. “It was always something that was a part of our lives as children,” Feldmeier said.

“Seeing how much the Army meant to my father inspired us.”

Along with her home life, the world that Vieryra grew up in guided her towards a career path in military law, she said. Throughout her high school career, there were ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in her sophomore year, 9/11 occurred. “The military was really in the public sphere, and it seemed like something significant to be a part of,” she said. Vieyra decided to become a JAG after realizing that as a young person, she could be involved with problems on the national stage, she said.

Directly after attending high school, both Vieyra and Feldmeier enrolled in Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programs at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University, respectively. In ROTC programs, the Army pays for a substantial portion of college tuition in return for a mandatory service requirement upon graduation. ROTC cadets take classes in military science, field training, land navigation, and small unit leadership. During their senior year of college, cadets have the option to defer their commission in order to attend law school with the ultimate goal of working as a JAG. “I already knew I would be in the Army,” Feldmeier said. “The question was whether I was going straight into the Army or taking a delay with law school.”

Ultimately, both asked for and were granted the deferment: Vieyra attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania, and Feldmeier attended Wake Forest University.

Courtesy of Elizabeth Feldmeier Vieyera

ORDER IN THE COURT CPT Vieyra poses outside her office.

Serving as an active duty JAG from 2013-2017, Vieyra worked in many different legal fields. According to Feldmeier, working in numerous fields was typical. “There is no routine Judge Advocate job.”

Vieyra, who was stationed in South Korea, North Carolina, and Kentucky, first served as a legal assistance attorney, working with soldiers on personal legal issues. She later worked as an administrative law attorney, advising commanders on how to properly adhere to laws from Congress and regulations from the Army. “Essentially, I was helping people who wanted to do the right thing, do the right thing,” Vieyra said.

Throughout her four years, Vieyra grew fond of the Army culture, she said. “There was a comradery to it which is hard to find,” she said. “It is quite hard to get into the military, so everyone who was [there] wanted to be there.”

As a JAG, Feldmeier served as both a prosecutor and a detainee operations attorney. The latter position involved Feldmeier evaluating the cases of Iraqis detained by US Forces and assisting with the Geneva Conventions hearing process to determine whether captured Iraqis were unlawful combatants, ordinary civilians, or petty criminals.

While on active duty, Feldmeier was stationed in Virginia, Maryland, Germany, Iraq, and South

Korea, he said.

“You meet people whom you otherwise never would have, and you get a glimpse into the way other Americans live,” he said. “It’s not surprising, because we have a general idea that we live in a diverse nation, but in the army, you really see that diversity. The Army is a reflection of the nation it defends.”

Vieyra and Feldmeier are now reservists, meaning that though they are are not active duty JAGs, they are available for deployment if necessary. Vieyra works as a civilian attorney in a law firm. “It’s a business,” she said. “We represent clients, and of course we consider their interests and we think about our own legal ethics, but at the end of the day, it’s a business, and the point is to make money.”

This is one of the most prominent differences between military and civilian law, since as a JAG, her salary was fixed based on rank, she said.

“I would encourage readers [of The Record] to make what, for a Horace Mann student, is not a typical choice,” Feldmeier said. “Even if you don’t [become a JAG], I’d encourage you to think about service, not only for the opportunity to give back to the country that has given us, as Americans, so much, but also for the opportunities the Army gives you to experience what you otherwise wouldn’t.”

HORACE MANN VETERANS DAY ISSUE NOVEMBER 11TH, 2019

Thomas Nolan: Serving the country on the seas

Sam Chiang Staff Writer

Following his family tradition of serving the country, Public Safety Specialist Thomas Nolan enlisted in the US Navy in October 1978 and concluded his service in 1982. Nolan’s brother had enlisted two years before him, and his uncle had also served in the past, he said. “At the time, I knew I wasn’t going to college out of high school and I wanted to do something with my life, so I chose the military, specifically the Navy, to start a career.”

After enlisting, Nolan attended Basic Training and trade school to learn how to be an aviation airframe mechanic, making him responsible for helping launch and service helicopters, he said.

Nolan served two tours in the Western Pacific during his four-year tenure in the Navy, he said.

His first tour was aboard the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, a US Navy aircraft carrier stationed out of San Diego, he said. He was a member of Helicopter Squadron Eight (HS-8) and responsible for six helicopters while he served on the ship from 1979 to 1980.

Helicopters play a vital role in assisting takeoffs and landings on the carrier, making them extremely important, he said. “There’s always helicopters launched before any fighter jets get launched,” Nolan said. “Helicopters are up first in case there are any mishaps with the launch so that they’re there for rescue. The same thing when the airplanes return; the helicopters are in the air again as other planes make their way back to land on the flight deck.”

Nolan was able to see his brother during his first tour on the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. “He was also a helicopter mechanic and crew member, but he was as-

signed to a small ship that brought supplies to other ships, and I would see him from the flight deck lowering the cargo down onto my carrier,” Nolan said. The carrier also made stops at ports in Hawaii, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea, where the ship’s crew could disembark, he said.

While on U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, Nolan’s carrier was routed to the Indian Ocean during the Iran hostage crisis, he said. “While deployed on my first detachment, we were called to the Indian Ocean when the US hostages were taken from the United States embassy in Iran, and we got extended out there in the Indian Ocean until we got relieved by another naval carrier, the U.S.S. Nimitz,” he said.

During these uncertain times in the Indian Ocean, the Soviet Union conducted reconnaissance missions on the carrier, the US Naval History and Heritage Command wrote on the carrier’s biography. There were multiple times when Soviet Tupolev Tu-95 Bears, a Soviet bomber and reconnaissance plane, flew over or near the ship, Nolan said.

“At night time we had to turn all the lights off in the hanger bay since Russian Bears would fly by with reconnaissance cameras,” he said. “The CO used to tell us: ‘go get your cameras, cause they’re taking pictures of you, so you might as well take pictures of them.’”

During his second deployment on the U.S.S. Constellation, Nolan was promoted to the rank of Petty Officer Second Class, the highest rank you can achieve in four years of military service as an enlisted crewman, Nolan said. He was also selected by his peers to serve as the leader of the nuclear weapons load team, Nolan said. The experience taught him

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Courtesy of Thomas Nolan

STANDING PROUD An old headshot of Nolan in uniform. the importance of maturity and leadership, since he was a young supervisor at the age of 21 years old and there were many people relying on him, he said.

Nolan also learned the importance of helping out in as many ways as possible.“There’s different things within the command that take place besides just working on the aircraft that can enhance your career,” Nolan said. He became a collateral duty inspector, so that he could sign off on fixed-wing aircraft repairs, further raising his level of responsibility, he said. “When you go into something like that

right out of high school, you become much more mature.”

Nolan learned teamwork, how to deal with adversity, how to take orders from others, and how to respect his peers while serving in the military since the actions that he took didn’t only impact himself, but rather his co-workers, even though he was still very young, he said. These skills have helped him throughout his life, be it in the Police Department or at the school, he said.

Intel Officer Jacobson ‘09 reflects on military experience Yin Fei Staff Writer

When former US Marine Corps captain and Intelligence officer Benjamin Jacobson ‘09 reflects on his time in the Armed Forces he sees how his lessons from his service translate into the values he carries with him to this day.

After his graduation from the school, Jacobson attended the University of Chicago for his undergraduate degree. Upon graduating at age 22, He joined the military after graduating when he was 22, and served on active duty from December 2013 to May 2018.

Jacobson said he joined the Marine Corps because of a combination of factors. “I wanted to meet new people while also being exposed to another slice of America, one that would push me in various ways, help me explore my identity, while also doing my part to serve the country I live in,” Jacobson said. He also mentioned his desire to find a competitive environment while still working in teams while trying to get out of his comfort zone and explore new options. “I learned at HM the value of tackling tough problems and engrossing yourself in them,” he said.

Although his parents didn’t initially expect for him to choose a military career, they still respected and supported his decision to go. “They raised me as an individual, who should approach every choice about my career with careful thought. They would never want to choose my path for me,” he said.

Jacobson began with basic training at various bases across Virginia, which proved to be both mentally, emotionally, and physically challenging. He was stationed as an Intelligence Officer in 3d Radio Battalion based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; while deploying twice across the Pacific Ocean and Asia with the 31st Marine Corps Expeditionary Unit.

According to the Marine Corps official website, Intelligence Offi-

cers are in charge of accessing an enemy’s electronic systems to either disable communications or gather intel crucial for the success of the mission in a time of need.

After finishing this year-long training, Jacobson’s resulting position included being designated as an Intelligence Officer. Jacobson’s training included completing Officer Candidate School, where he was

Courtesy of Benjamin Jacobson

HARD WORK PAYS OFF Jacobson receiving promotion. evaluated for the potential to lead Marines eventually earning the title of Marine officer; The Basic School, where he learned the beginnings of professional knowledge and was evaluated on the leadership necessary to be a company grade officer, with a particular emphasis on warfighting skills; next he attended the Signals Intelligence Officer

Course, where he obtained his military occupational specialty (MOS) and learned how to lead intelligence Marines.

Jacobson held a number of billets, or roles, while being promoted from Second Lieutenant to Captain. Each billet, from platoon commander to executive officer had a corresponding set of responsibilities for Jacobson to lead his Marines. “As their leader, I was both a manager, and coach, I needed needed to make sure they were physically fit, technically proficient, and able to be employed effectively in supporting an infantry commander.”

Even to this day, Jacobson believes his time in the Marines developed several skills that he continues to incorporate into his life. “One of the biggest lessons was appreciating how hard it is to lead and how much I don’t actually know how to do that well,” Jacobson said.

Throughout the entire process, Jacobson thought a lot about who he was, who he wanted to be, and that process impacts the framework of decision making in his life s. “I came in confident about my ability to lead, and I left in awe of the enormity of that task, and with a lot of respect for those that served with me.”

“Not only did I learn about myself and about finding my values, I learned about how different people from different backgrounds could each contribute something positive to the team,” he said. This understanding as well as his thankfulness for the dynamic work environment he was placed in, taught him about the leadership and management of diverse people and the need to be humble when approaching others.

However while Jacobson desired to serve in the military, he believes that those who are eager to give back to their country and their community do not have to join the military. “There are a lot of other ways to serve. Military is only one form of service and amongst all the teachers, parents, doctors, social workers, public defenders, policemen, firefighters, and artists, every form of service does its own part in creating the fabric of our country,” he said.

Glenn Smith: fighting through the flames

Lauren Ho Staff Writer

Although many know Glenn Smith as the friendly Public Safety Specialist at the desk in Olshan Lobby who greets students as they arrive at the school, few know that Smith had served in the Air Force for five years prior to joining the Public Safety team at the school.

Smith was on active duty in the Air Force from 1984 to 1989 before serving in the National Guard for 16 years. “I wanted to serve my country, but I also wanted to travel a little, and it just seemed like the right thing to do,” Smith said.

When Smith first went into the Air Force, he began with training in Texas. “It was really difficult, and I learned a lot from basic training,” Smith said.

“It’s a completely different challenge, and it throws you into a whole different mindset that you’ve never experienced before.” At training, Smith learned discipline and independence, as well as communication skills. “I was always shy when I was younger, so joining the Air Force really helped me come out of my shell.”

After training, Smith went to tech school in

Illinois for Crash Rescue fireman training, and later the Air Force sent him to his first base, in England.

In different bases, Smith worked as a firefighter and as part of a rescue crew. “Some days you’re just a regular fireman, responding to normal emergencies on the base, and other days, I would also do Crash Rescue in the flightline during flying hours in case of aircraft emergencies,” Smith said. When he returned to New York, Smith became a fireman and worked for the New York Fire Department. “After working as a fireman in the Air Force, it helped me realize that being a fireman was what I wanted to do.”

During his time as an Air Force firefighter, Smith had to communicate effectively with everyone he was working with, and he is still able to use these communication skills at school if there are ever emergencies, he said. Additionally, he learned how to calm people down during an emergency while aiding the person in distress.

“Compared to the military, working at the school is just people skills, and having learned how to deal with people and how to help facilitate things, it’s a lot easier,” he said.

Smith traveled to many different bases, including Puerto Rico, Alaska, England, Canada, Saudi Arabia,

and his last base, Israel. “At different bases, we had different lengths of deployment. Most were a twoweek to one-month deployment, but for Saudi Arabia our deployment was three months,” he said.

Traveling the world was an integral part of why Smith wanted to join the Air Force, and he said that some of his best memories came from his time in other states and countries. In his third base, Alaska, he was able to see the Northern Lights almost every night in the winter, he said. Since he was able to experience other places not as a tourist, Smith developed respect for other cultures.

“I also met a lot of great people along the way that I was friends with down the road,” Smith said.

Although Smith recalls many memories from his time in active duty, some were lost. “When I came back from the military, I shipped all my pictures back with me, but unfortunately, my local post office lost them.”

After his deployment in the Air Force, Smith worked part-time with the National Guard from 1990 to 2006. He traveled to different bases to make the American military that was stationed there more comfortable. “I was in civil engineering unit, basically we built stuff, my job was in basically heating and air

conditioning,” Smith said.

“What we would do is go out for a couple weeks and normally, we would have jobs building on different bases,” Smith said, “Sometimes we’d build on guard bases aiding the workers that were there. For example, in Italy, we worked with the Italian military to build their bases, in Israel we built dorms, and in Puerto Rico we were working on their flightline, building and renovating their dorms.”

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THE RECORD VETERANS DAY ISSUE NOVEMBER 11TH, 2019

Not so Common... applicat Vivien Sweet Staff Writer For some students, “Senior Fall” is more than just stressing over the Common App and college supplements. Every year, approximately two students opt to apply to a Federal Service Academy or a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship, beginning a temporary career of service to the country.

In order to apply to a military leadership program such as the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), which trains high school graduates to become officers in the U.S. military in over 1,700 colleges across America, applicants must go through a rigorous process involving completion of a Physical Fitness Test (PFT), a psychological evaluation, and an interview with a recruiting military officer, according to the U.S. Army’s ROTC website.

Typically, the interviewers ask about the applicant’s extracurriculars and activities to gauge whether or not the interviewee has leadership potential, a key component for ROTC programs. “They evaluate your answers: how morally, mentally, and even physically fit you are to be a future officer in the Marine Corps,” Eddie Jin (12), who applied to an ROTC program, said.

Students can apply for either two, three, or four-year scholarships, all of which pay for either university courses at a college ROTC is offered at or room and board at that college, according to the U.S. Army’s ROTC website. Students who attend an ROTC program must take classes at the university the program is hosted at.

Since attention to detail is one of the defining characteristics of any military program, completing the essay portion was the most difficult part of the ROTC application for Jin. “If you have just one typo, that’s definitely going to be a mark on your file,” Jin said. “It’s just making sure that everything is meticulously clean and correct.”

Although Christian Hernandez ‘16 did not receive the ROTC scholarship when he first applied during senior year, he still chose to join the Armed Forces by taking a gap year to enlist in the military. Compared to applying to ROTC, enlisting in the army is a much simpler process: one must have a high school diploma and pass both the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test and a Military Entrance Processing Station medical exam.

However, the path to ROTC was “very foreign to pretty much everybody” at the school, leaving Henrandez to depend on military recruiters to help submit his application, he said. “[Recruiters] will guide you along the way because

that’s their job: to recruit and retain.”

For NROTC - Marine Corps option, every school is in a military recruiting district, and each district is assigned to a recruiter in addition to an officer selection officer, both of whom help with the application process to NROTC, Jin said. In addition, a recruiter visits the school every year between September to November to inform students about various ROTC programs, Executive Director of College Counseling Canh Oxelson said.

Although Jin’s college counselor, Senior Associate Director of College

able soldier.

Despite already working as the rank of Specialist in the Army Reserves, Hernandez decided to apply for the ROTC scholarship again in 2019, this time receiving it for Fordham University’s ROTC program. Since he had finished AIT, Hernandez was more experienced than his entry-level peers, he said. “I was already proficient in handling firearms, doing my soldier duties, knowing the jargon, and knowing the rank structure and how everything worked in the mili-

main factor for pursuing a career in service. “I don’t necessarily have to be better than anybody else, but be the best I can be in my role that I choose for myself in the future,” Hernandez said.

Jin, who is interested in serving the nation, believes that military service not only serves as a great career option, but also builds leadership skills, he said. However, unlike Hernandez, Jin is unsure of whether he would want to spend the rest of his career in the military.

“You don’t have to be in the military

Courtesy of Matthew Meltzer

FROM THE FRONT Matthew Meltzer ‘13 stands at the front of his company at a Naval Academy football game.

Counseling Chris Farmer, has been in contact with the district’s recruiter over email in order to send Jin’s high school transcript and letters of recommendation, an applicant to an ROTC program’s relationship with a recruiter is typically independent of his or her school’s college counseling services, Farmer said.

“We’re not really holding their hand through the process, through the different steps that you would for someone applying to a four-year private [college],” he said. Farmer believes that the amount of responsibility placed upon both service academy and ROTC applicants is a deliberate choice to determine which applicants are truly invested in attending.

During Hernandez’s gap year in the military, he worked to save some money since he knew he would have to pay for college without the financial support of his parents, he said. Hernandez was then shipped to Fort Gordon, Georgia, to complete Advanced Individual Training (AIT) for six and a half months, after which he became a deploy-

e c r o Air F

Navy

tary environment.”

Currently, Hernandez hopes to commission in combat arms, such as

“For the right student, what an amazing opportunity. Both on the intellectual, traditional side of college, and in every other way possible outside of the classroom.”

-Chris Farmer infantry or cavalry officer, then join the National Guard Special Forces after he completes ROTC and four years of required military service, Hernandez said. He cited his drive to stand out among his peers during his time at Horace Mann as the

for your entire life,” Jin said. “A lot of people serve for five to ten years. They come out as people with a lot more leadership potential, and it does a lot for you and the country that you continue to serve in the civilian world.”

However, Oxelson believes that the four years of service after graduation required of all ROTC participants makes applying to the program a less popular option for the school’s students. “You have to decide that you’re okay putting off whatever career plans you have down the line to actually serve in the military, and I think that’s hard for a lot of families.”

According to Farmer, only around two students per year apply to a service academy or an ROTC program.

The type of students that typically apply, he believes, is very niche: they are typically interested in leadership development and thrive in a structured and rigorous environment, both inside and outside of the classroom.

“For a person that’s like, ‘I think I want that environment, then it’s not the right place for that student,’” Farmer

said. “But for the right student, what an amazing opportunity. Both on the intellectual, traditional side of college, and in every other way possible outside of the classroom.”

The application processes to a service academy—including the United States Military Academy at West Point (USMA), United States Naval Academy (USNA), and United States Air Force Academy (USAFA)— are drastically different than that of ROTC. The academic application is very similar to the Common App, requiring an essay, letters of recommendation, a high school transcript, and ACT or SAT scores, 2017 USNA graduate Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Matthew Meltzer ‘13 said.

“As a Horace Mann student, the academic part is very easy. That usually is not the problem for HM students,” Giramnah Peña-Alcántara ‘17, who applied to both West Point and USNA, said.

In general, the standards that applicants have to meet when applying to a service academy are much more straightforward and public, Oxelson said. “If you’re applying to a host of other graduate colleges, it can be a little complicated and harder to see if you actually measure up and will be competitive for admission, whereas it’s easier to tell from a service academy standpoint.”

However, applicants must also complete the Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA) and receive a congressional nomination, which is earned by sending an application to their senator, congressman, or the Vice President, Meltzer said.

When history teacher and West Point graduate John McNally was seeking a nomination, he went before a panel of representatives and wrote essays for them, which was “a little intimidating,” he said. “The process is a really good way to weed out candidates who aren’t serious.”

Although applicants to service academies don’t often come into close contact with those who they are seeking a nomination from, McNally ended up teaching Jesse Lowey at Horace Mann, the grandson of New York congresswoman Nita Lowey, the representative he sought nomination from.

For Meltzer, Peña-Alcántara, and McNally, the CFA—which consisted of pull-ups, push-ups, crunches, a timed shuttle run, and a timed onemile run—was the most difficult part of the application to complete. During the summer before Meltzer’s senior year, Meltzer went to a one-week summer program at the Naval Academy called Summer Seminar and took the test there, but he continued to train to increase

Army

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HORACE MANN VETERANS DAY ISSUE NOVEMBER 11TH, 2019

tion to the Armed Forces his sprint time during the school year.

He eventually retook the test at school with Varsity Football coach Matthew Russo administering the exam.

According to Jin, for the Navy ROTC - Marine Corps Option program, most competitive male applicants complete 15 or more pull-ups, 90-100 crunches, and a three-mile run in 20 minutes. The maximum scores are 20 pull-ups, 105 crunches, and 18 minutes on the three-mile run. Although he didn’t struggle with the running and pull-ups portion of the test—earning a 17:20 3-mile run time and completing 21 pull-ups—Jin suffered during the crunches section, finishing with only 88 crunches.

Despite the fact that McNally played soccer and ice hockey for his high school teams, he struggled with the chin-ups and standing broad

erybody was like, ‘This is what we’re doing, this is our purpose,’” Peña-Alcántara said. In addition, West Point’s curriculum, which involves courses such as organismal biology, aligned perfectly with her interest in becoming an emergency room doctor at the time.

On the other hand, Peña-Alcántara was not a huge fan of USNA, noting that the students there “were not the people [she] vibed with,” she said.

Moreover, even though USNA had a better academic record than West Point, she knew that she did not want to serve in the Navy. “I did not want to be in a submarine; I’m a fan of water, but not for long periods of time.”

However, although Peña-Alcántara was accepted to both West Point and USNA, she eventually chose to enroll at Massachusetts Institute of Technol-

Since Peña-Alcántara didn’t like the atmosphere of USNA in the first place

in middle and high school and learning about the academy’s physical and

teacher in 2011.

Currently, Meltzer is a Surface

Courtesy of Ben Wang

Courtesy of Cornelie Ladd

PROTECT THE POINT Cadet 1/C Jenny Wang ‘16 and her classmates pose in front of Washington Monument at West Point.

CPT VICTOR LADD ‘16 West Point grad poses for official portrait at the academy. jump portions of the physical fitness test, so McNally’s high school athletic director prepared a regimen for him, McNally said. The pair trained three times a week for two months to improve McNally’s form in the various physical challenges. “Having an expert who was willing to dedicate so much time to me and really help me through the physical process was really great,” he said.

Similarly, even though Peña-Alcántara played volleyball on both the school’s varsity team and club teams outside of school, she had to set aside time to condition and build endurance, which was challenging for her, she said. “With the amount of work that HM has, it’s much easier to be like, ‘No, I have a [problem] set, or homework, or I’m tired.’”

Peña-Alcántara first became interested in applying to service academies during the summer before her senior year, during which she spent two weeks at “Week in the Life” service academy program: one week at West Point, and the other at USNA. Immediately, she “fell in love” with West Point, she said.

“At HM, there’s not the biggest school spirit; everyone’s kind of doing their own thing. [At West Point] ev-

ogy (MIT) in part due to MIT’s “eclectic” courses and activities as opposed to West Point’s “regimented” schedule, she said. “[At West Point], you wake up at this time, you eat at this time, you have class at this time, you work out at this time, [and] you go to sleep at this time.”

During the application process to West Point, Peña-Alcántara spoke to current West Point student Jenny Wang ‘16, who informed Peña-Alcántara that she was cruising through her classes at West Point. For Peña-Alcántara, who said she likes to be challenged by hard courses, Wang’s academic experiences in part discouraged her from enrolling at West Point.

Peña-Alcántara’s reservations about attending a service academy were only amplified by her visit to Yale, at which she also was granted admission, where she attended a presentation hosted by Yale’s Air Force ROTC program. “[The presenter] goes, ‘There is a reason why these military academies are pushing their ROTC programs so hard into Ivy League schools. The Ivy Leagues give you critical thinking that no other place gives you, and the military is now realizing that they need that,’” she said.

and she knew her coursework at West Point would not be as academically rigorous as a higher-ranking college, she decided to attend MIT, she said.

“I’m not going to a school that is going to challenge me mentally and physically but not academically,” Peña-Alcántara said. “If those two are hard for me, I need my brain to be stimulated so I can deal with it.”

Meltzer, who was the only member of his class to join the Armed Forces, felt that the “traditional college experience” wasn’t right for him and instead wanted to directly give back to his country, which encouraged him to apply to USNA. “The Naval Academy presented a great option to exist in a high discipline environment, which I thought I would do well in, and it [gave] me the opportunity to serve my country after graduation,” Meltzer said.

McNally, on the other hand, was inspired to apply to a service academy after visiting West Point several times

academic challenges, he said. After graduating from West Point, McNally

“My introduction to leadership happened at Horace Mann, specifically on the football team and on the Model UN team, where I was a vice president.”

-Matthew Meltzer ‘15 ended up flying helicopters as an aviator for the U.S. Military for eight years before becoming a history teacher at Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy in 2009. He entered Horace Mann as a Middle Division history

A day in the life of an ROTC Cadet

Warfare officer in the U.S. Navy, responsible for his own division aboard a destroyer. He is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the engines, as well as a group of about 30 sailors, ranging from 18 years old to 52 years old. Meltzer’s time at the Naval Academy helped shape his management abilities because “while it’s an academic institution, it’s largely a leadership development institution,” he said.

However, Meltzer also attributes some of his leadership skills to his high school years.“My job is 95 percent leadership and management,” Meltzer said. “My introduction to leadership happened at Horace Mann, specifically on the football team and on the Model UN team, where I was a vice president.”

Additional Reporting done by Lauren Kim

Courtesy of Christian Hernandez

Although I was a reservist before contracting to commission, I had some specific active duty time. Besides Initial Entry Training, my active duty experience consisted of annual training with my reserve unit and my time in Fort Campbell in Air Assault School.

As a 25U, Signal Support System Specialist, I was tasked with maintaining my unit’s communication systems when conducting tactical training missions, so my duties were unique to my unit.

Generally, my typical day was as such: 0500: Physical Training 0730: First Formation 0800: Breakfast Chow 0900: SP to mission 1200: Lunch Chow 1700: Dinner Chow 2000: Lights out

by Christian Hernandez

It is challenging to accurately describe a normal day because of how variable one could be. There were days where we slept out in the field until we completed the mission the next day. Or days when we did not have the time nor resources to go to the chow hall for food so we ate MRE’s instead. The missions determine how we execute daily tasks and what our schedule looks like ultimately. Tasks included range training such as firing and qualifying with weapons, classes involving skills like tactical casualty care, combatives, or practicing our jobs. Mine in particular was serving as the radio telephone operator, or RTO, which included communicating over comms with other units on behalf of my commander.

This meant I was in the field with the most friction and conducted tactical exercises as well. In all, the average day is never truly average when conducting training, yet consistent with constant actions to be executed.

6

THE RECORD VETERANS DAY ISSUE NOVEMBER 11TH, 2019

Patriotism and Prot

Through World War One, World War Two, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, and conflict in the Middle Eas

1900

1939-1945: World War II

1914-1918: World War I

As war broke out in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson remained adamant that the US maintain a strict policy of neutrality. However, German resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, which had already sunk American merchant ships, ended American neutrality in 1917. Many Americans were unhappy with this decision, believing that the country should remain impartial in foreign conflicts.

Virgil Prettyman, headmaster of the school during the entirety of the US involvement in WWI from 1917 to 1918, suppressed reactions to the war. A 2003 features piece in Volume CI Issue XXVII of The Record titled ‘Students React to Wars Throughout History” stated that the school, under Prettyman, was “not a place for political debate.” This followed a state-wide pattern of New York academic institutions blocking protest at the time.

For example, the President of Columbia University, Nicholas Butler, fired two professors for their anti-war rhetoric.

The initial goal in Vietnam reflected contemporary Cold War sentiments— stopping the spread of Communism.

The war effort significantly escalated after the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Lyndon B. Johnson authority to use conventional military force in Vietnam. As the war progressed, and American involvement expanded over the next several years, protests calling for an end to military involvement increased.

Examples of protests and activism are evident in past issues of the Record. The Record, as well as the “Horace Mann Forum,” a quarterly newspaper focused on national and international politics, began to publish additional editorials expressing the editorial board’s opinions on political events. The Forum, in January of 1966, criticized the war for escalating beyond limits.

Beyond simply publishing the opinions of the student body, The Record used its platform as the school’s weekly newspaper to call for action.

1955-1975: Vietnam War

While the US had been offering non-belligerent aid to the Allies, the country officially entered the war after Japan’s aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The American public was very much in favor of US involvement in the war, as a Gallup poll from December 12, 1941 revealed 91% approval of President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision to declare war on Germany and Japan.

During WWII, Headmaster Charles Tillinghast urged the school to be more patriotic. In Volume XXXVI of The Record, an article discussing Tillinghast’s announcement in the Senior chapel regarding the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 lies next to an article about an alum on the U.S.S. Wasp and an advertisement urging students to purchase war stamps for Army blankets.

In his announcement, Tillinghast stated that the bill would certainly be passed, even without an amendment requiring a full year of training before going overseas, and he listed reasons for needing

In the Volume LXV Issue 24 editorial titled “The War and School,” the Board wrote “We young students who may ultimately have to fight these wars have every reason and every right to make our opposition to this policy known.

Our aim remains to demonstrate to the President of the U.S. and to the world, our total disagreement with the American involvement in South East Asia” in Volume LXV Issue 24. Though the students did not ask the school to shut down during the war, they demanded to discuss Vietnam in their classes, participated in peaceful rallies, and wrote resolutions, telegrams, and letters.

Director of the Center for Community Values & Action (CCVA) Dr. Jeremy Leeds ‘72 was the Student Body President during the time of the Vietnam War, and he urged members of the school community to engage in the anti-war movement. In October of 1971, he helped organize a campus wide teach-in to discuss the war. John Kerry, future Secretary of State and the Head of

the war.

Although the school allowed students to finish one semester of education if drafted, boys leaving the school in February would not be eligible to receive their diplomas, according to the article.

Tillinghast, in September of 1942, wrote to the student body urging them to “serve the country and causes to which [they] all pledge[d] [their] deep devotion.”

Eventually, WWII veterans made their way into the school’s classrooms. Seth Morgulas ‘89 recalls there being a few teachers during his time at the school who fought in the war.

Throughout the years, students also held supply drives and bought war stamps to support troops abroad. Issues of The Record at the time were adorned with advertisements in support of the war effort, such as the one bought by Mr. and Mrs. Sam Bucher during WWII AD Encou that read “For VICTORY Keep Buying Bonds” in Volume XXXVII.

the Vietnam Veterans Against the War at the time, was the keynote speaker.

In April of 1971, Leeds organized a group of students to participate in a nationwide anti-war demonstration in Washington D.C. During that era, students felt eager to discuss the war in their classes, Leeds said.

The Vietnam War fit into class discus-

sions, current events, history, English essays, and even club meetings as more students became anti-war, he said.

“It’s interesting to see things that you were involved in personally become history. [The Vietnam War] was a real turning point for America,” Leeds said.

NO MORE WAR Infomercials against the Vietnam War.

Confl

7

HORACE MANN VETERANS DAY ISSUE NOVEMBER 11TH, 2019

test at Horace Mann

st, the school community has taken to the Record to voice patriotism and protest in response to global conflicts.

1950-1953: Korean War

urages readers to buy bonds.

With anti-Communist sentiments raging after WWII, President Harry Truman emphasized the importance of containing the spread of Communism across the world. Unsurprisingly, when North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, the United States immediately sent troops to aid democratic South Korea.

During the Korean War, the school continued to increase its role in serving the country.

In January of 1951, The Record announced the creation of new elective courses like Communications, Navigation, Meteorology, Russian, and First Aid. These classes were implemented in response to “present world differences,” the article, titled “Dr Gratwick Tells School Plans: Military Courses to Be Offered” stated. The courses allowed 11th and 12th graders to meet during what is now I period to take courses, as well as create new courses if over 10 boys requested one.

When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, America, alongside a coalition of other nations, entered the region to liberate Kuwait.

Since 1990, the US has maintained a constant military presence in the Middle East. In 2003, Iraq’s alleged development of weapons of mass destruction led to a second war Iraqi invasion which President George W. Bush labeled Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Record covered the war in the Middle East more than any other war, even publishing an “Iraq Special” for Issue 10 of Volume C. Throughout the years of conflict, many students took to the paper in order to write opinion articles or letters to the editor in response to coverage of the Gulf War. Despite the majority of the student body remaining anti-war, The Record covered an array of opinions, from articles titled “Saddam must be stopped” to “The war is necessary.”

In Volume LXXXIV Issue 18, The

The courses were targeted towards students who planned on enlisting in the military. For example, the Navigation course, which discussed maps, projection, magnetic variation, compasses, and meridians and parallels, was made to prepare those who planned to join the technical services: the Navy or Air Force.

Dr. Elihu Rose ‘50, now a philanthropist and military historian, graduated during the Korean War when anyone over eighteen was subject to the draft. However, an alternative to immediate service was going through an ROTC program in college, which Rose did at Yale.

When Rose graduated in 1950, he was among five of the school’s alumni at Yale who served in the military, he said. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force in Washington D.C. In addition, Rose’s brothers, Frederick P. Rose ‘40 served in the Navy

Record published a series of quotes titled “Students express opinions on war,” stating that reporters explicitly tried to cover a varied range of opinions.

While many students expressed the liberal viewpoint that the war should be stopped and was mainly for US economic benefit for oil, some opposed this opinion as well.

Andy Schwartz ‘91 expressed being uncomfortable at a school where most students shared an anti-war stance. “As a very conservative Republican it is very hard to stay at Horace Mann with my views… I am not happy that we are at war but I don’t see any other solution to the problem,” he said.

In a poll conducted in a features piece titled “Students React to Wars Throughout History” in April of 2003, 200 students were asked what they though President Bush’s motivations were for the War in Iraq. 40% of students responded with “ensuring America’s national security,” 28% responded with “oil and corporate interests,” 18% respond-

1990-Present: flict in the Middle East

and Daniel Rose ’47 served in the Air Force.

While Rose had a particular interest in military affairs from a young age, not all students in the late 50s knew or cared about anything military related, he said. The school had no military relationships, discussions, or anything related to service. “My military relationship was established in college, not at Horace Mann,” Rose said.

Courtesy of Elihu Rose

ed with other, and 14% responded with “liberation of the Iraqi people.”

In November of 2002, 11 students and one faculty member traveled to rally against the Iraq War. This rally was the largest that students attended since the ones that protested the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.

As students became more politically active, they also urged the school’s administration to enhance its response to war. In January of 1991, The Record published an editorial titled “Administrative response to war was lacking,” asking for administration to voice a unified response to the war at an assembly.

The editorial stated that students were “keeping abreast of… the biggest military and political event of their lifetime” by paying attention to the first hours of the Gulf War, but that a unified response did not come soon enough. Besides some courses allowing for discussion and an assembly scheduled after the beginning of the war, according to the editorial, the only way the school formally

acknowledged the war was through a television playing news coverage of the Gulf War by the SBP at the time, Charlie Ledley ‘91.

WAR ON WAR Anti-war protests.

2019

8

THE RECORD VETERANS DAY ISSUE NOVEMBER 11TH, 2019

Diversity in the military Adam Frommer and Marina Kazarian Staff Writers Over time, the American military has become increasingly diverse, reflecting the changing demographics of our society, Army Col. Seth Morgulas ‘89 said. In 2004, the military was comprised of 36% racial minorities while in 2017 the number jumped to 43%, a Pew Research Center study wrote.

“In my experience, I found my units to be diverse in many ways, diversity you see and diversity you don’t see,” said Benjamin Jacobson ‘09, a former intelligence officer in the Marine Corps.

“I worked with Marines of different races, birthplaces, genders, and sexual orientations.”

Schools such as West Point Military Academy have also contributed to the diversity of the military: according to their website, West Point has specifically incorporated initiatives to recruit people from diverse backgrounds and has created spaces for people to celebrate their cultures.

Junior Grade Navy Lieutenant (LTJG) Matt Meltzer ‘13 believes the military is progressive on the issue of diversity because people are forced to work together. “Nobody really succeeds on their own, you always have to rely on your teammates,” he said. “And so no matter where those teammates come from, what their backgrounds are, you just learn to have to work with them.”

“One mistake some people sometimes make about joining the military is they think they’re going to be treated like an individual,” Daniel Katz ‘00 said. “And the military is really about a group.”

While Meltzer has not personally been targeted for his identity, he acknowledged that others may have had different experiences.

“When I joined the army, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ was the way we dealt with homosexuality and now, I don’t think anyone notices or cares what anyone’s preference is in that regard,” Morgulas said.

“Some of the very antiquated views that I’ve actually now found out that some bosses in the civilian world have, you just don’t find in the military.”

-Elizabeth Vieyra Although African Americans have fought in all of the nation’s wars, in the period shortly before World War I, they were not permitted to enlist, Morgulas said. The 369th Sustainment Brigade which Morgulas currently commands was the first Regiment in that era to enlist African Americans.

Christian Hernandez ‘16 found that during training, people tended to split off into cliques based on who they felt comfortable with. After training, “it doesn’t matter what color you wear, you all bleed green.” However, geography played a role in how people were treated, he said. Some would say, “you think you’re from the city, you’re better than us.”

Elizabeth Vieyra ‘04, a former officer in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, said working with many other female members of the JAG Corps, including four female bosses out of five, has set a different tone in her workplace.

“Sometimes, people feel like if a man is the boss, men have an easier time becoming close with the boss just because the boss maybe feels uncomfortable around women,” she said. “Particularly now with everyone so hypersensitive around sexual harassment, there are some male bosses who feel like they don’t want to get too close with women who work for them in case they create some kind of an impression that they’re playing favorites.”

In addition, Vieyra has noticed that there are more women in certain Military Occupational Specialties (MOS), such as medical MOS, she said.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the percentage of females enlisted recruits in 2016 in the Navy, the Air Force, the Army, and the Marines is at least five percent higher in each area than it was in 1974. According to a CNN article, women made up 14.5% of active duty troops in 2011.

The military also aims to address issues of political diversity and free speech. Members of the military need to be especially careful with expressing their political views, Vieyra said, as there are certain restrictions on the First Amendment rights in the military.

“Some of the very antiquated views that I’ve actually now found out that some bosses in the civilian world have, you just don’t find in the military,” Vieyra said.

The members of the military represent the nation when in uniform, and that is how they differentiate between their personal and professional personas. Social media has blurred this boundary. “My own personal viewpoint is that you are welcome

to say what you want when you are wearing civilian clothes,” he said. “You are welcome to post whatever you want on social media, as long as you’re not in uniform and in a way that reflects discredit upon the military.”

As a lawyer, Vieyra said she advised members of the military not to post hateful sentiments on social media, as several people have been reprimanded for that.

While forbidding political activity in uniform, the military allows for the practice of all religions. For instance, the Jewish population in the military is essentially proportional to the Jewish population of the entire United States, Katz said. This meant that Katz was one of very few Jews he knew in the Army. “We’re all inherently most comfortable with people that we grew up with. So I definitely felt like I was someone living in a different culture, but I knew that’s what I was signing on for.” Although, he adds that it was more about going from a Northeastern, white collar, urban culture to a rural, blue collar culture than about the religious differences. “It definitely made me feel like a stranger in a strange land.”

Katz rarely heard anti-Semetic language while serving, and most people didn’t recognize it as such on the rare occasions it happened. One day, when there wasn’t as much food as usual in the dining hall, Katz overheard a peer say, “We got Jewed at the chow line today.” “Not a nice thing to say,” Katz said, “but he probably just heard that ang phrase occasionally nny W sy of Je Courte growing up and didn’t realize it was anti-Semitic.”

Meltzer often finds that others are mostly curious about Judaism.

“When they find out that I am Jewish they usually have a whole lot of questions,” he said. “Or they ask questions about things that they think that they know. It’s good that people want to know and learn about it.”

The military makes room for religion, Katz said. There are chaplains of all faiths who lead their respective religious services, and certain civilian organizations help service members practice their religion. For example, Jews observing Passover anywhere in the world could get as many boxes of matzah as needed, he said. During his first deployment to Iraq, he attended a Passover Seder at Baghdad International Airport to which the military had flown in Jewish service members from all over the country to participate.

In terms of leadership opportunities, the military could be doing a better job with diversity, Hernandez, who is training to be a Second Lieutenant, said. “In my program in the first two years, I was the only kid that was not white or not Asian.”

“The military in general, I would say is a huge melting pot. People from all different walks of life come together,” Meltzer said. “I’ve met people of all sorts of backgrounds, even those that haven’t existed at Horace Mann.”

“I think ultimately Meltzer the most imof Matthew Courtesy portant thing for the military is that we have the best possible people in the military and that we continually choose the best person, no matter who they are, to fulfill a particular role,” Morgulas said.

Diversity in the army is changing for the better, Hernandez said. “But at the same time, it doesn’t really matter where you’re from.”

Courtesy of Elizabeth Vi eyra

Courtes y of Chri stian Her

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