University of Minnesota Alumni Association : Executive Director: Our Armed Forces Up Close


Search

University of Minnesota Alumni Association


Alumni Association Home > Past Issues > 2003 > March-April 2003	Print View

Executive Director: Our Armed Forces Up Close
3/10/2003

By Margaret S. Carlson, Ph.D. '83

Not many people have seen a B-2 bomber up close, let alone close enough to watch it being refueled while in flight. So the opportunity to see just that caught my attention. Dennis Schulstad (B.A ’66), a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve brigadier general and state chair of the Employers Support of the Guard and the Reserve (ESGR), invited me to participate in “Bosslift,” an intensive three-day observation of the active military and reserves. And in mid-January, I joined 45 other Minnesotans on a trip to San Diego to observe the dedicated men and women of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard as they prepare to serve our nation. Our instructions were simple: Learn a lot and tell others about what we’d seen.

Until that trip, I had very little direct insight into our armed forces. My brother Tim Sughrue is a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander in the Army Reserves, and he spends a weekend a month at Fort Snelling heading a 900-person medical support unit. And when my nephew Phillip Sughrue Sprincin graduated from the Naval Academy in the spring of 2001 and joined the Marines as a second lieutenant, I started paying more attention to our men and women in uniform. Then came 9/11, the talk of war with Iraq, and the political tensions with North Korea. When Schulstad’s invitation arrived, my interest was high.

This column is not about whether we should go to war. Rather, it is intended to give an inside perspective on the importance of the National Guard and the reserves and about how University of Minnesota students, staff, and alumni play a role in our country’s defense as “citizen soldiers.”

Before boarding the KC-135 Stratotanker, a large, windowless airplane that carries troops and supplies and refuels those mighty B-2 bombers, Army Major Jeffrey Johnson (B.A. ’85), executive director of the Minnesota Committee for the ESGR, told us that there are 1.3 million reserves in all U.S. military branches and 458,000 National Guard members, with 18,500 people in the guard and reserves in Minnesota. One hundred twenty-two of those Minnesotans were being sent to the Middle East within an hour of our departure for San Diego.

Over Fort Dodge, Iowa, the B-2 bomber docked and undocked with our plane to practice refueling. Lying prone, next to the boom operator, each of us viewed this unbelievable aeronautical feat with the two aircraft no more than 15 feet away from each other. We imagined that the refueling would be the highlight of the trip, but each day proved us wrong.

In San Diego, we toured the USS Stennis, an aircraft carrier with a crew of 5,000 sailors and aviators. It is a city at sea that serves as the flight deck for more than 70 aircraft. We toured the USS Elliot, a destroyer with 350 personnel on board, and we met the first female officer to serve on this ship that was commissioned more than 20 years ago.

At the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, we ate lunch with Marine recruits from Minnesota. At our table, Jeff Bernatz, a just-turned 20-year-old from Burnsville, told Nick O’Hara, the retired head of the FBI for the three-state area; John Swaney, the general manager of Hotel Sofitel; and me that he wanted to serve his country, that basic training was rigorous, and it sure was good to see someone from home.

At the Coast Guard, we tried on the sophisticated goggles that allow for clear night vision, and we stood on shore and watched the aircraft carriers, with their accompanying destroyers, frigates, and oilers, depart in an armada for the Persian Gulf.

Most important, however, we discovered that while the uniforms of these forces varied, the dedication and determination of the people wearing them were consistent. We also learned that half of the U.S. military today are in the National Guard and reserves. But you’d be hard-pressed to figure out which half, because—as the naval officers’ stationery reads—they have “One team. One voice. One mission.”

“Our nation made the conscious decision,” Schulstad explains, “to maintain a very small, highly technical, active-duty military with a fully trained force of ‘citizen soldiers’ ready to step in when needed.” And when they’re needed, a new law signed by President George Bush could keep them on active duty for up to two years.

As you might guess, U of M alumni can be found in all branches of the service and at all levels. Navy Vice Admiral John Totushek (B.A. ’66) heads 88,000 naval reservists, and Eugene Andreotti (B.S. ’66), adjutant general for the state of Minnesota and an Air National Guard major general, commands more than 13,000 members of the Minnesota Air and Army National Guard, to name just two.

Every one of our readers has a neighbor, friend, family member, or co-worker who has donned or will don a U.S. military uniform in troubled times. As I put the final touches on my column on this late-January day, the reality of men and women serving their country just became personal. My nephew, who is a Marine artillery/infantry officer, was airlifted to Kuwait this morning.

I now have tremendous insight into the armed forces and more than ever appreciate their call to duty. Every day I hear about reserves and guards being called up, and I think of something Air Force staff sergeant Heather Gillette (B.A. ’01), the communications officer on our trip, said: “Knowing the people at home and in the community are behind you makes all the difference.”

Trouble seeing the text? | Contact Alumni Association | Privacy