Military Veterans Speak Out

A panel of military veterans spoke this weekend about their personal experiences in the armed forces.

The Nelson Gant house invited individuals from the community to talk on behalf of their war experiences in honor of Veterans Day. Retired Staff Sergeant, Ernest Bynum from the United States Air Force says that he has become the man he is today from the time he served.

"The biggest thing to overcome, well one good thing, my mother and father always raised me with a lot of discipline and structure and that really prepared me to go in, but nothing could prepared you for that initial shock of coming from a civilian and entering into the military where there’s a lot of different sets of rules of how you’ve got to behave and how you gotta apply yourself."

Also in attendance was Master Sergeant, Betsy Brocklehurst who talked about how she’s overcome many hardships being a woman in the National Guard.

"Definitely proud, it’s always a time to be able to put on your uniform and know that you’ve earned the right to be able to walk next to the other people, the other people that are speaking here today. It’s always an all inspiring event to be able to sit next to someone who a Vietnam Vet, or a Korean Vet, or WWII vet, just to be able to talk to them and hear their experiences and see how similar they are."

The panel included three veterans and many more attended the talk to hear the panel’s experiences of overcoming discrimination in the armed forces.