Everyday Veterans: A Series About Our Neighbors Who Served

For decades, many men were summoned to military service by the arrival of a draft notice in the mail. But since the end of conscription in 1973, whether motivated by patriotism, a call to serve someone other than themselves, to emulate a parent’s career, or simply the need for a path to the future, men and women sign up for military duty for a variety of reasons.

And, then, in their uniquely individual way, they return to the civilian world to get on with their lives, few unchanged by their military experiences.

In this series of profiles of 10 local veterans, we’ll tell their stories, including a man who fled the Nazis, returning to the battlefield to encounter the aftermath of a  concentration camp; a woman who used the drive and skills she honed in the Navy to become a nurse at age 45; and another man whose experiences in the military led to years of government service, helping other veterans.

At a time when less than 1 percent of Americans have served on active duty, these individuals stand out for having served their country with pride. Beyond the speeches and pomp of official ceremonies on holidays, their stories are worth knowing.

HuntingtonNow invited Town Supervisor Ed Smyth and US Rep. Nick LaLota to talk about their experiences in military service.

Smyth, who joined the Marine Reserve right out of high school, said, it was “something I wanted to do. My father, my uncles were veterans, and I wanted to serve as well. My parents wanted me to go to college, so going into the Reserve was a way for me to join the military. I had a great experience in the Reserve. I never deployed, I served in Philadelphia at the Naval Shipyard. I always said that I got far more out of the Marine Corps than the Marine Corps got out of me. I enjoyed the service, I enjoyed the work.”

Not everyone in the military ends up in or even close to combat. Smyth described the huge infrastructure of service members required to support those who serve on the frontline of the military. He noted his own job title–nuclear, biological, chemical warfare specialist– which meant he handed out and maintained gas masks while teaching their use, a seemingly mundane task but important to preparing Marines for their use on the battlefield.

He ended his service with the Marines as a staff sergeant.

US Rep. Nick LaLota took a different route. He spent four years at the US Naval Academy, and after graduating, seven years as a surface warfare officer.

“In 2024 more relevant today is that the military culture requires selflessness and nowadays, especially with social media, it seems to be all about the individual. How much attention one can draw to oneself, to promote oneself. That seems to be the focus, especially among those of age to join the military. The military culture remains the opposite. The military culture remains a place where the team is more valued than the individual member.,” LaLota said.  “The Navy has a slogan, ‘Ship, shipmates, self’ for the order of priority to which one assigns their own priority. Those who go through the military experience a culture much different from mainstream America and it’s a good feeling when you subscribe to something that’s more important than yourself and give of yourself.

“One day you may be asked to sacrifice, physically and otherwise, for the country, for your platoon, for your ship,and that is generally a culture that is rare in the non-military America,” LaLota said. “And that said, whether you do 2 years, 20 or 40 in the military, you bring with you that sense of selflessness to your next occupation, and generally the skills that you learn there are quite valuable. You persevere, you’re somebody who can get through tough times, and somebody who can put the organization before themselves.”

Our first story will feature Harry Arlin, World War II veteran, and will publish Monday. The series will run each Monday, concluding on Veterans Day. Please read these stories about our neighbors and veterans.

Supervisor Ed Smyth, left, and US Rep. Nick LaLota

If there’s someone you’d like to recommend that we profile, please contact us here.