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Washington Evening Journal
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Military service yields camaraderie
MARENGO — Theodore James Zieser knew when he joined the National Guard that he wouldn’t like basic training. “It’s where they yell at you, swear at you, call you horrible things, break you down into nothing so they can build you back up again,” Zieser told a crowd Friday at Iowa Valley High School.
But Zieser is the son, grandson and great-grandson of veterans, and he was determined that military service would not end in his generation.
He doesn’t regret his decision.
Life is full of people, some good, some bad, Zieser said. His short time in the military has put him in the path of good people.
Zieser spoke during Friday’s Veterans Day program at his alma mater. He graduated from Iowa Valley in 2022. But before he donned his cap and gown last spring, Zieser reported to basic training.
“It was a place where I thought I would hate everyone and everything,” he said. But he didn’t hate everyone. There is no better place to get to know people very, very well than basic combat training, he said.
“When I arrived at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, I was already ready for it to be over.” But as the weeks passed, “I wasn’t hating my situation as much as I was before.”
After graduating from High School, Zieser reported to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio for 16 weeks of training to become a medic. He was alone for the first two weeks. This isn’t what he signed on for, he thought.
But after a couple of weeks, he started to meet people and make friends. He remembered basic training and realized, “I wasn’t so down anymore because I finally felt a sense of belonging,” he said. “I was with people I cared about and who cared about me.”
Though he’s known these people only a short time, he knows they are friends for life.
“I’m still in contact with my bunk mate from basic training. the one who gave me the encouragement I needed to get through my 10 weeks,” Zieser said.
“I’m still in contact with many of the medics that I completed my training with in Fort Sam Houston, the ones who lifted me up when I was falling down and the ones who looked up to me when they were struggling themselves.”
“This feeling is camaraderie, and, in my opinion, life is pointless without it.”
As he ended his address, Zieser asked everyone to join him in 22 seconds of silence in remembrance of the 22 veterans a day who take their own lives.
Iowa Valley elementary and high school students provided music for the Veterans Day program, and American Legion Post 76 provided the color guard.
Today veterans are shedding tears, Morris Denson, Commander of Marengo American Legion Post 76, told the audience.
They are shedding tears as they remember leaving home. They are shedding tears for what they experienced. And they are shedding tears for buddies who didn’t make it home.
Their sacrifices touch all of our lives. “All of us shed a tear for the blessing that America is home,” Denson said.
Denson recalled a visit at a cemetery in Belgium where Americans who fought to free that country from Nazi Germany in World War II are buried. The average age of the people in those graves is about 20.
The Belgians take care of the graves and “the care of these graves is passed down from generation to generation,” Denson said.
The list of people who want to adopt a grave is long, Denson said. Even his tour guide was on the waiting list. “It was a very emotional and thought-provoking day.”
Denson thanked the community for its support as it raised money for a new Legion Hall which is now open on Franklyn Avenue by Gateway Park and Preserve.
“We hope you come and see our new hall,” Denson said. “We’re proud of it.”
