Jess Saenz was drafted as a “young and dumb” teenager to fight in the Vietnam War.
“I was a grunt right out of high school,” he explained at a November 12 Veterans Day commemoration at Tommy’s Place, with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” blasting in the background.
While serving 19 months during the war in the 1970s, Saenz said he learned what it meant to become “part of something that’s a lot bigger.”
“It’s a tough choice to go in and hand over everything to someone else where you have no control of what you’re going to eat or wea. It’s all in someone else’s hands,” said Saenz, who later graduated from dental school at USC.
“My advice is to be prepared for that and to follow orders, and learn that it’s not all about you. You have a purpose and a goal and I believe that keeps you moving forward,” he said.
Saenz was part of the crowd made up largely of veterans and their family members from diverse backgrounds and walks of life who came together to share their stories and bond.
In the aftermath of a divisive election, Annenberg Media spoke to veterans who reflected not only on their own service, but on what the current political climate might mean for those contemplating serving their country in the near future.
Celina Villafranco, a current business administration student who served four years as an aviation structural mechanic, emphasized how serving in the military taught her “compassion” and “empathy.”
“I think it’s definitely an interesting time of history that we live in,” said Villafranco. “With everything that’s happening, I think that joining the military now is really just about reinforcing love [of each other] over divisiveness and differing opinions. It teaches you that everybody is approaching the same goal, but we’re just doing it differently.”
USC president Carol Folt, making her first speech at the event since announcing she will retire next July, highlighted the university’s funding of veteran students during her time as president.
U.S. Army veteran Renata Simril, who earned a masters degree in real estate development from USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy in 1998, expressed her gratitude as she contemplated her past service.
“For Veterans Day this year, particularly with the election, I really reflected on my time in the army. I wasn’t just thinking about leadership skills I developed or challenges I overcame,” said Simril. “Instead, I thought about how my service profoundly shaped my understanding of who I am, and how it expanded my identity, sense of purpose and my sense of humanity.”
Like Villafranco, Simril highlighted how the military helped her in not just acknowledging differences between people, but how to work together despite them too.
“I had to find common bonds with my fellow soldiers like our love of sports even if we rooted for a different team, music or food, and our love of America,” said Simril. “I saw firsthand that while we Americans may be flawed, we also hold the potential to transform and transcend our flaws and to fight for a better future.”