Our Community Salutes: The first to say 'thank you' to enlistees

By Mark Hemingway 
Real Clear Wire

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The lobby of the Rachel M. Schlesinger Performing Arts Center is full of anxious teenagers. While women are underrepresented, in terms of class and ethnicity the crowd seems to be a representative cross-section of 21st century America. 

This isn’t an unusual scene at a community college auditorium, except that few of the young people here are likely to see the inside of a college again anytime soon. About 70 teenagers are here, just weeks away from their high school graduations. However, they’re here with their families for a different ceremony acknowledging another important rite of passage.

Our Community Salutes (OCS) was founded in 2009 to help “communities recognize, honor, and support high school seniors who plan to enlist in the U.S. Armed Services after graduation.” 

In practice, one of its core activities is planning events just like this one in the hope it will inspire and pay tribute to the kids who have made the honorable decision to bypass or delay college in favor of serving their country. Between April and June, OCS will have held 40 ceremonies for high school students enlisting in places ranging from San Diego to the Virgin Islands.

It’s not a fancy affair; the fare in the lobby is pulled pork sandwiches and lemonade. But OCS more than makes up for the lack of expensive hors d’oeuvres with top-notch programming. In addition to the future soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, the ceremony brings together the people that helped them along the way – recruiters, supportive local high school teachers, and counselors – with elected officials, top military brass, and sometimes even celebrities.

This day’s keynote speaker is Charles R. Hamilton, the Commanding General of United States Army Materiel Command in Alabama. Once upon a time, the notion that a four-star general would get on a plane so he could personally thank a handful of 18-year-old enlistees who haven’t yet gone to basic training would have seemed far-fetched. But these are not ordinary times for the U.S. military.

Last year, the Army missed its recruitment goal by 15,000 people, enough soldiers to fill a large division. Whether the characterization of the military going “woke” is fair or not, a survey last year from the Ronald Reagan Institute found that perceived politicization of the military meant public trust in the military has dropped to 48% from 70% just four years earlier. It is universally agreed that America is facing its most severe recruiting crisis since President Nixon ushered in the all-volunteer force 50 years ago.  

Waiting for the ceremony to begin, Brooks Tucker, a retired Marine Corps colonel who serves on OCS’ board of directors, tells me that even though supporting the nonprofit’s work honoring enlistees and recruiters should be a no-brainer, due to bureaucratic hurdles and turnover at the Pentagon, the organization had some difficulties engaging military leadership. All that’s changed in recent years. “Now they’re real interested,” he says ruefully.

There’s no real gimmick to what OCS is doing: They’re simply barnstorming around the country trying to bolster pride in military service, one community at a time. A big part of that is debunking outdated stereotypes about enlisting in the military. Today’s all-volunteer force is a lean, technologically sophisticated fighting machine – the stereotype of the military being willing to accept any warm body, up to and including petty criminals, hasn’t been true for decades. 

Following the presentation of the colors and the national anthem, in his introductory remarks OCS president Ken Hartman, a former university professor and Army officer, reminds the crowd that their kids are among the best the country has to offer.

“I’m a recovering university professor and president. And one of the things I think is interesting … is that there are over 3500 colleges and universities in America, and over 75% of those colleges will accept 50% or more of the kids who apply,” Hartman says. “Your son or daughter is going into an institution that will only accept 23%.”

In fact, a whopping 75% of young Americans today are ineligible from the outset for military service for reasons ranging from drug abuse to obesity. 

Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears tells the crowd, “You are preserving America for the next generation.” Sears, a black Republican who served as an electrician in the Marine Corps, says that the way to preserve America is to support the U.S. Constitution – and she makes this point with an unflinching discussion of racism, arguing that America has made progress because of, not in spite of, our dedication to the Constitution.

Sears is followed by OCS board member Michele Jones, the first woman to serve as a division command sergeant major in the U.S. Army. Jones abandons the podium to stride around in front of the stage, and even into the audience, dispensing evocative bits of advice for how to have a successful military career. 

She invites – and receives – much audience participation. At one point, she exhorts the young enlistees to become a member of the “GSD club – GET STUFF DONE!” There are some slight knowing chuckles in the crowd, given that “stuff” is probably not the preferred Army vocabulary here. Somehow Sergeant Major Jones has no trouble being heard without a microphone, and it is not a small auditorium.

After hearing from the brass – Maj. Gen. Johnny Davis and Gen. Hamilton – a large band comes out and plays the songs for each service branch, and there’s a contest to see which service can sing the loudest. As in real life, the Army wins by sheer numbers, but the Marines’ enthusiasm is noteworthy. An award named for Colin Powell is given to a local high school counselor for his help with recruiting efforts. It’s a fitting award for this audience. Powell was a middling high school student who found his calling in the Army, first as a platoon leader in Vietnam and later becoming a four-star general, White House National Security Adviser, and Secretary of State.

Although these young enlistees can’t know where their individual path will take them, along with the current and former members of the military present, they all say the oath of enlistment together. This is particularly meaningful because military service is often a family affair. A lot of the teenagers in the auditorium are saying the oath alongside one or both of their parents who are sitting nearby.

Finally, much like a graduation ceremony, each enlistee is individually recognized and called up to the stage where they receive a pocket Constitution and exchange a few brief words on stage with the distinguished speakers.

If the high school seniors in the lobby seemed nervous a few hours ago, leaving the stage, they’re all smiles. Military recruitment is still facing enormous challenges, and many of those problems are perhaps the result of decisions that politicians and military leadership are going to have to address. 

In the meantime, Our Community Salutes’ message of unifying patriotism provides a stark contrast to the divisive political messages that have become inescapable in recent years. 

In that sense, the message that defending America is something to be proud of isn’t just intended for the young enlistees – it’s also for the larger crowd of family, friends, and school officials gathered here and the hope is that it will have a positive effect on the local communities where these events are held in the months and years to come. The slogan of Our Community Salutes is “The First to Say Thank You,” and for the 70 enlistees and their families and community supporters gathered in the auditorium that evening, it clearly means a great deal.

Mark Hemingway reports on the key institutions shaping public life, from lobbying groups to federal agencies to elections, for RealClearInvestigations. His writing has appeared in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, MTV.com, and The Weekly Standard.