Before Saturday night’s men’s basketball game in the Carrier Dome, a group of military personnel in uniform walked near the Syracuse bench. Standing nearby, a young girl tapped her friend on the shoulder.

“Thank you for your service,” they both said. The service member nodded back.

It’s a common expression of gratitude toward our country’s veterans, especially on Veterans Day weekend. Several active-duty military personnel said this week that they appreciate such small gestures of appreciation. Sometimes, a “thank you” from a stranger has brought them to tears because the words meant so much — or because they served as a reminder of the people who have risked the life they’d always known for a military life.

For many active-duty military personnel and veterans, returning to civilian life isn’t easy. There can be a disconnect between those who serve and everyone else, active-duty personnel said.

For that reason, a “thank you” can go a long way.

Below three active-duty military personnel in the military visual journalism program at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications open up about military life, appreciation and what Veterans Day means to them.

Brianna Green, 26, Navy

Brianna Green and her wife, Melanie, were in New York City for Fleet Week, the city’s time-honored celebration of the sea services. They polished off some sushi at a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan and asked for the check. When the server returned to their table, they looked at the bill. A stranger had taken care of part of it.

Green asked her waitress who had done the good deed. She pointed to another table. Green and her wife got up, walked over and said hello.

“Do you have a military connection?” Green recalled asking the woman who paid for part of their bill.

Sitting with her husband, the woman said her brother died while in the service. They both began to cry. Green hugged her.

“That moment was heart-to-heart, such a human connection,” Green said later. “That will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Green is enrolled in Syracuse University’s military visual journalism program, which is 30 credits and takes less than one year, with the goal of developing her photography skills. The program was established in 1963 and teaches active-duty service members photojournalism and broadcast journalism. Green wants to continue to document life in the Navy and tell similar stories of connection, gratitude and love.

Brianna Green hopes to develop her photography skills to continue documenting life in the Navy and sharing its members’ stories. Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

A native of Stuart, Florida, Green graduated from Florida State University in 2013 with a degree in international affairs. She went back home to find work. She was fielding calls at a help desk when a disgruntled customer called at 5 a.m. threatening to sue. Green cried and then called Melanie, who suggested she should enlist in the military.

Green picked up her first camera just three years ago. She spent seven months in the Middle East region, as well as some time in Guatemala and Honduras, capturing scenes. In Guatemala, she took photographs of biomedical technicians in the Navy cleaning out old equipment in a hospital. She snapped photos of the Navy cleaning dry blood. She wants to highlight the Navy’s humanitarian efforts.

Every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, Green calls her cousin, who served, to wish her well and thank her. With a few years of active duty under her belt, Green has begun to realize how much the Navy has given her.

“This is the only job I’ll ever have where I’ll be thanked the rest of my life,” said Green, who wants to work for the United Nations after she serves. “For young people who may not know what they want to do, for people who want structure in their life, the Navy taught me to make my bed every morning and have small discipline.”

“The real unsung heroes on a day like Veterans Day,” Green continued, “is the spouses and support from family. We don’t always have access to a phone. Their support can make or break a career.”

Katy Macdonald, 29, Navy

Katy Macdonald began to choke up in Cafe Kubal on University Avenue last week. She was reflecting on her service and the honor of committing to the military.
“Veterans Day is a day to remember those who paved the path for us,” she said. “Lot of blood, lot of sacrifice. They sacrifice their lives, families, their time, their opinion.”

Macdonald, a Naples, Florida, native, was wiping away tears as she explained that most military personnel don’t return home the same. The experience changes you, she said, in ways you don’t imagine.

Once, a young girl walked up to her and said, “I’ve never seen a girl in a uniform before.”

“Young girls tell me I’m their hero,” Macdonald said. “They say, ‘I want to be just like you.’ It almost takes your breath away because we don’t even know each other.”

Among her friends in the military, Macdonald knows several who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. At first glance, that’s not noticeable, she said. Which is why a “thank you means the world to me,” she said.

Katy Macdonald, a Florida native, studied mass communication at the Defense Information School at Fort Meade before coming to Syracuse University as an active-duty military member. Susie Teuscher | Digital Design Editor

When asked about the meaning of sacrifice, she thought about how she was the only woman leader in one of her commands. There were 67 people total. She wants to inspire women, and everyone else, to do anything by following their dreams, she said.

She conjured images of the wounded, the battered and the proud. She thought about the spouses who anxiously wait for their loved ones to return home, hopefully safely. She thought about the parents who say goodbye to their children as they go off to war. She thought about the missed weddings, graduations and other milestones service men and women give up.

And she thought about the misconceptions about the military — what type of person serves, why they serve and the ways in which they serve.

“A lot of people see us as robots and hard, fast, people,” Macdonald said. “We’re people, we’re humans, we go through the same issues. We have families. With that, I’d say every day is Veterans Day.”

Matthew DeVirgilio, 37, Army

Working 80-hour weeks in audio engineering wasn’t the life DeVirgilio wanted to live.

In 1999, he graduated from high school in his native Middletown, Delaware. He chased his passion for music by touring with some bands in Southern California, then he found a full-time gig that had demanding hours but paid fairly well. But he wanted more.

“I would say I had a midlife crisis,” DeVirgilio said. “I had no purpose. I was getting fat, which was a toll on my mental health. So I did something different: joined the service. I wanted to see the rest of the world.”
DeVirgilio has served five years in the Army and plans to serve 15 more. The service has taken him to Alaska and countries including Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Afghanistan, plus Fort Bliss, Fort Lee, Fort Jackson, Fort Knox, Fort Meade and Fort Lewis. One of his skills: He can jump out of an aircraft to the ground below.

Matthew DeVirgilio joined the service to see different parts of the world and has since served in many states and countries, coping with various weather and terrains. Susie Teuscher | Digital Design Editor

He spent six months in Afghanistan last year and lived outside “on the front lines, in the sand” for three months. He weathered rain, wind and cool nights with a sleeping bag. His photos captured emotion, bombs exploding and injured men and women. He appreciates the privilege to serve for the U.S., which is something he describes as not necessarily a right.

“Some days, I reflect upon sacrifices that people before me offered,” DeVirgilio said. This gave him a “purpose and identity” to carry with himself for the rest of his life, he said.

For DeVirgilio, receiving a thank you for his service symbolizes the meaning of patriotism and shared purpose. He said while a simple thank you for his service can seem superficial, he is always appreciative of a stranger’s words. When he returned to civilian life for the visual journalism program at Syracuse, he discovered the perspective the military provided him.

“Think about sitting in traffic,” he said. “You’re frustrated. When we’re over there serving, with bombs exploding, we’d be thrilled to sit in traffic. In a car you have AC, heat and a radio. So I feel now that nothing fazes me. When I get upset, I have this perspective that this ain’t so bad.”

“The Army has saved my life,” he added.

Published on November 11, 2018 at 11:48 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21