To honor the yearly American holiday known as Veterans Day, Camasonian staff sat down with Camas High School (CHS) staff veterans to hear their stories about their work in the military. 

There are many veterans that have served in the various branches of the military that currently work at CHS. Many of which are teachers that served proudly and sacrificed uncountable hours protecting the United States from danger.

CHS English teacher Tom Sawyer was a 2nd Ranger Battalion for the US Army based in Fort Louis. 

“When I was in the army it was different than it is today. It was much more racist, sexist and homophobic so I got to see people act like that; no one would act like that around me so it was hard on my heart seeing that. It [the Army] also makes you grow up. You were responsible for everything. If you didn’t get it done then you weren’t very useful in the military. Here is what you are supposed to get done by this time, get it done or there will be consequences,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer’s favorite memory of serving in the military was parachuting out of planes in the ocean and walking the German side of the Alps.

CHS Statistics teacher Kealey Sitler did maintenance for aircraft along with being a statistician for the US Air Force.

“It is so amazing, you are just around incredible people so just the people I was surrounded with were so driven and so motivated and just such good character people that you can’t help but to get sucked into that. I feel like my character got better just because of the people that I was around,” Sitler said.

Sitler truly liked the Air Force and unfortunately had to make the tough decision to leave so she could raise her son. However, Sitler made so many good memories in the Air Force that she now looks back fondly on.

“When you get deployed you are surrounded by just a really cool group of people. It was fun, the people made it fun and it was almost sad because the deployment couldn’t take everyone so it was always sad to get left behind,” Sitler said.

Camasonian staff would like to thank all veterans for their sacrifices that they have made for their country. Thank you for your service and we hope you had a happy Veterans Day!