A Look at Military Service

Lucas Halverson and Dan Huffman are two people who are separated by a vast age gap but share one aspect of their lives; both were members of the service.

Halverson, age 21 and a member of the Board of Supervisors within Grundy Center, is also an active duty member of the National Guard. Only a few weeks ago, he had just gotten back from a year long deployment in Qatar, Afghanistan, before he threw himself into his daily work as a member of the board.

Halverson’s biggest inspiration for going into the service was growing up and seeing how many regular people around him had a military history but he was also enlightened by the work of older veterans.

“...Looking at the older generation of veterans and thinking to myself, 'What can I do to carry on that legacy and fill their boots, live up to the name they’ve made for the service?' was a big reason I enlisted.” Halverson has served since December of 2018 and compares his active duty work currently to that of a 9-5 job. He cites lots of paperwork and logistical business. Even the monthly drills he attends are mostly full of paperwork or weapon qualifications and physical health examinations.

“My role right now is primarily just paperwork and doing that sort of thing right now.” Halverson said.

Halverson further elaborated on how seeing the disconnect between how older veterans were treated in their day to how he was treated when coming home was so vastly different.

“I came back from a deployment where I didn’t feel like I did half as much as a Vietnam veteran that got deployed but I still received so much support from everyone,” Halverson said. He compared that treatment to the idea that older veterans experienced protests against them, were spat upon by citizens upon coming home and were generally disrespected when held against modern day veterans.

Halverson was excited to see how all of his anecdotes and experiences would line up with the older veterans when they are presented in the Grundy Center Historical Society video that is being premiered soon. He took the time to thank the Historical Society for putting it together and giving some of his curiosities a voice.

When compared to Lucas Halverson’s service and stories, Dan Huffman offers a relatively similar story of base life. Huffman is a 72 year old Vietnam veteran and served when he was in his 20s.

Dan Huffman grew up in Sioux City, went to school within the city and went into the service from there. Huffman always had an interest in electrician work and when he received the draft notice, he attempted to get ahead of the curve and enlist so he could choose the field he wanted to be in. He enlisted as a radio repairman thinking it’d be a great way to get some experience within the field but during his early classes post basic training, took a fall climbing a radio tower and fractured his hip. Due to this injury, he was sent to a military clerk school and shortly after sent to Fort Sam Houston to take care of medical records. From there, he was later sent to Vietnam and placed on a firebase as a medical supplier for various units.

“We had 3 doctors, no nurses and a medevac helicopter. There were days when we’d work very hard but there was plenty of downtime. We’d play basketball, volleyball and I even got to see a Bob Hope show.” Huffman said. “I like to tell people it’s like M.A.S.H. but without the nurses.” He laughed. Huffman recounts a reception of the troops post the Vietnam war similar to what Lucas had described. “There were no ceremonies, no nothing. We were basically told not to leave the airport in uniform [once we got back] due to protesters against the war. We were not really respected back then compared to now.” Huffman said.

Huffman explained that the general reception of the troops in the Midwest wasn’t nearly as bad as it was on the West and East coasts but it was not the glory and fanfare you might see nowadays for a soldier returning from Iraq. He said that after the war ended, you were given a list of places to go to finish out the tour. He could have chosen stateside or the Caribbean and ended up being placed in Panama.

“There really wasn’t much to do there. It was really a boring job.” Huffman said.

Upon returning home, Huffman went to a vocational school for a while and was offered a job in Grundy Center shortly after. He’s lived in Grundy Center ever since.

Just a few weeks ago, Huffman was put on an honor flight to Washington D.C. with other veterans and their helpers. In D.C. he toured various war memorials and cemeteries with state officials.

Overall, the experiences of these two men are similar enough that they could relate to one another but when the public reception of veterans comes into play, they lived very different lives. Upon return, one was greeted with honor and glory and one was forced to take off his uniform just to leave the airport. Veterans Day is a worthy holiday to reflect on these differences and how they came to be.