To Join the Military, or Not

At Centennial High, veterans speak out on realities of war while a counselor criticizes school policy on the presence of military recruiters

By Rob Cullivan

The Gresham Outlook, Mar 18, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (15 Reader comments)

John Klicker / The Outlook

Harvey Thorstad, president of the Portland chapter of Veterans for Peace, speaks to a group of Centennial High School students Wednesday, Feb. 27, on his war experiences. On the right, seated, is fellow veteran Dave Edgar, and in the left foreground is Stephen Siegel, a counselor who invited them.

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To most Americans, the words “Black Hawk Down” signify a Hollywood movie based on a dreadful day for U.S. soldiers in the Somali Civil War.

To Dave Edgar, a former U.S. Army Ranger, “Black Hawk Down” reminds him that he lost two friends during the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993.

Those friends were fellow Rangers Randy Shugart and Matt Rierson, who received the Medal of Honor and Silver Star, respectively, and posthumously after dying along with 17 other U.S. soldiers in battles with Somali militia allied with warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

Shugart’s body was infamously dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, and his loss was felt deeply by Edgar, who served with him in Somalia during the 1980s.

“It hit me pretty hard,” Edgar said. “It knocked me down pretty good. He was just a solid dude. He was really reserved, but he had a lot of skill and force that he’d put out there when it was required.”

Edgar was one of two veterans Counselor Stephen Siegel invited to Centennial High School in late February to talk to students about their experiences. Vietnam veteran Harvey Thorstad, president of the Portland chapter of Veterans for Peace, also spoke.

Military recruiters are regular visitors to the high school, and Siegel has criticized the Centennial School District for not allowing him to provide information contradicting their viewpoints. He said school officials ordered him to leave the school cafeteria in late April 2007 after he spent two days manning a table with pamphlets outlining the risks involved with joining the military.

Edgar, who was in the Army from 1983-86, also served on the Honduran-Nicaraguan border during Nicaragua’s civil war between leftist Sandinistas and U.S. backed rightist contras. His service in Africa and Central America left him disillusioned with the objectives of U.S. foreign policy and with war in general, he said, something no one warned him would happen before he joined the Army.

“Once you commit to this life or this path, you will never be the same person. You’re going to lose a part of you in the process.”

It might be your life you lose, or a limb, or a friend, or belief in your country’s cause, he added.

“When you’re young, you don’t think that way, and I didn’t think that way.”

Centennial visit

“Per se, I’m not anti-military,” Thorstad told the students. “What I am against is the misuse of the military these days.”

He and Edgar are both critical of the Iraq War, but like Thorstad, Edgar says he’s not necessarily a “foamer when it comes to keeping people out of the military.” However, both men urged the young people present to think seriously about the consequences of joining the service.

Devin Mounts, a senior who attended the after-school presentation, said he enjoyed learning about the veterans’ lives. He added that he wasn’t interested in joining the military.

“My goal has been more education,” Devin said.

Siegel would argue that his goal is education as well. He wrote an opinion piece The Outlook published Feb. 26 outlining his position, criticizing the district for labeling his work political, whereas he claimed he was only trying to responsibly warn students about the possible dire consequences they face when they enlist.

“If it is defined by the district as a political or controversial issue, the district owes it to our students to either present both sides equally or to prevent both sides from having access,” he wrote.

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