Silent March, Flyover, to Honor Students Who Served

On November 10 at noon, the third annual Silent March will take place at Buffalo State in observance of Veterans Day.

The march is sponsored by the Armed Forces Organization (AFO), an organization for students who are veterans of the armed forces, active reservists, and their dependents and supporters. The campus-affiliated ROTC will also participate.

“The silent march is not a pro-military, pro-war event,” said Bill Langer, acting president of AFO. “This is a pro-student event. People who participate or attend are showing support for their fellow students and remembering those who have fallen.”

The silent march will begin at Chase Hall, where AFO members, student veterans, and supporters are invited to gather at 11:50 a.m. to march. A color guard will lead the group through the Student Union quad past Bacon Hall to the veterans memorial stone at the east end of Rockwell Quad.

At  12:15 p.m., following the march, the program will begin with the national anthem. At 12:20 p.m., Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Miller of the 107th Airlift Wing, based in Niagara Falls, will conduct a flyover with a C130 aircraft. 

Douglas Beltran, assistant veterans coordinator, will serve as master of ceremonies. Speakers include Hal Payne, vice president of student affairs; Colonel Mark Murphy of the United States Air Force, retired; and Nathan Rey, chief justice of the United Students Government and past president and founding member of AFO. CSEA Local 640 has donated a wreath. The program will end with a rendition of Taps.

AFO represents 1,300 students at Buffalo State—more than 11 percent of the student body. Langer, a communication studies major, served in the United States Army for nine years. He was stationed in Virginia and Italy, and he served three tours of duty in Iraq.

Like many returning vets, Langer experiences lingering effects of his service. Langer was wounded in Iraq in 2006. “June first was a real blast that year,” he jokes, but sobers quickly, describing the resulting PTSD and back and brain injuries. Nonetheless, he returned to Iraq for another tour of duty before leaving active service in December 2010.

In January 2011, Langer came to Buffalo State. He had completed his associate’s degree while in the service—he even sat in Saddam Hussein’s golden throne on graduation day—so he was prepared academically. However, Buffalo State was challenging in other ways. “In the army,” he said, “classes are quiet, everybody takes notes, there is no chatting, no phones, no Facebooking. There are a lot of distractions this time around.”

Langer said that the support of the college community is important. “It’s an ongoing effort for veterans to stay in college,” he said, “because they are trying to reenter the real world while balancing the demands of daily life and jobs as well as school.”

More than one million veterans have returned from the two current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These returning soldiers and, in some cases, their spouses and dependents, can receive educational benefits, including the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Buffalo State has been awarded the designation of Military Friendly School by  G.I. Jobs, the premier magazine for military personnel returning to civilian life.

Margaret Shaw-Burnett, associate vice president of Continuing Professional Studies, oversees the veterans and military services unit. She said, “It is a privilege for Buffalo State to serve those who have given so much. We encourage everyone  to  come out and  support  our student veterans.”