‘Military Friendly’ is our state of mind

Official green “Welcome to North Carolina” highway signs stand straight and tall to inform travelers that they have arrived within the boundaries of the “Nation’s Most Military Friendly State.”

The North Carolina Department of Transportation began installing the signs in 2010 at the state borders along the interstate routes as well as US Route 17. Funding for the project was provided by the North Carolina Bankers Association.

While the message on the state welcome signs proudly recognizes that the armed forces play a key role in North Carolina’s economy, The Fayetteville Observer asked: “Does saying it make it so?”

While it may be true that actions speak louder than words, words can lead to action.

What if North Carolina were to take its military friendliness to a higher level?

Would it be too radical to spell Veterans with a capital “V” in all cases when referring to individuals who served admirably in the military?

The North Carolina General Assembly ought to be able to get that done by passing legislation to capitalize the word Veteran in all official communications. This sounds like a good project for Larry D. Hall, Secretary for the North Carolina Department of Military & Veterans Affairs, an appointee of Gov. Roy Cooper. (Hall was a Marine Corps officer and had represented Durham County in the General Assembly for many years.)

The N.C. Veterans Affairs Commission is an advisory body under Hall’s wing, so these people could help as well. Additional support for “uppercase V” could come from the Military Host Cities Coalition, which unifies local governments in the hometowns of principal military installations – namely Jacksonville, Havelock, Goldsboro and Fayetteville.

There is also a thread of precedence found at the federal level. The U.S. Veterans Health Administration’s Graphic Style Guide specifies that “Veteran be capitalized at ALL TIMES.”

We can learn more from studying an initiative in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. There, a local business woman, Kristin Courtney, launched a petition drive in 2017 that stated:

“We, the undersigned, citizens or residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to spell Veteran with a capital V in official government communications when referring to those who went through their military service, have made and continue to make tremendous sacrifices for our country, in order to distinguish them from individuals with much experience in a particular field.”

“It seems like such a small gesture, but I feel our Veterans are most worthy of this distinction.” Courtney added.

She has the support of at least one Member of Parliament. John Oliver, who sits in the House of Commons, representing Oakville, wrote a guest column for The Oakville Beaver, a weekly community newspaper, stating that he’s 100 percent behind Kristin Courtney on this subject.

Oliver said the observance of the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 2017 was an occasion when “Canadians from all walks of life paused to pay tribute to the brave members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who achieved victory at Vimy Ridge” in France during World War I.

“This battle is considered by many to represent a defining moment in Canada’s history, and it serves as a poignant example of the courage, ingenuity and resourcefulness of Canadian forces,” he said.

The four divisions of the Canadian Corps, fighting together for the first time, attacked the ridge from April 9-12, 1917, and captured it from the German army. It was the largest territorial advance of any Allied force to that point in the war.”

Oliver added: “It is important to remember not only the glory of this victory, but also the loss of almost 4,000 Canadian lives and the wounding of 7,000 more. One hundred years later, the bravery and sacrifice of our armed forces remains a point of pride, admiration and gratitude.”

The interest in uppercasing the V in Veteran, gained a new wave of exposure during Canadian Armed Forces Day on July 28, 2018, at the RBC Canadian Open men’s professional golf tournament, hosted in Oakville at the Glen Abbey Golf Club. Live coverage of the four-day tournament was televised by CBS Sports and the Golf Channel.

At this official PGA event, viewers saw a spectacular display of Canadian patriotism. Active duty military members in uniform were present to congratulate all golfers on their finishing holes.

Independent of government, perhaps some of North Carolina’s news media outlets could get this “V is for Veterans” ball rolling within the state by thinking outside the book (as in the Associated Press Stylebook) and begin capitalizing the word Veteran when the noun applies to former military personnel.

Let’s teach our children that “V is for military Veteran.”

Sister Jean returns to college hoops scene

College basketball season has begun, and everyone’s rooting for America’s favorite team chaplain, “Sister Jean.”

She is officially listed in the Loyola University Chicago program as Jean Dolores Schmidt, age 99, a sister in the religious order of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) for 81 years and “a beloved member of the greater Loyola community.”

Aaron Cooper, a communications officer at Loyola-Chicago, said: “Since becoming chaplain of the men's basketball team in 1994, Sister Jean has shown her dedication to Loyola’s student-athletes above and beyond just their spiritual health. She believes athletics affords valuable lessons for young people about how to deal with adversity in life.

“At home games, she can be seen working the crowd, encouraging school spirit and friendly competition and leading the players in prayer before each game.” She also scurries about on campus, getting to know the students and “bringing happiness and joy into their lives,” Cooper wrote.

In the 2018 NCAA tournament, Loyola-Chicago made it all the way to the Final Four, thrusting the coach, chaplain, players and campus into the national spotlight. It was the classic Cinderella story for sports fans the world over.

Brian Rauf, who covers college basketball for the Busting Brackets fan-based website, said Loyola’s run in the tournament was incredible – Loyola Chicago was “just the fourth No. 11 seed ever to make it that far” – to the semi-final game.

Sister Jean was there on the sidelines with her maroon and gold Loyola “lucky scarf” wrapped around her neck. (She also has her own special line of senior silver sneakers with Velcro snaps.)

Sister Jean gave Cooper the inside story about her basketball prayers. She said: “I begin with, ‘Good and gracious God…today we hope to win this game; we ask you for courage – we already have the confidence, we’re focused, we know we want to work hard. At the end of the game, we want to be sure that when the buzzer goes off that the numbers indicate that we get the big W.’”

Dr. Carol Scheidenhelm, a university administrator, told the Chicago Sun-Times: “Whether Loyola wins or loses, we have embraced the lessons of the importance of working together, the power of prayer and the goodness of others that Sister Jean exemplifies. In this era when incivility runs rampant and politics are contentious, these lessons may be the most positive thing that comes from the ‘Madness’ of 2018.”

What will Loyola-Chicago do for an encore in the 2018-19 season?

Opponents should be wary for two reasons. First, Sister Jean revealed to Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated: “I have a new bobblehead. I had one before, but they updated it to make me grayer.”

Second, in a pep rally environment at an annual campus function in September, Loyola-Chicago honored Sister Jean by presenting to her the “Sword of Loyola,” the university’s highest award.

Sister Jean said: “This was a team effort; I accepted it in the name of our students. What I did was just serendipitous. It was really those young men who got us to the Final Four; they brought such honor to Loyola and really put us on the map.”

“I thought to myself, ‘I don’t know what I’ll do with a sword,’” she said. ‘I know, I’ll raise it high for the students. So, that’s what I did. I took it and raised it high for the students.’”

Loyola-Chicago is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, and head coach Porter Moser’s squad returns four of its top seven scorers from last season, including the league’s reigning Player of the Year Clayton Custer of Overland Park, Kan. Coach is hoping for a breakout year from shooting guard Bruno Skokna of Zagreb, Croatia.

Bracketology 101: Loyola University Chicago, a private university founded in 1870 as St. Ignatius College, is one of the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic universities, with an enrollment of more than 17,000 students.

Its athletic teams were first known as the Maroon and Gold, but became the Ramblers in 1926. Because the football team played most of its game on the road, sports reporters dubbed the team “the Ramblers,” because it rambled hither and yon about the country. Ramblers stuck.

The first mascot arrived on the scene in 1980. Bo Rambler was his name, and “he looked like a hobo with a big, giant head,” said Jim Collins, who manages Loyola’s campus television station.

Bo was eventually replaced in 2000 by “LU,” a wolf. The character has evolved into an overstuffed, loveable guy; a big hugger.

The idea for the wolf reportedly came from the heraldic shield of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1541.

Legend has it that the family, living in northern Spain near the Bay of Biscay, was so generous that after feeding all the humans who came by, they would then put out a pot to feed wild animals including wolves.

The image of two wolves and a cauldron adorns the family coat of arms and has also been adopted by many Jesuit universities, colleges and high schools across the country.

Go you mighty Ramblers; beat the Southern Illinois Salukis.