North Georgia community answers call to duty

Originally published March 2003

By Joshua Preston

	Sarah Day

DAHLONEGA – On North Georgia’s campus, the impact of a U.S. armed forces buildup for the war in Iraq has directly affected the university community, from faculty to freshmen.

The heaviest impact has been on the student body, which includes soldiers being activated with their Georgia Army National Guard, Marine Corps Reserve, and U.S. Army Reserve units.

Some of the departing students had already been called to active duty during Operation Enduring Freedom, and are putting school on hold for a second time.

One of those students is Sarah Day, an unlikely veteran of the war on terror, who was on active duty for almost a year. She would be in her third year of college, but has finished only two semesters.

The 20-year-old academic freshman came to North Georgia from Porter, Maine, and shortly thereafter joined the Georgia Army National Guard. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the new year didn’t bring a fresh schedule of classes for Day. Instead, she spent the first months of 2002 on a security detail in Fort Benning, Ga., with the 178th Military Police Company. Plans for summer semester disappeared when Day was told her unit was headed to Cuba. For the next six months she worked alongside U.S. intelligence agencies at a detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.

“The most important thing I think people should remember is to keep in touch with those who are gone, because they want to know that people are there for them,” Day said.

Called to active duty in February, Day is now with the 178th again. She doesn’t know how long her assignment will last this time, but she does know the drill.

“I look at all this as something that will advance my life,” said Day her last week on campus. “There are many people you serve with that you can learn from, and I’ll take something positive away from this.”

When her active duty service is over, Day plans to pursue a degree in international relations. She also plans to pursue a National Guard commission alongside her degree so that she can continue to serve her country whenever the call to duty arises.

Day is one of more than 190 students in the North Georgia Corps of Cadets who are part of a U.S. military reserve component. There are also others among university employees and non-corps students in the reserve ranks. All these members of North Georgia’s community are examples of the commitment to military duty that helps define NGCSU and its mission of leadership and service.

This page last modified on: Saturday, 04 November 2006 03:18:39 -0500 by University Relations    

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