“When I was younger, my aunt was still in it, always going places, and the fact that when I would visit my grandparents, they were always talking about it, I’d see the pictures,” he said. “It’s something I always thought about doing just because it appealed to me ... I wanted to continue the tradition and decided to join the Marine Corps.”
Veterans Day is Nov. 11 each year, designed to honor those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
“I think it’s a day to celebrate and honor those that served as veterans, and a remembrance of people that may have given the ultimate sacrifice. It’s just a way to keep their memories alive and what they did for their country, and inspire the next generation as well,” Tucker said.
Tucker is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated from Hampton University in Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He then was a substitute teacher for a few years before joining the Marine Corps in 2009.
Tucker served as a firefighter in South Carolina and Afghanistan, and trained in Texas. As a firefighter, Tucker conducted safety checks on aircraft, supervised a crew of 18 firefighters, maintained records of crew members and fire trucks, and more.
“I had some varying experiences there. Overall, it was a good learning experience. I just met a lot of good people there. I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said.
After getting out of the military in 2013, Tucker moved to Dayton, where he’s been for about 10 years. He worked in various roles before joining Sinclair Community College, where he worked as a program aid, veteran service representative and student ambassador. He later started working at Clark State, where he’s been since 2017, working as an academic support specialist for the first three years and, most currently, as the veteran and military specialist.
“I decided what I wanted to do was help other veterans,” he said. “I noticed that there’s a lot of information surrounding different types of benefits that (veterans) may not know or may not understand. I made it my point to understand those and learn more about them, and get that information out to the veterans so they have more information to make choices when they transition out of the military.”
Tucker said it’s “still a work in progress” as to the way society looks at and treats veterans.
“(It’s) way better than it once was, from what I heard from older veterans,” he said. “(There’s) more of an understanding of what it means to serve in the general public now, especially since veterans coming out have more resources, and a lot of businesses understand the need to understand that population more.”
At Clark State, Tucker explains what’s available to veteran students, helps them apply for benefits and the different types of resources in and out of the community. He plans to keep learning about his position and see where it goes from there in the future.
The college held a week-long celebration to honor veterans for the second year in a row. It used to be only a day, but has expanded to a week with different events each day, Tucker said.
The week included hundreds of American flags placed on all college campuses; a Present the Colors ceremony to honor the American, Ohio and military flags; Veterans resource fairs and appreciation games; a free meal in the Veterans Lounge; and a Veterans book display, an exhibit of military uniforms, a World War II art display of illustrator George Withers, and a Veterans Recognition Wall honoring Clark State faculty, staff and students.
“A lot of people (attended last year). It was the first time using displays, and a lot of people commented on the display. We had four last year but we expanded it with six this year,” he said.
Earlier this year, Tucker made opening remarks and inducted four new members into SALUTE (Service, Academics, Leadership, Unity, Tribute and Excellence), a national honor society that recognizes and honors the service and scholastic achievements of veteran and military students who represent active-duty, veterans, retirees, National Guard and reservists from all branches of the military.
People who have never served in the military are sometimes unsure how to talk to veterans about their service. Tucker said he has no concerns with more interaction on Veterans Day.
“I understand where a lot of people are coming from who haven’t been in the military. I understand what someone not in the military would think,” he said. “I appreciate what they say. I think it’s great that they say (thank you for your service).”
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