There’s a bulletin board that hangs up on the third floor of Wilson Hall. The theme is Valentine’s and letting the people you care about know they are loved. On one side of the board, a picture of two girls is set in a heart.
“We miss you!” the board reads.
“Come home soon!”
But LaToya Carter and LeKisha Hampton don’t know when they’re coming home. Just weeks ago, the Wilson Hall residents were called to serve their nation in a war that many speculate to be unnecessary. Carter and Hampton represent a portion of the student body at Winston-Salem State University who are members of one of the branches in the armed forces. These students are coming to the realization that deployment is something they might have to be prepared to face in the coming weeks. As the war with Iraq develops, some WSSU students are beginning to think of their futures in a different light.
“All I can say is I just have to be ready whenever they call,” said John Hooks.
Hooks, a senior accounting major from Greenville, is a member of the Marine Reserves. Last summer he completed Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va. He will graduate in May, but he’s prepared to be called to war.
“This is what theyÃve been preparing us for,” said Hooks. “I’ll be disappointed if I am (deployed) though, because I just want to finish school.”
“After I graduate they can call whenever they want.”
Hooks is not the only student-soldier who’s concerned about completing school in light of this conflict.
“When you go to join, they don’t make it clear that you can be pulled out of school,” said sophomore Brandy Byers.
Byers, an MIS and accounting major, joined the Army National Guard in lieu of their great benefits. She normally serves one weekend a month with her unit during drill, but things are starting to look different for her unit.
“Most students only do it (join) to pay for school,” said Byers. “When you’re unit get activated, the whole unit is deployed.”
Byers’ unit was activated and deployed just last month. They spent two weeks at Fort Bragg for training and were shipped overseas from one to two years. There’s only one reason why 19-year-old Byers is still at school.
“I haven’t been to Basic Training yet, and they can’t send you off without having gone,” said Byers. “They’re sending me (to training) this summer, though.”
Byers best friend, Crystal Knox, is also a member of the National Guard.
During the weekend that students began moving back on campus from Christmas Break, the 20-year-old received disturbing information.
“I was at drill going through normal procedures,” said Knox. “It was Sunday and we were preparing to go home when our company commander announces that our unit will be activated the following day.”
Knox, who described herself as “devastated because I’m a student,” had one evening to get her personal business in order and prepare for a 7:45 a.m. arrival to her unit in Concord. the following day. During that week in which her unit officially became active duty, Knox began outprocessing.
“There was a financial station, where we made sure our income would be directly deposited while we were overseas. There was a JAG station where we made out power of attorneys and wills in case we were to die in combat. There was also a gas mask, dental and medical stations.”
It would be the medical station that would allow Knox to return to WSSU as a full time student.
“The Friday before we were to have our farewell ceremony, a medical doctor came in and reviewed my records,” said Knox.
“I have scoliosis, so they couldn’t send me off because of medical reasons.”
The banking and finance major says she is relieved that she didn’t have to go so that she can complete her goals as a student first.
“Recruiters are gonna tell you what you want to hear,” she added.
“They’ll work around the negative side of the Guard and highlight things like the money.
“The fact is, when it comes down to it, it’s so hard to get out of what you they want you to do. If I didn’t have those medical records.”
Byers says she doesn’t believe the conflict with Iraq is worth a war.
“It’s too devastating. It’s definitely not worth it unless you’re fighting for your freedom. But that’s not what this war is about.
Dr. Larry Little, a political science professor, has an idea of what the war is about.
“I think it’s about the United States flexing its muscle and demonstrating it has the ability to make folks bow down to it,” said Little.
“It’s about control of oil fields in Iraq and Bush finishing the work of his father. If Suddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, a lot of it was aquired from the U.S. during Bush Sr.’s administration.”
Little believes that by the first week of March, the United States will be fighting in Iraq. However, he doesn’t believe a draft will be called, causing more university-age students to be deployed.
“As long as they have this technologically driven, Bush will have public support. If they start drafting, public sentiment will change on Bush.”
Despite the status on and reasons for going to war, the possibility of fighting in combat is becoming a very real idea for students at WSSU.
“I’m young. I’m still a student,” said Knox.
“Being pulled away from thing like school is something I’m not ready for.”