In celebration of November being National Veterans and Military Families month, Bakersfield College held a Peace and Military Service Zoom call on Nov. 10. This meeting featured three panelists, Armando Trujillo, Deborah Johnson, and Joshua Dhanens, who are veterans and one active military service member Kimberly Rodriguez. Dr. Sonya Christian also made an appearance to introduce the participants at the start of the meeting.

Kimberly Rodriguez started by sharing a bit about herself and her job in the Army, she then went on to ask the panelist a series of questions. There were conversations surrounding the PTSD and depression that veterans struggle with after leaving the service. The panelists spoke about their experiences coming back to civilian life after their time in the military and what that meant for them. Armando Trujillo and Deborah Johnson both agreed that when they exited the service there was not much obvious support for them and that was a big struggle they faced.

Armando Trujillo was asked what peace means to him and as part of his response he said, “As a veteran when we are an angry vet we are a hammer, everything is a nail,” expanding that there are many different definitions of peace that look different for everyone.

The meeting wrapped up with a Q&A segment guided by Jenny Frank, manager of Veterans services at Bakersfield College. Armando Trujillo shared that Kern County is one of the best support systems for veterans and all agreed that support from civilians/those who have not served in the military is important and wanted.