Colonel shares lessons of teamwork, perseverance
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GRANADA - Dozens of students, staff, parents, veterans and general community attendees heard patriotic songs and learned from Colonel Glen Christenson at Granada-Huntley-East Chain’s (GHEC) Veterans Day event on Wednesday.
The event started with performances of "Let Freedom Ring" and "Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagles Fly" by the middle school choir, and of "American Pride", "Heartfelt Gratitude" and the "Armed Forces March" by the middle school band.
Superintendent Doug Storbeck then came on to introduce the guest speaker this year, Colonel Glen Christenson.
"He most recently served as chief of the Requirements and Readiness Division within the Security Forces Directorate at Headquarters United States Air Force, The Pentagon, Washington D.C.," Storbeck said. "In this role, he was responsible for overseeing and resourcing the readiness of approximately 37,000 total force airmen entrusted with the protection and defending the United States Air Force and its installations worldwide."
Before that, Christenson served on the United States Transportation Command and commanded the 455th Expeditionary Base Defense Group and Combined Joint Task Force.
"Colonel Christenson deployed four times in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom," Storbeck said. "In addition to his time as group commander, he deployed twice as a squadron commander."
From the Madelia area, Christenson said he is impressed with the GHEC School District and how they embody teamwork, one of the topics he wanted to talk about.
"What represents teamwork is the Grenada Huntley East Chain schools, three towns that come together to make one school possible," he said. "Not only can you pull it off in the school district; you decided to up your game a little bit when it comes to activities and include two other communities. That is the ultimate of what teamwork represents."
On top of this, Christenson said he wanted to cover two other points: if you believe it, you can do it, and what service really means.
Regarding being able to do what you believe in, Christenson said it took him three tries to get into the Air Force Academy.
"I was rejected the first two times," he admitted. "I was told that nobody gets in on the third try. I said, 'Well, let’s give it a shot and see what happens.' Never done before, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. On the third shot, I was accepted to the Air Force Academy."
The teamwork part was exemplified by Christenson after he was reprimanded by a squadron commander for flunking out of pilot training.
"A teammate comes walking through," Christenson said. "She looks at me and says, 'What do you want to do?' I said, 'Well, ma’am, there’s this new thing they’re starting up because of the war on terrorism, kind of defense forces or security forces.' When they created the third unit, they didn’t have enough people, and they had no command leadership. They said, 'Well, we got this squadron of rejects. We got this guy that’s not a major yet. Let’s see what happens."
Banding together, Christenson said he and his squad did well enough that after their first deployment to Iraq, they were supposed to be home for a year and a half, but they were sent back after six months.
On the last piece, Christenson said he had the privilege to serve 31 years with 19 assignments. Through that, he said he learned that there is more than one way to serve.
"You can also serve by being a first responder, sheriff, police officer, firefighter," he said. "I’m biased because my wife’s a secondary teacher. You can serve as a teacher, a counselor, or an administrator. You can serve by changing someone’s life. The question is, what is it you’re going to do to change someone’s life?"
After Christenson spoke, he and the rest of the gymnasium listened as the rest of the event was comprised of music. The K-2 choir sang "Yankee Doodle" and "This Land Is Your Land" and the 3-5 choir sang the "Song of the Presidents" and the Military Salute, where each branch of the military was recognized as the choir sang the service themes of each one.
The big finale saw all of the choirs united together to cap off the event by singing "America the Beautiful." A slideshow of area veterans was also available to view as the event ended.