Veteran’s Day is November 11 and honors all those who have served this country as members of the military. It began as Armistice Day, marking the end of the Great War (WW1). It later became a national holiday and renamed Veteran’s Day in 1971 to honor veterans of all wars and conflicts.
Vernis & Bowling was founded by two veterans who served our country. We honor those veterans who have served and sacrificed to provide the freedoms we have in this country. There is no other country in the world who can compare with the liberties, freedoms, and choices we have here in America. It is so important to acknowledge the sacrifices of our military servicemen and women and their families, because their sacrifices protect our freedoms and this Nation.
We asked Vernis & Bowling employees why they joined the Armed Services:
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“I served in the United States Army at Fort Stewart, GA as a 25U, Signal Support Specialist. I joined to pay for college and to test myself both mentally and physically.”
Elizabeth Carver
Paralegal
Vernis & Bowling of Pensacola, FL -
“I joined the US Marines to fight for my country. Literally go fight. Young and dumb, I get it. Not everyone will appreciate that people actually want to kick a**. All the men in my family have served. It takes violence to make peace.
I believe very passionately in my country and the men and women that fight for it. I did learn you do not fight for the Flag so much, as I grew mentally in the Marines, but the Americans fighting beside you in whatever country you are in. Nothing else matters. Friends for life I made. Which is hard to explain to a non-veteran, at times. No insult intended. The US Marines will never fail. And the experiences I saw, well that is why I am a lawyer. Because the AK-47 is lawlessness. What matters is actual order and the law. And that is why am I am a lawyer.”
William Kratochvil
Attorney
Vernis & Bowling of Ft. Myers, FL -
“I was drafted. I pretty well knew it was coming. I previously was called into the induction center for a physical exam and had passed a physical. This is the way things were back in the late 1960s.”
Howard Rothwell
Paralegal
Vernis & Bowling of Jacksonville, FL -
“During my senior year of law school, a retired two-star General from the Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps (the JAG Corps), who was teaching at my school, came to one of my classes. He announced the Air Force JAG Corps was looking for applicants and to see him after class if we were interested. I had not been in ROTC and had no obligation to go into the military, but it looked interesting.
I then began to think about the fact that I had always wanted to give something back to the country that gave me so many great opportunities. As a kid growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s in very rural Virginia, the people we looked up to were not sports stars but the military heroes we saw from WW II, Korea, and Vietnam. Many of these ‘heroes’ were the parents of my friends who talked to me almost every day about the wars they had fought. We even had some 90 year-old veterans of WW I who I spoke to all the time. I had always wanted to be in the military to serve my country, but I never had gone the military route in college and/or law school.
However, the more I thought about it, I decided I could combine a military career and a law career so the Air Force JAG Corps seemed like the right fit. Not only did I receive a lot of trial experience prosecuting Court Martials in the U.S. and Europe, but I spent my last three years stationed in what was called West Germany before the Berlin Wall came down. In Europe, I basically got to experience my childhood heroes by actually participating in NATO wargames (as a legal advisor wearing chemical warfare gear and a gas mask) and living out some of the last years of the Cold War in Europe in the 1980’s.”
Jeffrey Raasch
Attorney
Vernis & Bowling of Atlanta, GA -
“The reasons I joined [the Army] are complex. I joined because I wanted to serve my country and because I wanted the earn the Green Beret and serve in in the US Army Special Forces. Little did I know what a challenge I had set for myself, or what a lifelong commitment and service to Special Forces and the Green Beret community that would become.”
Andrew Bray
Department Managing Attorney
Vernis & Bowling of Miami, FL -
“While there are a number of good reasons for joining the military—such as leadership skills, becoming more disciplined, and getting access to a host of VA benefits—there is none greater than having the opportunity to serve one’s country.”
Len Hackett
Managing Attorney
Vernis & Bowling of Jacksonville, FL
Thank you to all of our employees, clients, friends, family
and service partners who are veterans!