A day set aside for all who sacrificed

 

For U.S. Air Force veteran Peggy White of Custer, Veterans Day is not just a day for honoring the sacrifices of those who served. It’s also a time to recall and recognize the loved ones who stayed home, but also made sacrifices of their own.

“I have a feeling that a lot of people just think of it as a day off, but it’s so much more,” said White who currently serves as Custer VFW Post #46’s first female commander. 

“Honestly, it’s not only about the veterans themselves, but about what their families sacrificed as well,” said White.

“Regardless of whether your child dies or loses a limb or comes back and they look fine, chances are, in their heart, their soul, they’re probably not (fine),” said White. 

White understands those sacrifices because she was deployed as a military medic when her daughter, Bree, and son, Mitchell, were quite young.

“When I deployed, my kids were young and it was hard,” said White. “I went in October and I came back in March, so I missed birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving and we were overseas.” 

White said she was fortunate because her children’s father was also in the Air Force and was able to stay with the children during those five long months so the disruption of their lives was minimal, but she said the separation was hard. 

A native of Chamberlain, White graduated from Chamberlain High School and attended nursing school in Mitchell where she graduated as a licensed practical nurse (LPN). 

While there were no veterans in her family background, White said she was attracted to the Air Force because of her desire to travel.

“One day I was just sitting there and I saw this ad on the TV and I said, ‘Oh!’” recalls White. “It sounded like something I would like and I did it. I just went for it and I was happy with my decision.”

If she had been a registered nurse, White could have gone into the military as an officer, but she enlisted in the Air Force in 1985 as an LPN and soon realized her dream of traveling the world. 

White’s first duty assignment was to Upper Heyford, England, followed by an assignment to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Then it was back across the pond again to Ramstein Air Force Base in Ramstein-Meisenbach, Germany. 

Finally, after an assignment at  Kadena Air Force Base in Okinowa, Japan, White returned to Ellsworth Air Force Base from which she retired at the rank of staff sergeant in 2007. 

Throughout her 22 years in the Air Force, White received training and on-the-job experience which took her medical skills to new heights.  

“I had a lot of specialized training so I could actually deploy with active duty members and be their only medical person on site,” said White. “I could treat, diagnose, medicate just like a physician’s assistant or a nurse practitioner would.” 

Some of White’s most intense experiences and greatest learning opportunities came during her deployment in 1994-95 with the United Nations (U.N.) to Croatia during the civil war which led to the breakup of the former Soviet state of Yugoslavia. White said the mission was to treat anyone from the U.N. and she calculates they saw patients from at least 64 nations. 

While treating casualties of the conflict—working in the emergency room and sometimes in surgery or the intensive care unit—White worked on all kinds of cases. 

She also served as the liaison for different sectors in Croatia and flew missions to different military medical contingencies in the area to make sure they had the supplies needed.

It was an eye-opening experience working with U.N. units from all over the world. White said one of their goals was to ensure the medical facilities in those units were “somewhat clean,” noting that some nations were “not used to sterilization standards that we are in U.S.” and would sometimes reuse equipment like tongue depressors. 

“We tried to send them supplies their country didn’t send them,” said White. 

White said her home base during the deployment was Zagreb, Croatia, in a field hospital situated at the end of an airport runway which was “almost like a M*A*S*H unit.” While the hospital was inside a hangar, White said the medics slept in tents outside. 

“During the winter, we got as much as two feet of snow in one snowfall,” said White. “We all lived in tents and that was very challenging because you had to constantly go out and clean off your roof so it didn’t collapse.” 

White said after that experience, she smiles when she hears people talk about a place looking like a “war zone,” as it’s often a poor comparison. 

“Although we were considered relatively safe, when you laid down at night, you could hear gunfire,” she said. 

At the time of her discharge, White said she had gained so much training and experience that the Air Force was preparing to send her to school to be trained as a physician’s assistant. However, a family crisis changed those plans. 

White’s mother fell ill and, with none of White’s siblings in a position to care for her, she had to take a humanitarian discharge to look after her until her death two years later. 

Asked what advice she would give a young person who was interested in a medical career, White responded: 

“Go to school through ROTC, become a nurse, get in the military, decide what you like in the medical field and ask the military to pay for you to go to school. That way you get your school paid for, you’re debt free...you give them back four years, now you have four years of experience and you’re more qualified for a job in the civilian world. It’s a win-win situation.” 

White said her daughter did just that. She went to school on a full-ride scholarship, got her RN and graduated almost completely debt free. She served as an Air Force officer for eight years and still serves in the Air Force Reserves. 

Following her retirement, White decided to move out of Box Elder (“I couldn’t take the wind anymore!”) and searched the Black Hills for her forever home. Six and a half years ago she found it in Custer. 

After joining the Custer VFW Post about five years ago, White became post commander and is in her third year in that position. 

White now enjoys spending time with her three grandchildren. Bree has a 1-year-old son and Mitchell has two children ages 6 and 2. 

As she prepared for Veterans Day 2020, White contemplated the sacrifices made by veterans and their loved ones, especially those who served in World War II and in Vietnam. Her goal is for the community to be more aware of those particular sacrifices. 

“They weren’t trained like I was when I went to war,” said White of the veterans of those conflicts. “I had the top-of-the-line weapons and cold weather gear.”

White said that is not meant to disparage the sacrifices of modern soldiers, but some paid a higher price and should be remembered and honored for it.