Vets speak to students

Several area veterans visited Vidrine Elementary School on Thursday during the school’s Veterans Day celebration.
Principal Sherral Tezeno said, “Freedom is not free. These people made sacrifices. Not only did they, but their families, and their lives are changed forever.”
Marine veteran Brian Ardoin, Army veterans Donald Vidrine and Shawn Fontenot and Air Force veterans John Matherne, Otis Mearidy and Dennis Noel attended the event. Each veteran told the crowd which branch of the military they had served in, which conflict they served in and where they had been stationed.
Noel, of Lake Charles, was the guest speaker at the event.
Noel said, “I’d like to give recognition to my fellow comrades. Each war has a different story. Every one of those individuals went through something, and they brought something back with them. When you join the armed forces, it’s your big obligation. That’s what you want to do. It is the choice that you make.”
Noel, originally from Mamou, is a retired Master Sergeant, and he also served as a military policeman.
Noel urged the students to pay attention and concentrate in school and life.
“All your training, practicing, going over and over and over again, you are going to need it,” he said. “You will need it. Your schooling, every class that you take, you are going to need it.”
Noel said too much blood has been shed, and too many veterans are coming back with limbs missing, eyes missing and don’t know who they are.
“I am one of them that suffered with post traumatic stress disorder, and that’s not a fun feeling,” Noel said. “I’m going to tell your right now, it seem like you’re going numb. The way I feel, it’s like I’m an ant under a big Mason jar, and I’m just running around in circles, until I found out that I needed some treatment.
“Some of the best help I got was from some of my other comrades, because each one of them has a story to tell, and it will never be the same story.
He continued, “But it would just be such a great thing, to really have gratitude, to be appreciated, because this (freedom) did not come free.”