For the past few years, I’ve been fortunate to be able to write a lot about issues that concern our troops returning from Iraq and their families. I’ve found that those who aren’t tied to the military in a direct way often wonder what significance veterans’ experiences have to their own peaceful lives at home.

On the February day that Cole Hall was momentarily under siege, I returned home to a concerned call from a friend who is a local Vietnam veteran. He was phoning to ask how I was doing, and then said, “Well, you’re one of us now. You’ve just survived your first IED [improvised explosive device] attack.”

I brushed it off immediately, of course.

Our experience on campus that day – as brutal and violent as it was – can’t possibly be measured in the same terms as what our troops serving in a combat zone go through. But I understood what he was trying to say. We are living in times that can be violent – even in places that we consider peaceful and safe – and veterans understand that same pain and loss we at NIU felt that day.

It got me to thinking: We at home often don’t realize the full value of our returning veterans. While some of us know we should be there for them as they return to us after deployment, many of us don’t realize that they are equipped to help us, too. Their knowledge and presence are more important to us as a civilian population than we realize.

It’s been nearly seven weeks since NIU’s Veterans Club lost one of its own – 12-year Army veteran Julianna Gehant – on that dark February day that took the lives of five others on our campus.

At Julianna’s funeral service, Rev. James E. Kruse spoke of the decorated soldier’s life and the circumstances of her death. He speculated about Julianna: Was she the woman students heard calling for others to run from a shooter as he reloaded and prepared to strike again?

“I don’t know for certain, but she’s a hero in my mind,” Kruse said at the Holy Cross Church service.

This Friday, many of us will gather together at NIU’s Veterans Memorial to remember Julianna’s service to our country and her time as a Huskie. We will join in laying a dedication plaque and paying our respects to an individual who embodied what it meant to be a good citizen and student. And we will offer our support for our Veterans Club members still grieving their great loss. And we will learn from them as well.

Let’s remember to tap into the important resources that our veterans are. They are among our greatest assets, and in times of crises and dark and violent circumstances on our soil or abroad, they step up to defend us. Let’s be there for them, too.

The dedication ceremony for Julianna Gehant begins at 11 a.m. Friday at the NIU Veterans Memorial, on the corner of College Avenue and Castle Drive (across from Lowden Hall and next to the East Lagoon). The public is invited to attend, as are all students and faculty.

I hope to see you there.