From camouflage to cranberry

By Amanda Thorogood

According to a source at Marine.com, every one-in-four men is a veteran of the armed forces. Simple math would then indicate that at least once a semester students at Rider come
in contact with one, if not more, of these veterans.

They may have taken the role of professor or staff member but these men and women share the commonality of serving for their particular country at one time or another.

“You are looking at something and you are saying to yourself ‘I can’t believe I am seeing this,’ I didn’t want to believe how those there were feeling it,” said Dr. Jonathan Mendilow referring to the pyrotechnics of a ground, air and sea bombardment he witnessed during a battle in Beirut in 1982. “And I remember that I thought to myself ‘the pity of it all.’”

Mendilow, chairman of the Political Science Department, served in the Israel Defense Force (IDF) as its spokesperson for four-and-a-half years beginning in 1980.

He was asked to join the army as a professional who withheld a doctorate and served mainly as a connection between the IDF and the outside world.

“The most urgent activity for the spokesperson in the IDF is to keep tabs of the things and to be aware of what goes on,” said Mendilow.

After realizing the toll his position was taking on him and having reached the highest position an IDF spokesperson could hold, Mendilow left the force in 1984.

Mendilow considers his time as a spokesperson in the IDF beneficial to his time spent as a professor and draws parallels between the two.

“I think this is a crucible of much of what I am today,” he said. “It is still tied up with the questions I constantly ask myself: ‘how do you explain this, what can we do to prevent it and why did it happen?’”

Upon walking into Residence Life Manager Greg Hanf’s office inside the Office of Campus Life, it is clear that the armed forces have played an important role in his life. He has G.I. Joe figurines displayed and military branch posters cover the walls.

“I decided I was going to wear a uniform when I was five years old and never changed my mind,” said Hanf.

Hanf recalled an instance when he received one of his posters while he was out of his office one day.

“I got the eagle from a faculty veteran one day,” said Hanf. “He came in and took one look at this office.”

It still hangs on the wall, has an eagle on it and reads, “Leadership. Leaders are like eagles. They don’t flock, you find them one at a time.”

Hanf began serving in the Navy in 1967 and spent 30 years between branches, including the Marines, before ending up as a first sergeant in the Army.

“It’s a fun life for the right person,” said Hanf. “I started working on subs and went from one job to another.”

According to Hanf no matter how long one serves in the army, whether for two years or 30 years no one is ever entirely free of it. So much so that Hanf said after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he would have gone back in if they allowed him to.

“It’s kind of like a club,” said Hanf. “You never pass another guy without recognizing him. If you’re a lifer like me, then you never pass a guy without criticizing him.”

The University’s own Director of Public Safety Vickie Weaver also had her beginnings in the Army, spending 20 years serving and retiring as a First Sergeant. In fact, Weaver served under Hanf at Fort Dix.

Having joined the National Guard in August of 1962 and remaining on active duty until April of 1963, Dr. Barry Seldes was already in the reserves by the time the Vietnam War “really heated up.”

Seldes, who is a political science professor, recalled being a graduate student and knowing his draft letter would be coming soon. He needed to make a decision fast.

“I joined the National Guard to get out of the draft because you only had to serve for two years,” said Seldes. “And after a couple of weeks I joined the army and went to Fort Dix for my basic training for eight weeks then I had another eight weeks of advanced
infantry.”

Seldes referred to himself as an “awful soldier,” but remembered one instance when he turned out to be a firing expert and surprised his sergeants.

“They were baffled, they thought for sure I would fail because firing expert is a big thing and very few guys do it,” he said. “After I went out and bought my medal and pinned it on my dress uniform, [I] walked around with my chest out so everyone could see.”

Seldes said that his time in the service took him no farther than Kansas. He still felt a bond between himself and the troops of men who were drafted and sent to Vietnam at that time.

“In many ways I think of myself as part of the Vietnam War era because I could have gone and 15,800 names on the wall in Washington of people who are dead could have been me,” said Seldes. “They were in the same time I was. So that’s where I feel a certain kinship.”