Seven months, 2200 miles of training, and eight pairs of shoes later, two U.S. Navy sailors completed a grueling run to fund raise for charity at a ceremony on Copley Lawn on Saturday.

Petty Officer First Class Clay Anderson and his sister Petty Officer First Class Ashley Anderson spent the last week running the 185-mile long C&O Trail—starting in Cumberland, Maryland and ending in Georgetown—to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. The WWP’s mission is to provide assistance and services for severely injured armed forces members.

Running in through the front gates around 6:30 p.m., the Andersons were accompanied by approximately 30 members of the Georgetown Running Club.

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In an address to a meeting of the National Military Family Association, First Lady Michelle Obama introduced plans for aiding the families of military members who are serving overseas. The conference—“When Parents Deploy:  Understanding the Experience of Military Children and Spouses”—was held at the Georgetown University Conference Center today.

Unveiling President Barack Obama’s call for the National Security Staff to lead a review that will, “develop a coordinated Federal-government wide approach to supporting and engaging military families,” according to the White House press release, she emphasized that as America asks more of its military, their families have a right to ask more of the American people.

The plan aims to make the federal government more friendly to the needs of military families by identifying their priorities, examining which policies do and do not work, and finding ways in which military experience can be used to better the U.S.

The First Lady started by recalling NMFA’s slogan, “Together we’re stronger,” and said that the American people all need to work together to help military families.  “With just one percent of our population—our troops—doing 100 percent of the fighting, our military families are being tested like never before.  [America] need[s] to give their families 100 percent support.”

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Moderator Thomas Ricks

For Veterans Day this year, a panel featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning military journalist Thomas Ricks, security studies students, a member of Georgetown’s ROTC, and student-veterans discussed the divide on campus between members of the military and the civilians they fight on behalf of.

The student-veterans—Colby Howard (SFS ’11), who served as a Marine for eight years, and William Quinn (SFS ’10), who acted as an interrogator in Korea and Iraq for five years—talked about the frustration of having to constantly explain their experiences in the military.

Quinn said his classmates often ask him how many people he tortured or waterboarded, and don’t believe him when he says none.  Howard said he’s frequently asked how many people he has killed.

“There’s a time and a place for that,” Howard said. “But it’s not when you’re introducing yourself to your philosophy class.”

Quinn and Howard said the stereotype they encounter most frequently at Georgetown is that members of the military aren’t intelligent.  Quinn said the underlying assumption is that “the military is too blue collar for Georgetown.”

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