Today, we celebrate Veterans Day. We take a moment to pause and recognize the courage and sacrifice made by members of the U.S. armed forces and their families to protect our freedom.
Many of our alumni are veterans, and some are still serving today. For our alumni spotlight, two brothers currently serving in the Navy and Marine Corps share their stories and memories of LCL. Chris Kelling (left, 2004) and Chad Kelling (right, 2005) are pictured here at Chris' graduation from Naval Officer Development School on October 19, 2018.
What are you up to these days?
Chris: This fall I commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and recently reported to Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, California as an ED/Trauma Registered Nurse. We serve nearly 60,000 marines, sailors, and civilians in and around Camp Pendleton, and share services with the larger Naval Medical Center San Diego. Emergency RN’s are prepared to handle a broad range of cases, from pediatric cough/fevers to gunshot wounds and multi-system traumas. My days are generally spent training, doing pushups, training, starting IV’s, and more training.
Chad: I am currently serving as a MV-22 instructor pilot at the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1) in Yuma, Arizona. The unit serves as center for the development and standardization of tactics, techniques, and procedures for all of Marine Corps aviation, involving every type of aircraft that the Marine Corps flies.
What led you to where you are today?
Chris: While at Concordia Mequon I joined a local volunteer fire department. They put me though EMT class, and my first 911 call convinced me that emergency patient care is what I wanted to do. After Iraq I completed Paramedic school and worked rural EMS out near the Wisconsin Dells. Here I got the chance to use advanced skills such as ET intubation and intraosseous (IO) access. I used the GI Bill to finish nursing school at UWM, and got to see some interesting urban trauma as an emergency nurse at St Joe’s and St Luke’s in Milwaukee. This fall I attended the Navy’s 5-week Officer Development School in Newport, Rhode Island. This course gave me the leadership tools to apply my nursing skills to Navy healthcare.
Chad: After graduating from LCL, I attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. I graduated from there in 2009, and was commissioned into the United States Marine Corps. From there, I attended the Basic School in Quantico, VA, where all Marine officers (regardless of specialty) receive a baseline instruction in rifle platoon tactics. Upon completion, I reported to Naval Aviation flight training in Pensacola, FL and Corpus Christi, TX, where I trained in single engine, helicopter, and multi-engine military aircraft for nearly 18 months. At the conclusion of flight training I applied and selected to fly the MV-22 Osprey, the world's first operational tiltrotor aircraft. I chose this platform to fly as it is revolutionary in its concept (takeoff and land like a helicopter, fly as fast and far as an airplane), and its primary mission is assault support. This means that we work closely with the ground forces, and the focus of effort of all Marines: supporting the infantry. After learning to fly the Osprey, I reported to VMM-263 in New River, NC, where I spent the next 5 years continuing to learn and eventually teach other pilots and aircrew in the squadron. Additionally, I deployed three times with the squadron onboard amphibious ships to the Middle East and to a crisis response unit responsible for North Africa. Most recently, I applied and was selected to be an instructor pilot at MAWTS-1, and reported this last July.
What are some practices in your time at Lake Country Lutheran that have prepared you to carry out your duties in service?
Chris: It’s not as easy to blend in to the background at a smaller school like LCL. The teachers made the standards very clear, and I knew I couldn’t just coast through without notice. The military is the same way: no one advances by just doing the minimum. In every service, you’re a member of a team, and you’re expected to put in the effort because your teammates are depending on you. Those who think only for themselves are exposed real quick and get sent home. As one of the first graduating classes at LCL, I felt like I was part of something new and important. We were taught to stick by each other, and I still foster those relationships to this day.
Chad: The best lesson I learned at LCL is knowing and understanding that the Marine Corps, much like life, is a people business. My first year at LCL we were in the basement of Divine Redeemer. The next two years we were in trailers, followed by a year in the YMCA in Oconomowoc. In the end though, it was not about location, or permanent facilities, or technology. What made that experience so important to everyone who attended in those years were the teachers and staff, and how it felt like a family. Even today, every time I go back there it still feels like a family. It is all about building relationships and taking care of the people around you to the best of your ability (servant leadership). This is the lesson that Christ imparted to his disciples, and it is something that I carry with me and use every day.
What's a favorite high school moment you have?
Chris: Playing Living Word in football. Our schools started out in the same year and we always had great battles. We smoked them something fierce in our day, and those were good times.
Chad: What I enjoyed most at LCL was being able to participate and build a lot of the traditions that continue today. Seeing where the football team started from, to where it is today is fantastic and makes me proud to have been there in the beginning.
Any advice to current LCL students?
Chris: Think stewardship. Whatever career you end up in, the Lord has given each of us a gift, and is up to us to use that gift in service to others. I used to think God had something massive planned for me, some groundshaking purpose in life. Now I wonder if it’s something subtle. Despite all the training and experience I have, maybe God’s mission for me is a single random Tuesday in the emergency room, saving one person or doing one small thing no one else would have. Maybe I’ll never know what it was, and no one else will either, but I was put here for a reason. Stewardship means and putting myself in that position to be of service to others. Stewardship means training hard for that one day, whenever it comes. And when I’m called home many years from now, I will hear the words “mission accomplished."
Chad: Three things: 1, Live in the moment and enjoy your time in high school. While it is important to prepare for your future, most people spend too much time thinking about the next step and fail to enjoy where they currently are. 2, Spend time building and maintaining relationships. Get outside your comfort zone to build new friendships. People will always surprise you when you least expect it. 3, Take the time to show appreciation for the teachers and staff. You will realize later in life the impact that they have had on you, and will wish you had thanked them more.
From the faculty, staff, and students of LCL, thank you to all our veterans who have served our country! God bless you and your families. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
