BOONE, N.C. — Each Memorial Day, Appalachian State University commemorates those who died while serving in the U.S. military with a wreath laying at the campus Veterans Memorial, located next to the B.B. Dougherty Administration Building.

This year, Chancellor Sheri Everts selected Mike Waters, an Air Force veteran and a 20-year employee of App State, to place a wreath at the memorial, which honors App State students, faculty and staff who died while in service. Waters is a lead consultant for Copier and Printing Services in App State’s Information Technology Support Services.

“This gives me a chance to continue to educate all generations on the understanding of remembrance for those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms,” Waters said. “I am no hero, but I am proud to honor those who are. Having the opportunity to recognize those sacrifices that secured our freedoms, I am thankful to have been selected.”

Waters, a Boone native, served as a communications-computer systems operator with the United States Air Force, and he achieved the rank of senior airman. His military service stretched from 1993 to 2000 — what he refers to as the “between war” years. Coming from a family of United States Navy veterans, Waters departed from tradition by joining the Air Force, but it was important to him and his family that he chose to serve in the military.

“The call to join and be selfless in my service to those who count on us to defend their freedom — especially my family — drove me to serve,” he said. “Serving allowed me to develop another family.”

Waters started his time in the military at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi and entered technical school. After completing school, his first assignment was a three-year tour in Okinawa, Japan, a place holding a special meaning in his heart.

“In Okinawa, I met three airmen who became my ‘brothers,’ and that bond is unbreakable today,” Waters noted. “However, Okinawa has an even deeper connection for my family — my grandfather served in Okinawa during World War II. I was able to walk the ground that he walked. I saw places he saw. That was an amazing experience.”

After serving in Okinawa, Waters was stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana, before being deployed for a tour in the Middle East — visiting the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Due to a family illness, Waters made the difficult decision to shorten his military career to come home and help his family, but he began a new chapter at App State.

“I started a 20-plus year career here with New River Light and Power; now I am a lead consultant for our Copier Services program in IT,” he said. “It has been an adventure.”

Becoming a part of the App State family has supported Waters in continuing his connections to the military. He remains active on campus with the Military Affairs Committee and Student Veteran Resource Center and volunteers with App State’s Office of Community-Engaged Leadership.

“Being involved in these great campus organizations has allowed me to work with students and help them grow into the next generation of leaders in society,” Waters said. “Working with student veterans has allowed me to continue to connect with my military heritage and help develop the support network that military families come to rely on throughout their service.”

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Saint Francis’s Satyr Butterfly

By Joseph Bathanti

“All creatures have the same source as we have.”
— Saint Francis of Assisi

A reclusive small brown butterfly,
white and yellow stigmatic suns

deployed along its wing ridges,
Saint Francis’s Satyr — christened

after the 12th century Italian soldier
and POW turned mystic —

secretes itself, miraculously,
in 10 by 10 kilometers

of the 251 square mile brash
of Fort Bragg — exact coordinates classified —

beyond which — we know this much —
it has gone undetected. Shy, endangered,

preferring anonymity, it hides
in high artillery impact domains —

life often chooses death —
the fires triggered by bombardment.

It wears Marsh camouflage,
resembles in its favored habitat —

blasted sedge and beaver ruins —
a tiny standard issue

Advanced Combat Helmet.
Parsed from the chrysalis,

rent too soon from its dream of living,
the satyr blazes in desperate glory

but three or four days,
in its imaginal stage,

then tenders its life in writ sacrifice.
Its gorgeous numbers dwindle.

The caterpillar has never been seen.
We accept, on faith, metamorphosis.

This poem originally appeared in War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities, published by the Department of English and Fine Arts at the United States Air Force Academy.

A species of butterfly found only at the Fort Bragg military installation in Fayetteville inspired former Poet Laureate of North Carolina (2012–14) Joseph Bathanti to craft the poem “Saint Francis’s Satyr Butterfly,” featured in full above.

Bathanti, who is a professor of creative writing and the McFarlane Family Distinguished Professor in Interdisciplinary Education at App State, is also a dedicated advocate for veterans — facilitating numerous workshops and writing projects for military veterans and their families managing the aftereffects of combat and trauma related to military service.

He has authored 17 books, served as the 2016 Charles George VA Medical Center Writer-in-Residence in Asheville and received the 2016 North Carolina Award for Literature.

He allows the reprinting of his poem on Memorial Day.

App State earns Gold distinction as Military Friendly School for 2022–23

University announces new emergency scholarship for student veterans

April 7, 2022

For more than a decade, App State’s support of military-affiliated students has earned it national recognition from VIQTORY as a Military Friendly School. App State has been named a Military Friendly School with Gold distinction for 2022–23.

Read the story

About Information Technology Support Services

Appalachian State University’s Information Technology Support Services, part of Information Technology Services, provides computing service, support and consultation to App State’s faculty, staff and students. Additionally, IT Support Services designs, implements and troubleshoots technology solutions for App State, providing a standard set of hardware and software application recommendations. Learn more at https://support.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.