As more than 1,600 Mount Paran Christian School students, faculty, and staff joined together to celebrate our United States veterans, attendees received a message from guest speaker Colonel Anthony Poole on the importance of “answering the call.”
Colonel Poole, himself a third generation soldier, is the Georgia Army National Guard Chief of Staff. The main takeaway from his speech to the MPCS community, from preschoolers to high school students, was to learn to be selfless and brave from U.S. veterans:
1. Our veterans and active duty military ensure our freedom to worship freely and speak our minds freely. We, as civilians, can repay them with our respect and gratitude.
2. Veterans model a life of sacrifice, putting others before self.
3. Veterans are heroes in our communities and continue to make a difference beyond the battlefield.
4. Ultimately, our veterans show us how to live our lives, treat others, and love one another, just as MPCS teaches these values based on God’s word.
In addition to MPCS students, faculty, and staff, other special guests in attendance included veterans from the various branches of the armed services. After a welcome and prayer by Assistant Head of School for Christian Life Steve Kyle, veterans entered the Hughes Gymnasium to rousing applause as the MPCS Upper School Chorus performed the Armed Forces Medley. With students dressed in America’s colors of red, white, and blue, and with an oversized American flag providing a patriotic backdrop to the celebration, attendees were left with a sense of patriotism and American pride.
The MPCS community is grateful for the faithful service and dedication by our veterans to our country and for our freedom.
About Colonel Anthony Poole:
• Commissioned as an Army Infantry Officer in 1994 through the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School and then transitioned into the Military Intelligence Corps in 2002
• More 25 years of military service
• Served in numerous command and staff leadership positions that range from his first assignment as an Infantry Long Range Reconnaissance Platoon Leader through to his most recent assignment as the Georgia Army National Guard Chief of Staff, where he is responsible for the combat deployment readiness of over 11,000 Soldiers
• Participated in numerous training and combat deployments overseas that include peacekeeping, stabilization and combat missions in the countries of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Country of Georgia, and Iraq
• Military education and training include the Infantry Officer Course; the Army Ranger School; Army Airborne and Jumpmaster Schools; the Army Sniper Employment Course; the Army Military Intelligence Officer Career Course; the Command and General Staff College School of Advanced Military Studies, where he earned his masters degree in strategic studies; and the U.S. Army War College, where he completed a National Security Studies Fellowship at Duke University
