To wrap up our Veterans Month Spotlight, we feature a man who has dedicated much of his life to public service. Seneca County EMS Director and Army veteran Ken Majors is our final featured veteran for the month. Thank you for your continued service, Ken!
If you’ve missed the previous veterans spotlight features, check them out at the links below:
Ken Majors
What branch did you serve in and why?
I served in the U.S. Army, 82nd Airborne Division 2nd Brigade Combat Team. My family all served in the military.
Why did you serve?
I knew when I was a sophomore in high school that I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
The Military helped provide me direction into a field that suited my abilities and trained me to a standard that was difficult, tough, and required everyone to put forth their best effort to succeed.
What was your job/assignment?
I was a platoon medic for an airborne infantry platoon.
I served with the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment in the 82nd Airborne Divisions 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
To meet the standards to deploy with an infantry platoon as a medic required quite a bit more training then the average medic received.
We all had the opportunity to attend school to become Nationally Registered Paramedics, and we worked closely in training with some of the best physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and technicians in the world.
We were all triple volunteers, we volunteered for the Army, for Airborne Training, and for advanced Medical training. Making the grade and meeting the standard was a continuous effort and required us to work as a team. We received the best training and preparation for combat in the world at the time.
Tell us about some of your most memorable moments.
There are many memorable moments and friends that I have made all over the country that will endure a lifetime.
Airborne training was a tough 3 weeks, and the day after that training ended I attended the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP).
From there it was straight to Medic training in San Antonio, Texas.
We supported the “War on Drugs” in Central & South America, so our unit got to jump into Honduras, Panama, and several other exotic and dangerous places to secure the areas for other military and civilian law enforcement agencies to battle the drug trade during the late 1980s.
Another most memorable moment was meeting my future wife at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She was from Bloomville, Ohio (which explains how I got here). We were married on May 2, 1987 and for the first 3 years of our marriage, she didn’t see much of me. But we endured, and we are still here 31+ years later. My wife was an Army Nurse and she served with the 44th Medical Brigade & Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg in a surgical Intensive care unit, and post-anesthesia care unit.
Our son Joshua was born at Womack on October 25, 1989 – this is by far the most memorable moment of our military career.
What were some of the challenges you faced?
Being 18 years old and being so far from home is difficult for any military member. The physical challenges of meeting the Airborne standard were rigorous, and the continuous “abuse” they put you through to ensure you won’t quit when things get really tough. All of those physical, mental, and emotional challenges are by design and serve a task & purpose. But it is hard to understand that when you are cold, wet, hungry, and 18 years old.
Being deployed was severely challenging on a young married couple. But we never deployed like they do today; I have the utmost respect for the troops deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and all the places we have troops deployed for years at a time. The challenges we faced during “peacetime” were never like what our troops endure today. Remember that our troops are still engaged in combat, and it is extremely challenging for them, and their families. Particularly around the holidays.
Airborne All the Way!!