Army veterans meet, create bond at LLCC
By Teresa Brummett
Assistant Editor
SPRINGFIELD — What is a friend? They are those people who can be depended on when times get tough. When you need someone to talk to, they’re the ones who listen day or night. But, it’s nothing like the friendship of those in the military.
When someone serves in the military, one makes a few friends. But it wasn’t till later that two military men started college and by chance signed up for the same class and met — forming a strong friendship
When Spec. Aaron Brown and Spec. Dustin Daily entered Reading 099 class, they never would have expected to find such common interests so quickly. Both men had served in the Army, stationed in different states. And both men are still active today.
Brown, born in 1990 and raised in Springfield, went into the service on Feb. 14, 2012.
Brown said he started Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for basic training and advanced individual training, then he went to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for three years.
After completing his contract as a specialist (E-4), he is in the Guard in East St. Louis.
Planning to study criminal justice here at Lincoln Land, Brown met Daily in a class when school first started.
“I had my recruit shirt on and he asked when I go or went to basic,” Brown said. “I replied, ‘Dude I have been in for three years.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Well then,’ while chuckling. When you are in the service it’s like an automatic bond between soldiers. It’s a brotherhood. We have been friends since that day, study and party together, and I have his back just like he has mine.”
Daily, born in 1992, enlisted in the Army March 6, 2012.
Daily completed basic training at Fort Benning and was stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Daily was a tank operator/11B Infantry.
After three years of active service, he transferred to Illinois National Guard to go to school here at Lincoln Land.
Daily is majoring in Emergency Medical Services (EMT).
Although they have similar backgrounds, both came to Lincoln Land. Be it fate or luck, they both ended up in the same class — and forging a strong friendship.
Both are outgoing and friendly, being able to converse with complete strangers. Furthermore, they are very respectful to everyone they come into contact with — students and faculty.
Teresa Brummett can be reached at [email protected].