An annual student project at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh has special meaning as the stories of veteran employees at Oshkosh Corporation are featured in a 100-page book.
A Humans of Oshkosh event celebrating student storytelling and veteran service will be hosted Wednesday, April 24, at the UW Oshkosh Alumni and Welcome Center, 625 Pearl Ave. All are welcome to attend the free event. There will be light refreshments at 5:30 p.m., with opening presentation at 6 p.m.
At 7 p.m., attendees will see a gallery exhibit and have the chance to meet the veterans of the Humans of Oshkosh Storytelling Project and have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the book for $20.
The theme of the University Studies student storytelling project is, “Thank You for Your Service.”
Telling Stories for Fun, Profit and World Peace is a Quest III Interdisciplinary Studies course at UW Oshkosh that aims to teach students about the impact of storytelling and how powerful their voices can be telling the stories of others and of themselves. What began as a class assignment back in fall 2014 to engage with the campus community and beyond through stories has turned into a celebration of the humans of Oshkosh.
Featuring a theme connected to military service had great impact.
“Truthfully for many of us, it is hard to remember that we are still a nation embroiled in military conflict in places far away from Oshkosh,” said Grace Lim, lecturer and founder of Humans of Oshkosh. “Sure, on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Veterans Day, we dutifully pay homage to the men and women who’ve signed on the dotted line to be part of our armed forces. But who are these people in uniform, who’ve taken an oath to protect and serve, and seen a world that most of us will never see?”
Lim said the project was a journey of discovery for student storytellers.
“I think that my students have a better understanding of the people who step up to be part of the voluntary military that is charged with protecting our nation’s interests,” she said. “They understand that fewer than 1 percent of our population sign on the dotted line to protect the remaining 99 percent. Regardless of our stance on war and peace, those numbers gave us pause.”
Oshkosh Corp. employees featured
Wilson Jones, president and chief executive officer of Oshkosh Corporation, is planning to attend the campus event focusing on his company that has more than 15,000 team members worldwide and actively recruits people who have experience in the military. Several of its more than 900 military team members are featured in the book.
“We are a humble company, and I always want us to be humble. At the same time, I think we need to tell our stories more to show the community that what we’re doing is really important,” Jones said in an interview that is printed in the book.
UWO alumnus and Vietnam veteran Michael Cooney, a retired photography educator, took the portrait photos; and UWO alumna Shawn McAfee’s spring 2019 typography class at Moraine Park Technical College, Fond du Lac, designed the book.
Brittney Maehl, senior project manager at Oshkosh Corporation, is one of the employees interviewed for the project and featured in the book. She served with the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer.
Though Maehl said it is a “little odd and awkward” to hear someone thanking her for her service, she believes it is her duty to respect previous generations and to ensure that future generations don’t feel that same emptiness on their return or transition back to “normal life.” She said she pushes down her feelings of guilt or embarrassment, to graciously accept thanks so that a special exchange may carry on.
Maehl was a freshman in high school when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks occurred.
“As I watched the flames grow in those towers, the fire inside me intensified,” she told student storytellers about her call to service. “I needed to be there for my country.”
Tyler Bauer, a production manager with Oshkosh Corporation’s McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, told UWO students that he had always been intrigued by the military—even at an early age.
“Shortly after the war in Iraq kicked off in the early 2000s, my friends Dave and Joe and I all went down to the local recruiter and signed up,” he said. “We hoped to stay together through our enlistment but ended up only staying together through boot camp.”
Bauer served as a sergeant and helicopter crew chief with the U.S. Marine Corps. He now oversees about 100 employees.
“I love managing people and affecting our products and people in a positive way,” he said. “The future of business is a people-first culture that enables success through diversity and the strength of the team.”
Giving thanks
The Oshkosh Corporation vice president of government operations told student storytellers if someone says, “Thank you for your service,” to him, he thinks the expression is completely respectful and meaningful—particularly when it comes from someone who didn’t serve in uniform.
“I personally feel a little uncomfortable when veterans thank me,” said Mark Meservey, who is based at Oshkosh Corporations’s Washington D.C. office. “We all contributed and sacrificed in different ways, from the supply clerk to the pilot to the tank driver. Not all of us are war heroes or combat veterans. Many of us, however, left families behind to hold down the fort during deployments and missions and long days. I personally owe my wife a debt of gratitude for dealing with so many issues during my absences.”
Meservey said he knows individual contributions combine to achieve goals and objectives and ensure the U.S. remains the best trained and equipped military. He was a Reserve Officer Training Corps scholar at Norwich University at Norwich, Vermont, and served in the U.S. Army and in the U.S. Coast Guard. He was a pilot, with a number of helicopter missions involved in saving lives and property.
Making a difference
Jones, the president and CEO, explains how service members and their families will thank him for his company’s efforts.
He said there is a voicemail message that he keeps on his office phone from a father who said he appreciates what Oshkosh Corporation does to keep soldiers and Marines safe. The father had just attended the wedding of his son who had the harrowing experience of being near an improvised explosive device that had been set off.
“Had he not been in our truck, he probably wouldn’t be alive,” Jones said. “Those are the stories that I cherish and hang on to because they let us know we are fulfilling our mission of making a difference in the lives of others.”
Learn more: