On Veterans Day, Yale honors those called upon by 'higher ideals'

It takes a lot of moxie to sign up for military service, says Briana Thompson, a third-year student at Yale Law School and veteran of the U.S. Air Force. No matter who you are, or where you’re serving, she told a Yale assembly Monday, it’s impossible to know what lies ahead.

There are parts of her life that vanished during her 14-year career as an aviator in the Air Force, Thompson said during the university’s annual Veterans Day celebration — innocence, for one. But those years in uniform also helped her discover new dimensions of herself, she said, revealing a new sense of bravery and a deeper appreciation for labor that transcends self-interest. And the military gave her “a second family.”

There were other lessons, she said: no matter how much you prepare, you still must be ready to adapt; doing everything “the right way” doesn’t guarantee the result; and it’s possible to relate to absolutely anyone.

Her military career also provided her the knowledge of when to let something go — including her own career in the Air Force, which has been such an important part of her life, she said in formal remarks at Hewitt Quadrangle. “But that doesn’t make it irrelevant, because how you grew in the process will memorialize that thing, whether it’s a job or a friendship.”

During the ceremony, on a sunny and unseasonably warm day, the university also honored Michael J. Wishnie, the William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law and founding director of the law school’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic, which since 2010 has enabled law school students to work on behalf of veterans before administrative agencies and courts.

“The clinic is tiny by comparison to most legal service organizations,” said Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken, who has known Wishnie for decades and introduced him. “And yet Mike and his students set out to do things that no legal organization in the country had even thought to do.”

As the number of law students with military experience has increased in recent years — from 1% of first-year students a few years ago to nearly 10% of this year’s first-year class — the veterans clinic has also grown. And so has its impact. Since 2010, it has changed the lives of tens of thousands of military veterans in Connecticut and nationally, Gerken said.

It has fought to ensure that veterans are not denied benefits because of so-called “bad paper” administrative discharges — dishonorable or bad conduct discharges — attributable to PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other factors. It pushed the U.S. Department of Defense to make fertility treatments available to unmarried and LGBTQ+ veterans and service members. And the clinic has sought justice for Black veterans who faced discrimination in obtaining benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

It also helped to overturn a law that made it impossible for military veterans to bring class action cases against the VA.

If you were to ask Wishnie about these victories, Gerken said, he might acknowledge, modestly, that they don’t happen by chance. But the truth, she said, is that they happen because “he and his students work relentlessly hard.”

“The stakes are too high, the odds too long, the causes too noble… And for three decades, I’ve watched him choose the right path, the hard path, the change-the-world path. He chooses service because it’s his creed.”

From the Revolutionary War to the present day, members of the Yale community have served honorably in various military capacities, Yale President Maurie McInnis said in her own remarks. For generations, she said, Yalies have been “called upon by higher ideals”: country and the cause of freedom. “And for centuries, Yalies have answered with resounding resolve,” she said. “Yalies who have risked their lives — and Yalies who have given them.”

“It is a very great privilege to be with those who carry forth this vital and long Yale tradition, including our current students who contribute to a thriving ROTC presence on campus.”

As the daughter of an Air Force veteran, McInnis said, the university’s annual Veterans Day ceremony, her first as president, holds special meaning. “My father served as a judge advocate general, and I often spent time with him on the base as he completed his reserve service,” she said. “I remember feeling struck by the sense of duty and valor demonstrated by those who served alongside him. It was an immense privilege to see these qualities up close.

“The experience made an indelible imprint on me and shaped my own sense of responsibility to contribute to the common good.”

Led by Kimberly M. Goff-Crews, secretary and vice president for university life, with remarks by Von Narcisse, assistant chief of police and co-chair of the Yale Veterans Network, and by University Chaplain Maytal Saltiel, Monday’s annual celebration neared its end with a rousing medley of service anthems performed by the Veterans Day Brass Ensemble, with students from Yale School of Music. As the signature song for each branch was performed, its veterans in attendance stood and sang along.

Watch the full ceremony on YouTube.