VIENNA — “Be all that you can be.”

The famous United States Army recruitment slogan was the hook of the speech Keith Kilmer delivered during the Maries R-1 Veterans Day assembly last Friday. Kilmer is a retired specialist 4 in the Army and a retired police chief.

Kilmer began his speech by discussing his career. He worked as a military police officer working with a K-9 unit. He said he had a scar on his finger to prove it. He attended basic training at Fort McClellan, a now-decommissioned post in Alabama that was the site of the Military Police School until it moved to Fort Leonard Wood in 1999.

After basic training, Kilmer attended military K-9 training in Texas. At the end of his training, the Army stationed him at a nuclear weapons facility in Germany. He served there for three years.

“I still have very great memories of working together with other soldiers, K-9 dogs and being able to travel throughout Europe while I was stationed there,” Kilmer said. “This was all a long time ago, but it really served as building blocks for what I was to do in the future.”

Following Kilmer’s military service, he attended college and got a law degree. He said it led to a “long and rewarding” career in law enforcement.

“My military service and law enforcement career helped me learn valuable lessons like discipline, commitment, hardship, camaraderie and a very valuable lesson about teamwork,” Kilmer said.

Kilmer called out the branches of the military one by one and asked veterans in attendance to briefly stand for recognition. Members of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force all rose to applause. Kilmer also called for the Coast Guard and Space Force, but no one in attendance had served in either.

“That’s a simple exercise,” he said after all the veterans stood as one group. “But it shows you the value and the power of what’s possible by working together as a team, in a larger group, with a lot of individuals with a lot of different experiences and things like that.”

Kilmer told the students that they could figure out how they fit into a group working together as a team, whether it is their families, sports teams, school, community or nation. He used an example of a bad day to illustrate the importance of having a team to rely on during difficult days to ensure the students could continue to accomplish their goals for the day.

“I can tell you from my own experiences in the military and law enforcement, or as a father and husband, so much more can get accomplished through teamwork and working together than can be accomplished through individual action,” Kilmer said.

Kilmer added that the importance of teamwork does not mean students should not also focus on striving to be the best versions of themselves. He said training, education, learning from experiences and having good mentors are also important.

“As students, you are at the beginning of this process right now,” Kilmer said. “But you will continue in this position learning many different lessons throughout your entire lives.”

At that point, Kilmer repeated the Army slogan: “Be all that you can be.”

According to the Army Historical Foundation, the slogan debuted as part of a recruitment campaign in January 1981. Throughout the 1980s, television commercials put the slogan into a jingle alongside footage of soldiers in action. It remained the Army slogan until its replacement in 2001. Earlier this year, the Army again began using “Be all that you can be” as its primary recruitment slogan.

Kilmer sang a little bit of the jingle before joking that he was sorry if he got the tune stuck in everyone’s head for the rest of the day.

“Teamwork allows us to combine the best of both of these worlds by taking individual experiences, perspectives, creativity, passions and then incorporating those things with others who share your common goals and your common aspirations through cooperation, good communication, shared responsibility and self-sacrifice” he continued.

Kilmer quoted Harry Truman to help make his point about teamwork: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

As Kilmer concluded the speech, he encouraged students to focus on their learning and development so they could become the best people they could be. He added that they should use their unique skills and talents to contribute to whatever teams they choose to join, whether that is someday military or public service or another career path.

“It’s really an honor to be here to help celebrate the self-sacrifice and honorable service of our soldiers, sailors, marines and all of our veterans,” Kilmer said in closing. “We remain forever grateful to you.”

The assembly also featured a speech delivered by sisters Kaitlyn and Brooke Campbell, two Maries R-1 students and daughters of a veteran. They began by thanking the veterans in attendance for their service and sacrifice.

Kaitlyn Campbell described her father Lt. Col. Daniel Campbell’s history of service. He joined the Missouri National Guard in 2001 when he was 17 years old. He has served in the Missouri National Guard for the past 22 years. In 2004, he was deployed to Iraq as a bridge engineer. His second year-long deployment sent him to Egypt in 2012.

“While this deployment wasn’t as dangerous, it was still a year spent away from home missing out on so many things and so much of our childhood,” Kaitlyn Campbell said. She added that now he is often away for training exercises and humanitarian missions.

“Because of his schedule and obligations with the National Guard, my siblings, mom and I have to step up and take care of the farm by ourselves quite often,” Kaitlyn Campbell said. “There are of course challenges and sacrifices, and it sure isn’t always easy, but we have all learned so much from him and having to pitch in and get things done.”

“While there are so many challenging and difficult things about having a family member in the military, there are also many good things,” Brooke Campbell said. “He has gotten to experience so many different cultures and countries. He has witnessed firsthand that the United States of America truly is the best country in the world. We are very proud to call him our dad.”

Musical performances during the assembly included “The Star-Spangled Banner” by the Eagle Pride Band, “America the Beautiful” by the Vienna High School Choir and “Taps” by band members Tyler Lekey and Declan Walker.

The assembly also included a few recitations. VHS student Darius McCoy-Bennett led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Vienna Elementary School Students Matthew Campbell, Liam Cohlmia, Raylan DeMent, Lillian Ingram, Bentley Kempker, Elise Kilmer, Eli Miller, Della Rowden and Logan Thomas explained the symbolism of “America’s White Table,” which sat in front of the podium in remembrance of military members who never returned home. Vienna Middle School students Harper Cohlmia, Eli Messersmith, Sophia Neubert and Monica Russell recited the poem “To the Soldiers of America.”

VHS National Honor Society members Kara Bastion, Dalton Breeding, Eva Hollis, Jaelee Stricklan and Claudia Wieberg introduced the veterans in attendance.