KENNY POWERS IS BEING HONORED AS THE AUGUST VETERAN OF THE MONTH

Kenny is a Veteran of the Vietnam War. In December of 1962, Powers joinedtheNationalGuard and was a part of the Springfield Engineering Unit. He was 17 at the time. Being he was 17, he had to wait a year until he was able to go to basic training. On September 23, 1963, Powers left for basic training. He was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, MO for his training. Not only did he complete his basic training there, but hecompletedhisadvanced individual training (AIT) as a heavy equipment operator, spending all six months of training at the Fort Leonard Wood base. Powers served in the National Guard three different times, serving a total of 14 years. Hisfirstenlistmentwas from December 10, 1962, until December 9, 1970. His second was from July 13, 1973, until July 13, 1975. Powers’ final enlistment wasfromDecember18 ,1976, until December 17, 1980. During the last enlistment, Kenny was a squad leader. When asked why he joined the National Guard, Kenny said that it felt like the right thing to do. The night he first enlisted intheNationalGuard;28other youngmenalsojoinedhisunit. Camaraderie with his fellow soldiers and the training were the highlights of his military service.