BY JOHN ATKINSON
FOR THE OBSERVER
OPINION — A couple of weeks ago, I asked Scott Besong, a third-generation combat veteran who lives in Auburn, what the nicest thing was that a stranger had ever done to thank him for his service.
“Oh, hands down, it’s the way I got into Auburn,” he said.
Besong joined the Army out of high school. His enlistment was for two years and sixteen weeks. Nothing more, and he knew nothing less. That was the requirement under the GI Bill for a soldier to receive college tuition assistance in exchange for military service.
“My family was so ingrained in the military,” Besong said. “One, because we were a patriotic family, but two, because we were poor. It was our opportunity to get away — to start fresh.”
Besong said he spent the first sixteen weeks at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he completed basic training and advanced infantry training as an armor crewman. He then got his orders to be stationed overseas in Germany, where he lived as a child when his father was stationed there as well.
While in Germany, Besong and his unit got deployed to Iraq where they would fight in Desert Storm with the 24th Infantry Division. The stories he shares about that phase in his life are both horrific (as war always is) and special (the lifelong bonds he made).
Ultimately, Besong’s unit returned to Germany and his acceptance into Auburn University started with him being declined entrance. Here’s the rest of the story as told by Besong himself:
“From Germany, I had to call Mary Martin Hall (at Auburn). I spoke to this nice black lady to find out how to apply for financial aid. Six months later and two weeks before I was scheduled to get out of the Army, I was sitting on the side of a mountain watching our tanks maneuver with Captain Wise.
“I had a letter that had come in the mail. I pulled it out of my pocket and opened it. My reaction must have caught Captain Wise’s attention. He said, ‘What’s that?’
“I said, ‘Captain, this is a letter from Auburn University saying that I can’t go, that my grade point average isn’t high enough, and I should go to some school called Southern Union.’ He said, ‘Let me see that’ and snapped it out of my hands. He said, ‘You go to Auburn and make them tell you, [that] you can’t go.’
“I had never played the veteran card. When I got to Auburn, I went straight to Mary Martin Hall. I wasn’t in my military fatigues. I was in a nice, collared shirt, shorts and tennis shoes. I showed up and there were these two Black ladies behind the counter, as nice as they could be. I guess I stood out to them cause one of them said ‘Hey, what do you need?’ Hearing my voice, one lady said, ‘You’re not from around here, are you?’
“I said, ‘No ma’am, I’m sorry, I’m not.’
“She said, ‘Where you from?’
“I said, ‘I just came in from Germany.’
“One of them said, ‘You know, we had a guy about six months ago call us from Germany.’ I said, ‘That was me!’ She said, ‘Martha! Martha! This is the guy who called us. You remember?’ She then said, ‘Well, what’s going on? What you got there?’
“I said, ‘Well, it’s a letter that says my scores aren’t high enough to get into Auburn.’
“She snatched it out of my hands and said, ‘Did you go to war?’ I said, ‘Yes ma’am, I did.’
“She said, ‘Sit down. I’ll be back in a minute.’
“She barged into the assistant administrator’s office.He’s got someone in there, but she starts going at him anyway. I could hear it from the hallway. He stands up, gets the student out of his office and closes the door and listens to her for a minute. He pokes his head out the door and says ‘Besong?’
“I said, ‘Yes sir?’
“He says, ‘Come here.’ So, I’m walking in, and I walk by her and she just winks.
“I said, ‘Sir, I was in the service and stationed in Germany, and I got this letter about three weeks ago.’ I said, ‘I’ve been paying Alabama state tax for the last two years.’
“He said, ‘Let me see it.’ He said, ‘You were in the Army?’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’ He said, ‘Did you go to war?’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’
“He looks at his computer. He said, ‘The computer says you’re in. I won’t say anything if you won’t.’
“I said, ‘I don’t know what to say.’
“He said, ‘Don’t let me down.’
“I said, ‘Oh, no sir, I won’t let you down.’
“I was a C student in high school cause I moved so many times. I was a B-plus honor roll student at Auburn.
“It’s been 30 years, and I still get choked up.
“Like in life, had I not been kind to those ladies months earlier and kind to them in the office, there’s no way I would have gone to Auburn. But because I was kind, and had gone to war, they said, ‘Let us show you something.’
“And much like every business or large organization, the people that really have the power are those young ladies up front who answer the phone and get the mail. They have more influence than you think.”
On Veterans Day, roll call in the Besong family includes heroes, past and present. His grandfather and stepfather fought in World War II. His father survived Vietnam, both abroad and at home. His brother, sister and uncle served in the Navy, and his half-brother was in the Army. And today, his youngest son, Carter, is in the Army, where he is stationed in Georgia and experiencing his first Veterans Day as a servicemember.
