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The Personal Cost of Service
By Naomi Morrison

Veteran's Day is a time to remember the heroes of now and of the past. It's also a time to pay homage to the soldiers who have fought for our country's beliefs. It's especially a time to thank the ones who are supporting the troops and welcoming those back home who served.

Larry Audet is just one of those individuals who fought a battle, here in Maine, in an effort to do some good for returning soldiers.

Audet is the owner of Greenlawn Memorial Funeral Home in Bangor. He's a 57-year-old decorated veteran who came back from Afghanistan in February of this year. He spent almost 11 months flying high profile, top level generals and such around the country. He slept in a tent, had 385 combat hours, was repeatedly shot at, put up with the dust and sand, and felt even further from home with the poor phone service.

His welcome home from the Maine State Board of Funeral Services was the rejection of the renewal of his funeral license. The board's reasoning was that in the year he was on active duty he did not complete the necessary continuing education credits (CEU's) required by law to renew his license. There was nothing in the law that gave the board the authority to grant his waiver request.

While Audet was in Afghanistan, his son Joel was able to run the funeral home, but now that he had completed his responsibilities for the National Guard, Audet was eager to return to his responsibilities at home. He was at a standstill because without his license he could no longer take care of his business. Audet said he was absolutely appalled by the board's decision and knew something had to change.

"It [the law] didn't say you could (waiver), and it didn't say you couldn't. They just couldn't step up to the plate and do what was right," he said. "I'm a professional businessman and this is how I'm thanked for serving my country?"

Audet immediately contacted the governor and several highly decorated generals, explained his issue and then sat back and watched everything fall into place. Until May of this year, doctors, dentists, accountants, and other professionals would lose their license while on active duty for not completing each professions required CEUs.

"Within two to three weeks, you wouldn't believe the pressure the governor's office was getting," said Audet.

The day the governor signed the bill was historic, he said. Both the Democratic and the Republican parties voted unanimously to waive the necessary CEUs required to maintain any professional license if those persons are in the Maine National Guard and on active duty.

Not having this piece of legislation already in place was just an oversight, said Audet. A lot of people just didn't think of it and were complacent when their licenses were rejected.

More locally, 19 -year-old Kristina Wilson of Gray is patiently waiting for her fiancé, 21-year-old Kevin Sukeforth of New Gloucester, to make it back home. Sukeforth joined the National Guard soon after September 11, 2001 and left for training this past January. He began his one year tour in the 133 Carpentry Unit in Iraq in April. His tour includes reconstruction and rebuilding and guarding the base. Most recently he's been surveying the northern border of Iraq.

Before January, Sukeforth was a criminal justice student at USM and worked at Pineland Security. Serving in the military was in his plans even before September 11. While he's gone, the wedding plans are on hold so they can do the planning together and they spend a lot of time talking on the internet.

Several area businesses are supporting reservists called to duty by having benefits in place while they're active. Sears, for instance, has supported our troops by extending health benefits for soldiers and their families while they are on duty. In addition, Sears pays them the difference of what they made while working at Sears and what they make in the military.

The human resources policy at the Windham Hannaford's states that any reservist called to duty is guaranteed his or her job when they come home. They are also able to keep their benefits while they're active. In addition to the store's employee benefits, Hannaford also holds a silent auction every year around Christmas to raise money for the veterans' center near their store.