This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

From Hopkinton to West Point to the Green Berets

Respecting, remembering and welcoming veterans is important to Army Special Forces Maj.Ted Hoyt.

Upon graduating from West Point, Hopkinton's Ted Hoyt started his military career in the Air Defense Artillery. He retired as a Major in the Army Special Forces also known as the Green Berets. 

Hoyt was once in charge of a group of soldiers who spent months living in St. Petersburg, Russia, for language and culture immersion. They also trained in cross-country skiing. 

Their ski instructor was an Olympic medalist. Hoyt said  they all had a grand old time drinking vodka and trying to understand their instructor's stories.

Find out what's happening in Holliston-Hopkintonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

During Operation Provide Comfort, Hoyt and his fellow soldiers supported Kurdish Iraq after the first Gulf War.

They were treated as heroes.  Schools would let out early when the American soldiers came to town.

Find out what's happening in Holliston-Hopkintonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On one occasion, Hoyt sent his men out in the pouring rain to temporarily staff a radio link on an exposed hilltop. He said a group of local Kurdish men followed, held a tarp over the group and offered them food.

“I’m afraid most of the soldiers in the second Gulf War and Afghanistan had a very different experience,” Hoyt said.

Hoyt recently returned from a memorial golf outing in honor of a classmate killed last year in Afghanistan. The soldier had five children ranging in age from 5 to 21. 

This wasn’t the first time Hoyt had felt such a loss.  Many years ago, a few months after graduating from West Point, he lost three classmates (two close friends) in a helicopter crash.

“They had the whole world in front of them and then they were gone,” Hoyt said.

Hoyt said  he has been lucky. He can look back fondly on his military career. But he feels strongly about those who serve and have served.

“For those kids and everyone else that have gone and are going through Hell, I think it is really important for 'us' civilians to recognize and appreciate their sacrifice for us, regardless of whether we want them to be where our government sends them," Hoyt said. 

"Their selflessness is remarkable in an increasingly selfish world."  

Hoyt said it is not enough to simply thank veterans  for their service. 

"We owe it to the ones that return to ensure that they have a decent job and place in society," he said.

"To the ones that don’t, to make sure that their loved ones are taken care of as best we can, and that they are never forgotten," Hoyt said.

"If it means that we need to sacrifice a little to make it happen, so be it," says Hoyt, whose younger brother is a Navy SEAL.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?