(This article by Kathie Rowell originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of Military Officer, a magazine available to all MOAA Premium and Life members. Learn more about the magazine here; learn more about joining MOAA here.)

Two years ago, when he was a 17-year-old high school student, Patrick Norris enlisted in the National Guard with the permission of his parents. He wanted more for himself and was eager to take advantage of all the benefits the military has to offer, he said.

Norris didn’t expect to receive recognition for that decision, but he was honored before graduation along with other enlistees at an elaborate banquet sponsored by Our Community Salutes (OCS), a national nonprofit founded in 2009 by Dr. Kenneth Hartman.

“I loved the OCS ceremony,” said Norris, now a college student and an E-3 with the 112th Field Artillery Regiment, New Jersey National Guard. “It made me feel good about joining and gave me a sense of pride. The speakers were awesome and the experiences they had were unbelievable. It was also a great opportunity to meet a lot of people who were in the exact same situation as me.”

In 2024, MOAA joined OCS in its initiative to honor and support high school seniors who have chosen to enlist in the military, as well as their families.

Hartman says MOAA members have an important role in supporting future servicemembers.

“The veteran has that unique insight. That interaction is critical, because the parents and the kids, for the most part, have no idea what they’re going into,” Hartman said.

“MOAA is honored to work with OCS to recognize and celebrate our nation’s newest and youngest servicemembers,” said Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly, USAF (Ret), MOAA’s president and CEO. “These new enlistees need to know and understand that organizations like MOAA and OCS are there to support them as they enter and navigate their military career and beyond.”

Poolees with Recruiting Station San Diego attend Our Community Salutes (OCS) San Diego 2024. (Photo by Sgt. Jesula Jeanlouis/Marine Corps)

The OCS mission to recognize and support enlistees resonates with Maj. Lorraine Holland, USA (Ret), who is president of MOAA’s Central Florida Chapter.

“I signed up in 1975, and I had no family that supported me,” she said. “My community didn’t support me, and off I trekked into the Army, and the Army became my family for the next 20 years, so when I saw the outpouring of support by attending this, I had a MOAA table set up.”

Holland likened the ceremony to a welcoming committee into the military family and a means of reassuring parents about their children’s decision.

“I tell the parents you will always be their birthing parents, but they will find an additional family in the military, and that seems to kind of perk them up when you start talking about an additional family looking after them.”

She’s doing her part to rally support for the cause.

“I sit on five different veteran councils, and I’m also an area vice president for a total of six MOAA chapters on the east coast here,” Holland said. “I am just a big advocate for this. It’s hit me personally.”

Our Community Salutes has recognized and honored more than 250,000 enlistees since it was formed in 2009 (Photo courtesy of Our Community Salutes).

A ‘Tremendous’ Event

Hartman, a MOAA Life member, former Army first lieutenant, and CEO of OCS, said the military has played an important role in his life and the life of his family — he is the son and grandson of Holocaust survivors liberated by the U.S. military.

OCS came about while Hartman, a former college president, served on his New Jersey county’s school board. He realized that, unlike scholarship athletes, honor students, and service academy appointees, enlistees received no fanfare for their commitment to serve their country.

He led the effort to organize a recognition ceremony for enlistees and their parents.

“It was just a magical ceremony with close to 300 people,” he said. “I’m like, ‘This is amazing.’ Everybody felt it was tremendous.”

The Army wrote a story about the event, and calls poured in from others who wanted advice on how to do something similar. The nonprofit was formed, and since then, more than 250,000 new enlistees have been honored at enlistee recognition ceremonies across 32 states, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2024 alone, about 3,000 were recognized.

OCS is holding about 55 to 60 events this spring, Hartman said. And the numbers are growing.

[RELATED: 2025 OCS Community Ceremonies]

“There’s rarely a day, certainly not really a week, that I don’t get an inquiry from somebody asking how they could start a ceremony in their community.”

Ceremonies follow a common format, starting with a community fair with local businesses, USAA, Navy Federal, and nonprofits such as MOAA, then move on to the Pledge of Allegiance, presentation of colors, and remarks from dignitaries such as a general officer, senior NCOs, high-profile city leaders, and big-name sports figures.

Marine Corps poolees with Recruiting Station San Diego pose for a photograph at OCS San Diego 2024 at the USS Midway Museum last year (Photo by Sgt. Jesula Jeanlouis/Marine Corps).

“We ask the general officer, or flag officer, to do a kind of a mock swearing-in ceremony, because a lot of these parents never saw their loved ones raise their right hand because they did it in a cubicle,” Hartman said.

The senior officer calls enlistees’ names, and they walk the stage, where the officer shakes their hand and gives them their first challenge coin.

“Parents are crying, and they’re taking all sorts of pictures,” Hartman said.

Embracing Families in the Transition

In addition to the recognition ceremonies, the nonprofit now offers ongoing support through Our Community Salutes Connect after a survey indicated a desire from parents for transitional services.

Hilari Luck, who has three sons in the military, two of whom participated in OCS ceremonies, is leading the free support initiative, which includes guidance on basic military training, life skills, financial planning, and early college and post-military career planning. Luck says she was one of those parents who wasn’t initially on board with her oldest son’s enlistment.

“I remember one time saying to myself, if my sons were to go into the military, I would be the mom that would want to shoot them in their foot so they wouldn’t be able to go,” she said. “And I said that out of ignorance, out of not understanding, being a person of color and thinking is this really a place where they can thrive and really get the respect that they deserve? Now, as I’ve matured and I’m actively a part of Our Community Salutes, there’s just a different mindset. I realize change doesn’t take place unless we’re a part of the change.”

Now, she said, she wears their service like a badge of honor. A recent highlight: Her youngest son, Airman 1st Class Trent Luck, who serves in the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard, participated in the late President Jimmy Carter’s funeral procession at Joint Base Andrews, Md.

Airman 1st Class Trent Luck sits with his recruiter, Tech. Sgt. Shamira Bowden, at an OCS recognition ceremony where he was honored along with other enlistees (Photo courtesy of the Luck family).

“I’m so proud of them,” she said. “I celebrate them, and my desire is to help other families and parents and guardians celebrate their young people and the choices that they’re making.”

The best way to continue to support the recruits, she said, is to assist their parents, so she’s created a curriculum with articles and podcasts to help them with the transition.

“I think once you begin to celebrate them, it gives them value and worth, and when they understand their value and worth, they’re able to even give more back. They’re able to understand they have a real pivotal point in the growth of our republic and of our community.”

Kim Norris, Pfc. Patrick Norris’ mother, said the support she’s received from Luck has been phenomenal while she’s adjusted to an empty nest.

“We’re close,” she said. “And he’s my last one.”

To keep that feeling of communication going, Luck recommended Norris write a note to her son every day while he was in boot camp.

“That was a gift that Hilari gave, because I was almost journaling to my son every day, letting him know what was happening with the world, with our family, so he wasn’t missing out on anything.”

Pfc. Patrick Norris, ARNG, shown with parents Brent and Kim Norris, said he is grateful for the recognition he received at an OCS ceremony and for the support the group has provided. (Photo courtesy of the Norris family)

Luck also helped guide her through the logistics of having a son in the military.

“There are two big things I’ve taken away,” Norris said. “One is that we need to make sure that we are lifting them up, and that they’re not the same person when they come back. That was hard for me, because I sent this little kid, and I got this man back. I’m like, ‘Oh, my goodness, who are you?’ And I couldn’t make his decisions anymore. I could guide him, but it had to be a different approach.”

Pfc. Patrick Norris is grateful for both the recognition he enjoyed and the counsel his parents have received.

“The recognition is good because it helps these kids who are joining realize they are doing this for greater reasons than just their benefits or college,” he said. “Military service is important, and recognition makes you feel important. It gives the kids who are joining a confidence boost, or at least it gave me one.

“OCS is awesome,” he added. “The challenge coin I got from them is still probably the coolest one I have. OCS is a great community that gives back to these kids willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to provide for their country. I cannot say enough good things about it. Hilari is also just an amazing person who has been helping my mom throughout my whole time in the service. I am proud to have gone to the OCS ceremony, and I am proud to still be able to contribute to their mission.”

Kathie Rowell is a writer based in Louisiana.