Board of Trustees President Jeannie Deakyne and Vice President Leonard Hornsby are veterans whose service taught them both leadership during vastly different times.
“On the board, we operate as a team. We all represent different voices, but we make decisions as a board,” Deakyne said. “That’s an interesting dynamic very similar to the Army.”
Deakyne is a combat veteran who served as an Army officer from 1999 to 2011, and Hornsby is a Air Force veteran who served from 1972 to 1976 and had 19 years in the reserves.
“Veterans meet so many challenges, some unnecessary,” Hornsby said. “Anytime I can find a place where I can go and find some calm and some understanding about what my experience has been and how it impacted my life is really helpful and important.”
Hornsby enlisted during the Vietnam War.
The military draft during the war required almost all male U.S. citizens and immigrants, ages 18 through 25, to register with the government for mandated service.
“I never saw the Army as a path, so I joined the Air Force so I wouldn’t get drafted,” Hornsby said. “It felt better for me choosing for myself.”
Registered men’s birthdates were assigned “lottery” numbers, and if their number was randomly selected, it meant they were drafted by the Army.
“My goal was to go to college, but when they had drafted through 50, with orders to draft through 100, I just knew that meant my number was going to get called,” Hornsby said. “My lottery number that year was 75.”
The U.S. government drafted 2 million men between 1964 to 1973. Of those men, 30% died in combat, and over 1,500 men remain unaccounted for. The draft has not been active since.
Hornsby was stationed at the Carswell base in Fort Worth for four years.
“I joke, I say I joined the Air Force to see the world, and they sent me all the way from Waco to Fort Worth,” Hornsby said. “Close enough to be at home when I wanted to be home. Far enough away to be away when I needed to be away.”
Growing up, Hornsby went to segregated schools until his senior year when his high school integrated the students into an all-white school.
“I was very angry about that,” he said. “I had a great distrust of people that did not look like me because of the way we were treated when we got to the school. It was very horrible.”
Carswell was where Hornsby gained the ability to trust.
“I learned after I got in the military that people are people,” he said. “Everybody’s got some good folk. Everybody’s got some bad folk. If you have common goals, then you work well together.”
Working with people to achieve the same goal taught him how to be a team player, to respect orders, to trust others and to be self-disciplined.
“You’re not always right. You’re not the smartest,” Hornsby said. “If you’re the smartest person in the group, you need a bigger group.”
Even though he never left the country, he said there was still fellowship between everyone in and out of combat.
“There were some things you just knew about the person because they were in uniform,” Hornsby said. “There were commonalities and some things we shared because we were all in the same uniform.”
Deakyne, who got into uniform 27 years after Hornsby, started her military career right out of college. By the age of 26, she was deployed to Iraq as a company commander.
“I was honestly too young to have that much responsibility,” Deakyne said. “My husband and I joke about that a lot.”
She met her husband while they were both stationed in Fort Polk, Louisiana, in 1999. They married in July 2001.
“Then, of course, in September the events of 9/11 put a lot of things into action for military families,” she said. “He was immediately deployed to Afghanistan, and I, shortly after, joined him on a series of deployments.”
She spent three years off and on in the Middle East, primarily in Baghdad, Iraq. While each deployment came with different responsibilities, she described her duties as being the Army’s human resources for combat soldiers.
One time, she had to motivate young leaders the same age as her to eat after a rocket attack impacted their dining hall because they were afraid to return.
“You can’t operate under normal conditions, much less combat conditions, if you haven’t fed your body,” Deakyne said. “So, I remember having tough conversations about overcoming fear and making sure were setting a good example for the young soldiers.”
Through managing human life, Deakyne said she learned the depth and pressure of responsibility.
“It really taught me how to lead people and manage systems, not just in general, but under pressure,” Deakyne said. “Because under those circumstances you’re working in an environment where failure isn’t an option.”
Her last assignment was returning home assigned to UT Arlington as an ROTC instructor, back where she started her journey growing up, this time with her husband.
“The very first thing we did is we bought our own house, and I was able to paint my walls whatever color I wanted,” Deakyne said. “I did paint a kitchen yellow. That was a big deal. It was kind of my first ‘We’re here. We’ve made it.’”
Now, her family unit consists of her husband, two female Golden Retrievers, Bonnie and Posey, and her three daughters.
“The beauty is behind the small things,” Deakyne said. “I don’t regret a single moment that I spent in the military, but it gave me a very strong appreciation for the importance of smaller communities.”
NE Vice President of Student Affairs James Kumm served in the Army for 14 years and is a disabled combat veteran. He said there is a unique understanding coming from walking a similar path, and it’s inspiring knowing the board includes leaders who are also impacted by that service.
“It’s incredibly meaningful to know that,” Kumm said. “Seeing that spirit reflected at the highest levels our institution reinforces what makes TCC special.”
