Ossoff hosts largest Military Service Academy Day at Dobbins base since pandemic

“The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is the only academy where you can commission into any of the six armed services,” Cmdr. Keith Walker lauded. “I only want the best of the best here.”

Credit: Courtesy of Maj. Stephani Schafer/U.S. Air Force

Credit: Courtesy of Maj. Stephani Schafer/U.S. Air Force

Groups of high school students and parents huddled around tables where academy representatives offered advice on how to be a competitive applicant, encouraging students to take leadership opportunities in clubs and sports.

Ossoff, who has hosted the event since 2022, pointed to the importance of fostering the next generation of leaders in service.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

“The purpose today is to inform and to inspire,” he said. “For all the young people today, you are here because you feel the call.”

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, who was also in attendance, thanked the parents and mentors for encouraging young people to serve. He acknowledged today’s divisive political climate, and maintained that the Constitution and rule of law are worth defending.

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

“Despite the polarization and the divisiveness that marks today’s society, we will continue to aspire to the creed that all people are created equal and respect dignity, equality, due process and justice,” he said. “These are concepts guaranteed under our Constitution and these ideals are certainly worth defending.”

Ossoff’s appearance at Dobbins Air Reserve Base comes a day after an hourlong town hall where he faced pointed questions from laid-off staffers from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and frustrated community members urging him to do more against President Donald Trump’s efforts to downsize the government.

“That’s what democracy is all about — that kind of direct exchange with constituents,” Ossoff told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the base Saturday. He faces a tough battle for a second term in next year’s midterm election, as Democrats hope to flip control of the Senate and the House.

Friday’s town hall as well as protests attended by tens of thousands across metro Atlanta criticizing the government purge, mass deportations and sweeping tariffs have signaled a growing frustration toward the Trump administration. This includes some veterans who oppose the administration’s plan to cut 80,000 employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Ossoff urged young people considering military service to rise above the noise of politics.

“Military service is a love beyond politics,” he said. “This is an opportunity for young people committed to our nation to learn more about how they can serve and how they can lead.”

Credit: Courtesy of Maj. Stephani Schafer/U.S. Air Force

Credit: Courtesy of Maj. Stephani Schafer/U.S. Air Force

Andriy Khomenko is an aerospace officer for the Civil Air Patrol, which provides opportunity for students as young as 12 to learn to fly, hike, camp and lead in preparation for a career in aviation or the military. For Khomenko, Military Service Academy Day is about getting young people off their phones and outside to participate in real life experiences.

“This stuff is real,” he said. “Getting into a truck, climbing into a plane and learning how to fly.”

Careen Jeremiah, mother of a 15-year-old freshman in the Air Force Junior ROTC program at Mundy’s Mill High School in Clayton County, was also on a mission. After seeing her 22-year-old son become a Marine, she was determined to help her younger son feel engaged and excited about serving.

“I don’t want him on the streets,” she said. “I want him to see the world, meet positive people who can encourage him to stay on the right path.”