Banner Witcoff is proud to have several veterans, an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, and an Army ROTC cadet on our team. We appreciate their service, and are grateful to all those who have served and continue to serve.
In honor of Veterans Day this year, we asked one of our veterans — Banner Witcoff attorney Matt May — a few questions about his service.
Q: Can you tell us about your military career?
A: I began my Army career as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1992 when I graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Through the years, I have been in the Active Army, Illinois Army National Guard, and now I am in the U.S. Army Reserve. I am currently in my 28th year of military service and work as the Interagency Planning Chief for the 76th Operational Readiness Command / Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Response Element out of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Q: Earlier this year, you and your Army Reserve unit were dispatched to Seattle, Washington to help with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. What was that experience like?
A: My month-long deployment to Seattle was rewarding as I was helping the people of the nation and the state of Washington during a time when our nation needed help. My unit provided the command and control for the set-up and operation of a 250-bed Army field hospital in Seattle with the 350 great Army medical personnel soldiers assigned to that hospital from Fort Lewis, Washington and Fort Carson, Colorado.
Q: How does your military experience help with your legal practice?
A: My military experience has helped to mold and shape my leadership and organizational skills in my many years while in the Army. I have utilized those leadership and organizational skills both within the firm and outside the firm with our clients. Additionally, my military experience has grounded me in the values and character to help me be successful as an attorney at Banner.
Q: What does Veteran’s Day mean to you?
A: Veteran’s Day means freedom, sacrifice, and honor for those who served in the military and to give thanks to all those who have served. I also like to honor and thank the families of those military members. The military family unit sacrifices a lot with a spouse, parent, or child in the military. Please also remember those family members on this day, as the military family is just as important to our military strength as being a military member.
Veteran’s Day is a time to pay tribute to those heroic men and women of the Armed Forces who have gone before and laid the foundation for the things that make our country the greatest country in the world. I wear the wedding ring of my wife’s grandfather, Thomas J. Ernsdorff, who gave his life in Germany fighting for our nation during World War II. On Veteran’s Day, I think about and thank him and the ultimate sacrifice he made.
Posted: November 11, 2020
