Student Veteran Honored In Washington DC

A Maverick is taking flight to be honored in Washington D.C.

Kat Clyde, a business administration major, is in our nation’s capital serving as the veteran representative from the wars in Afghanistan in the Nebraska Female Veterans Flight.

Omaha-based Patriot Productions has been organizing veterans flights as a way to honor our nation’s heroes going all the way back to World War II. This is the first time they have planned an all women’s flight.

Clyde is travelling to Washington DC with a plane full of women veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even the pilot is a woman.

The veterans had a full itinerary, too. They will visit the memorials for the wars they served in as well as the Tomb of the Unknowns before coming back to Omaha for a welcoming ceremony.

Clyde now works as a peer mentor in the Office of Military and Veteran Services at UNO, where she helps veterans transition to life as a college student.

“When I first got to UNO, someone reached out to me and that meant a lot,” she said. “Not many people realize how hard the transition can be.”

Clyde has been in the Air Force since she was 17 years old.

“Much of my identity has been wrapped up in being an American airman,” she said.

The trip to Washington DC will be an emotional one for Clyde, whose 10 years in the Air Force took her to North Dakota, Alaska, South Korea, Germany, and to Japan to provide aid after the devastating tsunami in 2011.

“I’m looking forward to just shaking their hand and thanking them for paving the way for me,” she said.