Penn State Harrisburg staff member and son to deliver Veterans Day remarks

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. - This Veterans Day, a Penn State Harrisburg staff member and her son hope to remind the campus community of the importance of military service, they said, and the risks military members take every day to serve their country.

Amy Atkins, administrative operations manager for the School of Business Administration and a U.S. Navy veteran, will speak at the college's annual Veterans Day ceremony. Her son, U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Corris Atkins, an H-1Z Cobra pilot, will share a pre-recorded message.

The ceremony is at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, on Vartan Plaza on campus.

Atkins served in the U.S. Navy from 1988 to 1992, advancing to petty officer 2nd class during her four years. She was 19 years old when she enlisted in the Navy.

"It was a really good choice for me," she said. "The Navy gave me a great education. It also cultivated responsibility, maturity and, honestly, a love and appreciation for my country that I didn't previously have."

Atkins served as an aviation electronics technician - a field that at the time didn't include many women. She was trained to test black boxes out of P-3 surveillance aircraft. A crew returning from a flight would report which modules weren't working, and it was Atkins' job to perform tests and identify components that needed to be replaced before the modules could be returned to the aircraft.

She enlisted during peacetime. But things changed drastically when, in 1991, she was deployed during the Persian Gulf War.

She was deployed first to Cubi Point in the Philippines, and then to Diego Garcia, a small British Indian Ocean territory where B-52 bombers would refuel. She said she remembers carrier groups coming into port at Cubi Point, turning what had seemed like a tiny town into a bustling hub working to resupply and support those who were headed back into battle. All of her training was being put to use, and it made her think about the importance of people stepping up to serve.

"It makes you realize as a young person … what if all these people didn't volunteer?" she said.

Amy's son Corris Atkins attended the Virginia Military Institute, earning a degree in engineering, and then was commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2020 on an aviation contract. He attended Officer Candidate School and then the Basic School, before years of rigorous flight school.

Corris is stationed out of Camp Pendleton in California but is currently deployed in Japan. The type of helicopter he flies is not called to transport people or things; it's called to employ ordnance in the battle space.

"Nobody ever calls a Cobra when they have a good day," he said. "So, we always have to be ready to show up."

For both Amy and Corris, one of the best things about being in the military is the people, they said.

"You know that they're going to do the right thing, even when it's the hard right, not the easy left," Corris said. "So you can always count on them."

Amy added that the camaraderie of the military becomes increasingly important during deployment.

"They're kind of your family. And you're their family," she said. She's still in touch with many people she served with through social media. "You just have that unbreakable bond that you've gone through a lot of hard things in your life, whether it's being away from your family, or the Persian Gulf War, or going through a really hard flight school."

The risks and sacrifices of those who serve in the military have hit home for them in recent years. Corris' best friend, fellow Marine pilot and VMI classmate, Jack Casey, was one of five Marines killed in a helicopter crash during a winter storm in February 2024. It's difficult for the whole family to talk about, Amy said.

"In the last year and a half, Veterans Day has become even more important to us," Amy said, adding that she and her son think it's important for the general public to understand the inherent risks that military members take every day.

Amy said that when she speaks at the Penn State Harrisburg ceremony on Veterans Day, she hopes to leave people with the message that service is important. Serving in the military showed her that everyone didn't grow up with the kind of idyllic family life she had, growing up on a farm in a small town in Minnesota, she said.

"I loved learning about other people and other countries," she said. "The travel was pretty darn cool, but serving during the Persian Gulf War was a life-changing experience. We implemented everything we had trained for, and the sense of pride was almost immeasurable."