Wartime leader in 'Book of Mormon' inspires Logan man to join military

By Chris Calvert

November 12, 2004 | Medals, family tradition, patriotism, the opportunity to serve your country, money for college, a chance to see the world . . . there are many reasons someone could choose to join the military. For a Utah State student it was something much more spiritual.

Stuart Fillmore of Logan said the catalyst that made him decide to join up came as he was reading a religious book. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a church that believes The Book of Mormon to be a book of scripture. He said one of the people in this book, Capt. Moroni, made him realize the world needed honorable, God-fearing men not only as leaders of nations, but also as military leaders. According to The Book of Mormon, Moroni was a great military tactician, leading his enemies into his carefully concealed reinforcements. He also was one of the first military leaders in the book to give his soldiers any type of protective armor, but one of his greatest traits was his ability to rally troops to fight for a cause.

When his people were being led to follow a man wanting to make himself king and rule over everyone, Moroni reminded his people of the principles he thought were most important. He wrote what has been known to LDS people as The Title of Liberty. It said, "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children." (Alma 46:12) Rallying around this "title" Moroni amassed an army large enough to defeat his enemies in an almost 20-year war.

Fillmore decided it was his duty to try to become a military leader of this kind.

It was because of some advice Fillmore received from his father that he waited until he was 23 to sign up. His father told him to form his own principles on life and then join the military. This decision to wait has added an extra year of school for Fillmore, but he said he doesn't mind and would, in fact, not have done it any differently if he were to enlist all over again.

Fillmore said some people look at him differently since he has enlisted. He said his co-workers thought he was out of his mind when it first happened, but, he said, the teasing has since worn off and it isn't a big deal anymore. A lot of people ask him if he is afraid to be shipped out because of the turmoil in Iraq. He said he has no fear of going to war. In fact, he said he resents when people ask him that question.

"People should understand that if you join the military, you know before you join you are going to be deployed. And if you join the military you should be OK with that before you sign up."

Even though Fillmore has only been in the Air Force ROTC for a year he is already carries a soldier's demeanor. When he walks his head is held high, with his chest out and shoulders back. He answers every question with a smile on his clean-shaven face. His short blond hair neatly trimmed.

Truly a picturesque soldier. Even when he sits he has the comportment of a soldier, perched on the edge of his chair like a toy soldier, alert, and ready for whatever may happen.

Air Force ROTC is a four-year commitment, usually made during college. When someone graduates from the Air Force ROTC they are commissioned as a Lieutenant. The Air Force ROTC can demand a lot of time of its cadets (a cadet is a person training in the ROTC to become an officer), they have physical training, classes, as well as weekly formation meetings. Fillmore said it doesn't leave much time for anything else. He has maintained a full-time job while going to school full time.

Allison Hoth, Fillmore's supervisor at ICON Health & Fitness, said he is a great employee and his work hasn't suffered at all since his joining. She described him as dependable, outgoing, and an asset to her as well as to her department as a whole.

Unlike his job, Fillmore allowed his military service to somewhat disrupt his schoolwork. During the first semester of his service in the Air Force ROTC he said his grades dropped significantly and he has to repeat two of the classes he took that semester. Since his first semester fiasco Fillmore said he has found a way to balance his new responsibilities as a soldier with his previous responsibilities as a student, employee, husband, and a new father (his first child, a daughter, was born in July).

Fillmore's family has been very supportive of his decision to join the military, his parents stayed with the new mother and daughter when Fillmore had to leave to boot camp a few weeks after she was born. Also,

Fillmore's brother-in-law contemplated joining the armed service after Fillmore signed up. He said his parents are proud, and his siblings support him. However, his wife took a little more convincing.
"She didn't want a dead husband." Fillmore said.

He said he had the desire to join while they were dating, but wanted to make sure she was OK with his enlisting before he did it. As he was contemplating which service to join (the Army ROTC or the Air Force ROTC), he said the more she learned about the military the more benefits she saw.

Many of the benefits for joining the military are financial. The Air Force offers college scholarships, free health care, signing bonuses, a monthly paycheck, along with paying housing and food expenses, etc.

These benefits are what have attracted most of the new recruits to the armed services.

Army recruiter Staff Sgt. William M. Cox of Klamath Falls, Ore., told the St. Louis (Mo.) Post-Dispatch, "Whether it's for money for college or just a way to make a living, they are looking at the money."

These benefits are also somewhat responsible for the demographics of people joining the military according to the Post-Dispatch.

The paper perceived that with the economy favoring big businesses, and rural areas having very high unemployment rates, the military is a place for small-town people to escape. They can find money, fame, traveling opportunities, educational benefits, etc. that outweigh any opportunity they may have staying at home.

This trend is also responsible for the numbers the Post-Dispatch included in its May 30, 2004, article. It said 46 percent of those killed in Iraq come from a town with fewer than 45,000 people (not including suburbs).

This trend of small towns paying the price of war with the lives of its young people has also hit close to home in Cache Valley with the recent death of Lance Cpl. Allred of Hyde Park.

However, Fillmore said his decision to be in the military was relatively unaffected by Allred's death. He is still just as committed to his choice as when he first joined.

"Not many Air Force people are on the front lines," said Fillmore. "And most of the people in the Air Force don't have jobs that will take them there."

In the last year, Fillmore has had his view on the military has change quite significantly. He said what has changed was his view of what kind of people join the military.

"It went from a hard, tough, insensitive, unintelligent grunt; to professional, intelligent, sharp, over-achieving people."

The difficulty of finding "professional" people to join the armed services is not a problem Fillmore sees. He is actually glad the number of new recruits is so low, so low Congress is trying to pass a selective service bill that would, in essence, reinstate the draft. He said he feels the armed services would be better off if it has fewer people all of whom will be striving for excellence, than a lot of people who really didn't want to be there.

"Those people who want to be in the military should be in the military, and those who are there should want to be there," he said.

In fact, Fillmore wants to be there so much he is considering making the Air Force his career, calling it a "noble profession." He said he wants to dedicate at least the next 20 years to it.

"In the military you're committing more than just a career," he said. "You're committing your life."

Fillmore said he always had a "faint desire" to be in the military, but it took the example of a "great military leader" to give him the spark he needed to light the military fire inside him.

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