Veteran’s Day Celebration at CSU Pueblo Includes Volley of Three Ceremony

PUEBLO—Colorado State University Pueblo is honoring all veterans on Thursday, Nov. 11 as part of the Veteran’s Day national holiday.

“CSU Pueblo is excited to welcome back an in person event on campus to honor our veterans,” said Laura Barela, director of the Military and Veterans Success Center at CSU Pueblo. “We’re grateful for the community support with Doss Aviation, the Student Veterans of America Club and the Pueblo Veteran Ritual Team who all will join us for our campus ceremony.”

The Military and Veterans Success Center invites the CSU Pueblo campus members and the CSU Pueblo community to participate in a Veteran’s Day ceremony at 8:45 a.m. at the Southeast Asia Memorial.  The event includes a fly over from Doss Aviation and the Student Veterans of America Club on campus will do the laying of the wreath.  CSU Pueblo will honor the memory of fallen soldiers with a traditional Volley of Three, consisting of firing rifles three times with the Pueblo Veteran Ritual Team.

The original history of the Volley of Three comes from the Roman era when the battlefield was cleared, if a soldier removing a slain soldier knew the name of the fallen individual, they would call his name three times as a remembrance of his sacrifice.  Then three shots were fired into the air to signify battle could resume.  In addition to this custom, three fired cartridges are placed with a folded flag when presented to next of kin of a fallen soldier.  These three cartridges represent duty, honor and sacrifice of a slain soldier.

In addition to the morning ceremony held on campus, the Military and Veterans Success Center invites CSU Pueblo veterans who are students, faculty or staff to participate in a Veteran’s Day happy hour. The happy hour is hosted at ThunderZone Pizza and Taphouse located across from the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl on Rawlings Blvd.  The event is from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and a University ID is required.  Veterans are encouraged to wear a hat or other apparel that displays their branch of service.

“Our Military and Veteran Advisory Team is a group that meets throughout the year and is comprised of Pueblo community members and many campus stakeholders.  The team planned a fun event to honor our veterans this year that allowed for camaraderie, we hope many of our campus community veterans will join us,” said Barela.

For more information about the Veteran’s Day events contact John King at john.king@csupueblo.edu or by calling the Military and Veteran Success Center at 719-549-2910.