Young Conservatives honor veterans

The Young Conservatives of Indiana handed out yellow ribbons to students on Veterans Day to honor American veterans and show support for troops currently overseas.\nRepresentatives stood outside Ballantine Hall, Woodburn Hall and the Kelley School of Business Friday, giving away yellow ribbons and papers with a quote about veterans from President Bush. \n"We think it's really important that we pay homage to our veterans," said senior Chase Downham, president of the Young Conservatives of Indiana. "We wanted to make sure that there was at least some representation in support of veterans."\nThe group had planned on handing out the ribbons from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. but ran out shortly before 1 p.m. Downham said almost everyone who was offered a ribbon took one, but a few declined the ribbons because of ideological differences.\n"People can disagree about politics, but the one thing we should all agree on is support for the troops," Downham said.\nAlthough the Young Conservatives of Indiana is not a group formed solely for the purpose of supporting veterans, like the IU Veterans Club, it felt it was an appropriate cause for its organization.\n"We are using this opportunity not only to support veterans but also to support people who are over there right now," said freshman Jessica Walter, who handed out ribbons in front of Ballantine. "We really want to make this not about either party. We just want to make it about them."\nDownham said he believes IU students should observe and care about Veterans Day because some of their fellow students are veterans themselves.\n"A lot of IU students are veterans," Downham said. "You don't always know it or recognize it, but a lot of our peers are veterans."\nThe IU Veterans Group serves as a social group for student veterans. Junior Matt Rybka, president of the IU Veterans Group, said he felt Veterans Day is an important time to honor who he feels are true heroes.\n"All too often in the media you hear about a basketball player or a football player who is portrayed as a hero," Rybka said. "To me, those people aren't heroes. The real heroes are serving overseas now or have in the past."\nDownham and Walter said the group decided to hand out ribbons when it realized no other groups on campus would be doing anything similar.\n"We really recognized that this was overlooked," Walter said. "No other groups on campus were doing anything."\nThe importance of honoring veterans, Downham said, stems from the belief that they are the protectors of American freedom.\n"There's a lot of things as young college students that we take for granted," Downham said. "We've seen a lot of support from the students for the veterans"