WFAE 90.7 - Charlotte's NPR News Source
Why I Served: Lizz Baxter
By Joe Kendrick
November 11, 2026 at 7:32 AM EST
Lizz Baxter’s grandfather was in the Navy and told her stories about traveling the world. That stayed with her. She also saw peers in her small town join up, and she wanted to see the world and have a way out of town. An Army recruiter promised her a station in Germany, and she enlisted at 17, becoming a culinary specialist.
After the military, Baxter studied international relations and worked in higher education, immigration and now, real estate. She says service is larger than oneself, modeled for her by her grandparents' giving back to their community.
The following has been lightly edited for clarity.
Joe Kendrick: Can you tell us your name, what branch of service you were in, and what role did you serve?
Lizz Baxter: Yes, my name is Lizz Baxter, and I was in the Army and I served as a culinary specialist.
Kendrick: Why did you serve?
Baxter: So, there's a lot of versions of this story that I kind of went over in my head, but I think that it does go back to when I was singing World War II songs on a catamaran with my grandfather, who was in the Navy. And I just remember that he would tell me that he got to travel the world and continue to travel the world as I was growing up, and I got to hear a lot about those stories.
So, when it was time for me to be in high school and I heard others joining the military from my small town, it sparked my interest in seeing the world and a little bit of ticket out of a small town.
Kendrick: Where did you wind up traveling? Where did you serve?
Baxter: So, when I went to the recruiter's office, they sweet-talked me by telling me I could go to Germany and I was I was I was in after that.
Kendrick: For Veterans Day, do you have a message for the public or perhaps veterans or maybe both?
Baxter: So, I think that serving in the military is just larger than ourselves. Doing it at a very young age, I'm not sure that I understood that, but I saw it in my grandparents and I saw how they gave back to their community.
And even though I wouldn't consider myself maybe from a military family, I just saw the service that continued and it's something that we bring back to our communities and we're very proud of and we try to understand, you know, what others are going through in the world and get to see that and it just we're very we try to be well-rounded and bring give back to our communities.
Kendrick: What's it been like since you've left the military?
Baxter: I've done a lot of stuff since leaving the military. So, I was 17 when I went in, so I really wanted to go to school. So, I went to school for international relations because I had been abroad, and it was very interesting to me, and then I wanted to help students study abroad and so I worked as a in higher education helping students study abroad and international students come to the country.
I have worked in immigration and now I am in real estate, which is kind of interesting.
It all ties together through these very complex processes and documentation and a lot of the training that I had probably from the military just being able to understand complex ideas and then break them down for people who need it done quickly or there's a lot of loopholes, and so I've taken kind of this roundabout trip to get where I am today.
Kendrick: Can you give us a best case scenario for veterans after leaving the military and what people might not know about veterans' capabilities?
Baxter: Yes. So, I have been a strong advocate in the veteran community, especially for people who are transitioning out. When I transitioned, I was back in my small town. People didn't really understand my experience and so I think it's really important for other veterans to stay connected to veterans that are getting out. A lot of people are retiring.
They have a long-term that they've been in the military and they don't necessarily understand how the civilian world works and I think it's very important for us to get together and continue to stay involved in the community and sometimes there's cases where people just have a very hard time adjusting and I would say it's probably because they're they are avoiding other veterans or maybe avoiding that military background and so it's not something maybe they want to do immediately or feel comfortable, but eventually finding that community of people that understand who you don't have to explain how the military works and um just you can just be heard and have your own experience.
Kendrick: Can you speak to the hurdles and challenges that veterans may face today and what you might say to veterans who face those struggles?
Baxter: Very good question. So, I think that the structure of the military is what's really challenging because you have structure. Everybody knows the rules. Everybody follows the same rules and when you get out in the civilian world, it's just not like that and it's very jarring.
You really have to use your skills that you learned in the military, the resilience and all of the things that we learned to overcome things, but it seems like it should be easier sometimes when you get in the civilian world because you're not in a combat situation or you're not in these very extreme situations, but just to know it's okay that you know, you can experience this world and that it's not just you.
It's not just the person getting out of the military. That structure is just different in the civilian world.
Kendrick: What did I leave out? What would you like to add?
Baxter: Hmm, I think that I thought about this before I came here to to think about how we especially when we're very young going in and how the military can really shape your life in good ways.
You hear a lot of stories of veterans who are struggling or who are suffering and we need to remember that we're very resilient and that we can overcome; we've already overcome a lot and we can continue to overcome things and that you're not alone. That there's a community out there and you don't have to suffer some of the challenges that you hear about for veterans. They don't have to suffer alone.
Kendrick: Thank you for taking the time to share your story and thanks for your service.
Baxter: Thank you so much.
After the military, Baxter studied international relations and worked in higher education, immigration and now, real estate. She says service is larger than oneself, modeled for her by her grandparents' giving back to their community.
The following has been lightly edited for clarity.
Joe Kendrick: Can you tell us your name, what branch of service you were in, and what role did you serve?
Lizz Baxter: Yes, my name is Lizz Baxter, and I was in the Army and I served as a culinary specialist.
Kendrick: Why did you serve?
Baxter: So, there's a lot of versions of this story that I kind of went over in my head, but I think that it does go back to when I was singing World War II songs on a catamaran with my grandfather, who was in the Navy. And I just remember that he would tell me that he got to travel the world and continue to travel the world as I was growing up, and I got to hear a lot about those stories.
So, when it was time for me to be in high school and I heard others joining the military from my small town, it sparked my interest in seeing the world and a little bit of ticket out of a small town.
Kendrick: Where did you wind up traveling? Where did you serve?
Baxter: So, when I went to the recruiter's office, they sweet-talked me by telling me I could go to Germany and I was I was I was in after that.
Kendrick: For Veterans Day, do you have a message for the public or perhaps veterans or maybe both?
Baxter: So, I think that serving in the military is just larger than ourselves. Doing it at a very young age, I'm not sure that I understood that, but I saw it in my grandparents and I saw how they gave back to their community.
And even though I wouldn't consider myself maybe from a military family, I just saw the service that continued and it's something that we bring back to our communities and we're very proud of and we try to understand, you know, what others are going through in the world and get to see that and it just we're very we try to be well-rounded and bring give back to our communities.
Kendrick: What's it been like since you've left the military?
Baxter: I've done a lot of stuff since leaving the military. So, I was 17 when I went in, so I really wanted to go to school. So, I went to school for international relations because I had been abroad, and it was very interesting to me, and then I wanted to help students study abroad and so I worked as a in higher education helping students study abroad and international students come to the country.
I have worked in immigration and now I am in real estate, which is kind of interesting.
It all ties together through these very complex processes and documentation and a lot of the training that I had probably from the military just being able to understand complex ideas and then break them down for people who need it done quickly or there's a lot of loopholes, and so I've taken kind of this roundabout trip to get where I am today.
Kendrick: Can you give us a best case scenario for veterans after leaving the military and what people might not know about veterans' capabilities?
Baxter: Yes. So, I have been a strong advocate in the veteran community, especially for people who are transitioning out. When I transitioned, I was back in my small town. People didn't really understand my experience and so I think it's really important for other veterans to stay connected to veterans that are getting out. A lot of people are retiring.
They have a long-term that they've been in the military and they don't necessarily understand how the civilian world works and I think it's very important for us to get together and continue to stay involved in the community and sometimes there's cases where people just have a very hard time adjusting and I would say it's probably because they're they are avoiding other veterans or maybe avoiding that military background and so it's not something maybe they want to do immediately or feel comfortable, but eventually finding that community of people that understand who you don't have to explain how the military works and um just you can just be heard and have your own experience.
Kendrick: Can you speak to the hurdles and challenges that veterans may face today and what you might say to veterans who face those struggles?
Baxter: Very good question. So, I think that the structure of the military is what's really challenging because you have structure. Everybody knows the rules. Everybody follows the same rules and when you get out in the civilian world, it's just not like that and it's very jarring.
You really have to use your skills that you learned in the military, the resilience and all of the things that we learned to overcome things, but it seems like it should be easier sometimes when you get in the civilian world because you're not in a combat situation or you're not in these very extreme situations, but just to know it's okay that you know, you can experience this world and that it's not just you.
It's not just the person getting out of the military. That structure is just different in the civilian world.
Kendrick: What did I leave out? What would you like to add?
Baxter: Hmm, I think that I thought about this before I came here to to think about how we especially when we're very young going in and how the military can really shape your life in good ways.
You hear a lot of stories of veterans who are struggling or who are suffering and we need to remember that we're very resilient and that we can overcome; we've already overcome a lot and we can continue to overcome things and that you're not alone. That there's a community out there and you don't have to suffer some of the challenges that you hear about for veterans. They don't have to suffer alone.
Kendrick: Thank you for taking the time to share your story and thanks for your service.
Baxter: Thank you so much.