- November 16, 2025
Retired Lt. Col. Arnold Leeks is proud that he served his country.
A veteran of the National Guard, Leeks dedicated almost 40 years to the military. He learned a lot, he said. It made him a more rounded person.
"I love my country," Leeks said. "When you put that uniform on and you walk out there and people are thanking you for your service, it's a good feeling."
Leeks is one of the veterans part of the Military Officers Association of America Halifax Area Chapter, who in conjunction with the Volusia County Veterans Council, will host a Veterans Day Ceremony at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at Veterans Memorial Plaza, located at 125 E. Orange Ave.
This is the first time this ceremony will be held. Vietnam Veteran Skip Keating, of Ormond Beach, spearheaded the program, which will feature two speakers: Marine Corps veteran Sgt. Matthew Welch, an Ormond Beach native who was stationed in the Persian Gulf and Somalia; and Army Command Sgt. Maj. Don Felt, of Daytona Beach, who served for 30 years.
Keating, who served in the Army, said they wanted to specifically recognize sergeants.
"The guys who really put in the effort, the guys that do all the work, day in and day out, are sergeants," Keating said.
Keating served for 27 years in the military, serving overseas in Vietnam, Germany and Korea, as well as stateside at Fort Sill, Fort Benning, Fort Bragg and Fort Jackson, mostly as a field artillery officer.
He said he wants the community to honor veterans.
"Veterans stand proud of the community," he said. "Please don't forget about them. They enrich the community."
MOAA's mission is to support veterans and their families through active engagement at the local, state and national levels through advocating for legislative priorities and protecting benefits for veterans and their spouses. One of the local efforts for the Halifax Chapter is visiting the Emory L. Bennett Memorial Veterans Nursing Home for bagels and bingo once a month.
Leeks, who worked with Keating while in the service, recently took part in that for the first time.
"We served them coffee and bagels and they played bingo," Leeks said. "We did this for about an hour, and I felt really good walking out the door after doing that this [Monday] morning."
Leeks first came to Volusia County shortly after completing basic and advanced training for the Florida Army National Guard in 1977. He enrolled in Bethune-Cookman University, then called Bethune-Cookman College, all the while remaining part of the National Guard.
He was part of an infantry unit for six years and then later was accepted into the Florida Officer Candidate School.
In 1983, he served as a second lieutenant in the Florida Army National Guard as a medical services corps officer. In the years that followed, Leeks was involved with Hurricane Andrew relief efforts in South Florida, treating over 450 people in one month. From there, he was promoted to first lieutenant and later to captain.
During this period, he was also working as a public relations specialist for Florida Power and Light.
For two years, Leeks served as the aide-de-camp to the adjutant general for the Florida National Guard. Once that concluded, he decided he wanted to work in the National Guard full time. So, that's what he did.
"I'm very fortunate," Leeks said. "Opportunities just came upon me, and I made the right the decisions at the time with the help of my wife, Dorcas Leeks."
Leeks worked in the National Guard for the next 18 years, during which he was deployed to Iraq for a year.
"I was commander of that unit, took them overseas and brought all of my soldiers back from overseas," Leeks said.
He then was selected to become the deputy state surgeon for the Florida Army National Guard. He fulfilled that role for seven years and then spent a couple more as a state mobilization officer. That's when he was deployed for another tour, this time to Afghanistan as a senior medical operations officer.
Leeks fell ill with Legionnaires' disease and had to be returned to the U.S. in 2016. Following his recovery, he spent another year in the military before retiring and taking a job at the Pentagon, where he worked for eight years until retiring last April and moving back to Volusia County, to the city of Port Orange.
As he reflects on his service, Leeks said he enjoyed his work — and that Veterans Day is an important day to honor all those who served.
"I think the military was the right move for me, because it was a structured organization," Leeks said. "... You have to do things right because a lot of things that you do in the military relies on your knowledge, and it could be life or death for not only you, but for your fellow soldiers as well. So it rounded me out. It made me a good person."
