Where did you serve and what did you do?
I served in the United States Navy from 1995 to 2007 as a Yeoman. Iraq War Veteran while deployed on the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72). I started with NMCB4 Seabee Battalion out of Port Hueneme Ca. I then worked with COMUSNAVSO out of Puerto Rico. After serving on the Lincoln, my last duty station was running the Testing section for the Seattle MEPS.
How are you #StillServing?
I am currently the Service Officer for VFW Post 2337 in Clearlake. I am the President of the Lake County United Veterans Council which is a collaboration of all the Veterans organizations, making it one voice for our local area. I am the DAV Chapter 83 President as well as a board member on Congressman Mike Thompsons Advisory Committee. I am also the president of our local Vet Connect / Stand Down group that is currently coordinating a Stand Down for this September. My every day job is working as a Consolidated Veterans Representative (Combined DVOP and LVER) for the state of California helping Veterans find employment.
Why do you do it?
When I got of the Navy, I was lost and had no idea what I was going to do. After bouncing around from a couple of different jobs I was able to land with EDD helping Veterans find employment and homeless Veterans get into housing. Living in a rural area we don’t have the resources that are available in the big cities and it has become my passion to change that for my local area.