Where did you serve and what did you do?
Southeast Asia, I corp. USMC. I was a crazy young kid always volunteering for anything coming down the pike. Many patrols and two purple hearts later. I came home with a different outlook on life. Disgruntled and searching, fast forward to January 1991.42 years old, Divorced, unemployed and wondering what to do next. I volunteered, once again, for Desert Storm. This time as an Army National guardsman. 21 years later I retired a much happier person. I’m a retired Firefighter/ Medic, and retired ANG 1sg.
How are you #StillServing?
As a disgruntled Vietnam vet. I got as far away from anything government and military as I could. I walked away from many great jobs because of PTSD. Years later my career as a firefighter allowed to restore chaos to the lives of families. A job I truly loved. As a Guardsman I was able to impart my knowledge as a combat veteran and show my soldiers that pride in ones service and in ones country is a badge of honor and not something to hang your head over. Today I am our posts Quartermaster. Never thought accounting, bookkeeping, and keeping our post supplied and solvent would be satisfying. I enjoy helping lead our post in a positive direction throughout the current problems faced by so many.
Why do you do it?
I like making a difference. As a Marine, then later as a firefighter/medic, and then as a National guard soldier, I have seen changes over 70 years of what it means to be American. I like guiding our new members in our post. Tell them that we are a post for all veterans and how they are an important part of our success. I do it because it NEEDS to be DONE. CFWs across our nation need to realize that young veterans today want to not only feel wanted, they want to be needed! Their choices have made them a part of our brother and sisterhood of caring enough to step up and be counted. As “Nam vets” get older, We need the younger Vets to carry the toarches into tomorrow. They stand on the backs of those at : Chau”te teri” Normandy, Tarawa, Saul, frozen Chosin, Khe Shan, Phu Bai, Kuwait, Bagdad, Faluja, Kandahar and Kabul. The list grows. They should be proud of their heritage. WE as a post are proud of them