Where did you serve and what did you do?

I retired from the US Army as a Sergeant First Class E-7 with over 21 years of Active-Duty Service. I served in Viet Nam, Korea and Germany and spent my last 9 years as a Senior Personnel Administrative Sergeant at Fort Custer Training Center in August, MI at the Regional Training Site-Maintenance. I became an instructor teaching MOS 92A to Active Duty and Reserve soldiers MOSQ training for overseas deployment.

How are you Still Serving?

Since retiring I took a class on first time honeybee keeper at Michigan State University – Extension on a course called “Heroes To Hives”. This is a 9 month course to teach Veterans and Disabled Veterans beekeeping and how to become a Farm or Business in beekeeping. I graduated from this course in 2017 and now I am teaching this course Hands-On at my VFW Post 2406 in Charlotte, MI. I just graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension and became a Certified Master Beekeeper to teach and test beekeepers courses through the Great Planes Masters Beekeeping Course to become a Master Beekeeper. I am a Past All-American District 8 Commander (2022-2023) and a Past All-State Post Commander (2017-2018) and have been the Post Service Officer/Membership Chairman for over 10 years and still serving.

Why do you do it?

I love working for Veterans and their families. I have been teaching Heroes To Hives for over 4 years and now I am expanding my teaching into the Great Planes Master Beekeeping to teach beekeepers advanced knowledge in beekeeping up to becoming a Master Beekeeper. Working as the Post Service Officer and being a personnel records specialist helps me to view service members medical records and discharges to verify their eligibility into the VFW and help them with VA issues. I love to help families with getting VA benefits and burial information for their loved ones.