November 2023 Volume 1, Issue 11

FIRE WATCH

MAGAZINE

NOVEMBER 2023

UNDER COVER OF NIGHT A Journey with Captain Jack

MISSION LINK

Local Non-Profits Making a Difference Equine Therapy Suicide Prevention Service Education Alternate Therapy

INGRAINED IN LIFE, HONORED IN DEATH

A Mission to Honor All Who Served

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Giving Tuesday is an actual organization based out of New York City, and in 2012, they started a movement “that Unleashes the Power of Radical Generosity Around the World.” The organization’s goal is to inspire generosity. They don’t necessarily want you to donate to them; they want you to be inspired by them. When you visit www.givingtuesday.org, you will find many ways to participate in the annual celebration through Toolkits, which have been provided and include a hundred different ways to express generosity.

For Individuals, you can discover a local fundraiser, or community drive or coordinate an event with others in your area to give back to a local cause. If you want to volunteer, you can always check with www.VolunteerMatch.org, where local organizations post opportunities to help.

If you are interested in assisting local veteran organizations, we invite you to visit

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www.VeteransAdventureNetwork.org to find incredible missions and objectives focused on improving veteran lives.

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NOVEMBER 2023

November is full of commemorated days.

There is Thanksgiving, the day set aside for us to be thankful, yet the next day, Black Friday, we are cussing each other out in shopping center check-out lines. One day is full of joy, and the next is a bunch of self-serving consumerism. To top it off, the following Cyber Monday sucks every remaining penny from our already stressed bank accounts. Oh, the joy.

One day in November could be the most important of them all, albeit least known. #GivingTuesday. This ‘newer’ commemorated day falls on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and is a day to inspire generosity worldwide.

It is a day to give to your favorite causes and charities. That is if you have any money left over from the weekend’s debacles. #GivingTuesday is an International Day of Charity. While some national organizations may come to mind, many local Tampa Bay area organizations could use your support.

In this edition of FireWatch Magazine, we share stories of local organizations that work hard each day to provide meaningful service to veterans, active-duty service members, first responders, and their families. These organizations work to save lives, provide resources, educate, and improve veterans’ lives in many ways.

FireWatch will also feature some close friends who are not veterans but give so much to the veteran community. #TEAMFIREWATCH has the distinct honor of meeting people every day who honor and serve veterans, and there is almost always an incredible story behind that.

We hope you are inspired by one or more of the stories and missions within this month’s pages of FireWatch Magazine and choose to set aside just a little bit for this year’s #GivingTuesday.

Each story includes contact information for the featured organization, enabling you to reach out and donate directly.

CONTENTS

From the Editor

A Collaborative 9/11 Non-Profit Organizations Team Up to Commemorate 9/11 Who is VAN? Meet the Veterans Adventure Network Ingrained in Life, Honored in Death A Mission to Honor All Who Served Battle Briefs & War Stories Under Cover of Night A Journey with Captain Jack A Teacher’s Thoughts on Veterans Day Kristy Verdi, Learn & Serve Tampa Operation Toy Soldier

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What to Wear?

The Promise of Toys

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Under Cover of Night

A Journey with Captain Jack

VETERAN OWNED AND OPERATED. Ingrained in Life, Honored in Death

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Mission Link Local Non-Profit Spotlight Peaceful Pastures Ranch Learn and Serve Tampa Without Glory The Frog and Captain America Veteran Voices Who Helped You?

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The Power of Employment

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Veteran Health & Wellness

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Just Shoot Me Now! Mission Link Local Non-Profit Spotlight My Warriors Place Suicide Prevention Training Institute Cryo-Eeze22 National Family Week American Legion Post 108 Carol West An Answered Prayer Vet Tips Buying a Home with Your VA Eligibility Part One

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THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO SERVE. November 2023

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A Collaborative 9/11

THE VETERANS ADVENTURE NETWORK TEAMS UP WITH THE TRAVIS MANION FOUNDATION AND LEARN AND SERVE TAMPA FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE 9/11 MEMORIAL WEEKEND

Months of preparation went into two major 9/11 commemorative events held in Tampa on the September weekend just before the 22nd anniversary of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks. Local and national non-profit organizations came together to honor the sacrifice of American lives on 9/11, and the others lost since that dreadful day.

Work began months before the events to secure locations, materials, volunteers, sponsors, and participants. The mission of the local non-profit Veterans Adventure Network (VAN) is to “do more together,” which is precisely what happened in this collaborative effort.

9/11 HEROES RUN

As VAN began preparations for its 3rd Annual Fallen Hero 5K | 10K, longtime Race Director Beau Higgins for the Annual Travis Manion Foundation 9/11 Heroes Run approached its leadership. These two events had been held in prior years to honor the same people and raise funds for similar causes. To Mr. Higgins, it only made sense to combine the efforts of both organizations to create an even more significant impact on military families.

So, on September 9th in Tampa, the day began in the early morning hours with a stream of headlights headed into Al Lopez Park. Nearly 50 volunteers arrived before daylight to participate in the event by running the onsite registration, GORUCK Weighin, water stations, and more. Leading the team of volunteers for the second year in a row was Rick Cervis, who can be found throughout central Florida and the world, supporting events near and dear to his heart. Sponsors, vendors, and guests continued to arrive as the sun broke through, and at 7:30 A.M., the Wear Blue Run to Remember team held the day’s first ceremony with a Circle of Remembrance to honor the fallen.

The event’s Master of Ceremonies was Beau Higgins, with special guest Maj. Gen. James “Hammer” Hartsell USMC (ret.) and a National Anthem Performance by Mary Sarkisian as the Alonso High School JROTC Color Guard posted the Colors.

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The event featured over 600 runners, ruckers, and walkers, who each received a commemorative T-shirt and Participation Medal for finishing their respective challenges. Winners of the different age groups received additional awards and prizes from Jabra and the Travis Manion Foundation.

After crossing the finish line, the Title Sponsor, StreetLight Taco, treated participants to chips and guacamole.

Complementary CLIF Bars and Liquid Death Water were also provided. Vendors inside VAN’s Veterans Village included national sponsor USAA, Local Sponsors Toyota of Tampa Bay and Martin Security Services, and many other VAN Business partners who showed up to share in the day’s events. VAN’s Veterans Village included a concert by a local band, The Extras.

Sarge’s BBQ and LatteLuv4U offered food and beverages.

9/11 MEMORIAL AT FOWLER FIELD

2977… The number of souls lost on September 11th, 2001.

It is a number that is hard to truly grasp until you have seen it represented in front of you. On September 10th, 2023, Learn and Serve Tampa partnered with the Veterans Adventure Network to lay out an individual placard for every person who died on September 11th, 2001. The result was a 100-foot by 200-foot American flag containing the name and location of death for every soul lost that day.

Memorial Weekend

Local students joined the non-profit organizations to help install the H-Frames into the 2977 corrugated 9x12 signs that would ultimately become the giant American Flag. Afterward, volunteers began respectfully placing the placards in a designed order that enabled any visitor to quickly find a person based on their location of death on September 11th. In the flag’s Field of Blue were those lost at the Pentagon and on the four aircraft that perished. The South Tower of the World Trade Center was primarily depicted in white, and the firefighters in red. Because of the many people lost in the North Tower, their names spread across all three flag colors.

On September 11th, 2023, students from Pizzo K-8 School walked onto the field to place biographies they had written for those who had perished in the Pentagon.

Representatives of Toyota of Tampa Bay laid special white roses next to the names of the six victims whose birthdays were on September 11th.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The monument was made possible by American Visual Brands, who donated the 2977 signs and H-Frames for the project. Learn and Serve Tampa and the Veterans Adventure Network also wished to express a special “thank you” to the team at MJI Media for rolling up their sleeves and helping them complete the placement of the placards and to Don Hinst, Commander of American Legion Post 108, for his support and dedication to the project.

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Who is VAN?

VAN’s mission is to “Restore Connection” within the veteran community.

VAN engages the civilian and local business community, corporations, and other non-profit organizations to support free veteran events, event tickets to local venues, adventure opportunities, and resources.

At VAN, we are all about FUN! VAN Signature Events are held annually and designed to engage the military and first-responder communities. These events raise money for VAN programs and non-profit partner missions while providing an enjoyable experience for the community.

VAN Veteran Free Events are held annually and provide unique opportunities for veterans and their families to experience exciting new adventures like Equine Therapy, kayaking, snorkeling, and private beach days, all for FREE! VAN Adventures are exclusive opportunities for a veteran and their family or friends. Each year, VAN creates local and statewide adventures for qualifying veterans. Do you know a veteran who has always wanted to do something but didn’t have the means to do it? VAN Adventures might be the answer. Our 2024 packages include Deep Sea Fishing for 4, Hunting, Shooting, and Fishing adventures for up to 6, Tiki Boat Adventures for up to 6, and much more.

VAN is Elevating the Veteran Experience in Tampa Bay! VAN is currently looking for Brand Ambassadors and Volunteers for various committees within the organization. Are you a great event planner?

Do you enjoy outdoor activities? Do you love Veterans?

Visit www.VeteransAdventureNetwork.org to find our VAN Volunteers tab under ‘About VAN.’ For additional information on how to become a VAN Business Partner, VAN Volunteer, or Veteran Member, reach out today at info@VeteransAdventureNetwork.org

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Ingrained in Life, Honored in Death

By: Toni Hedstrom, Managing Editor and Contributing Writer, FireWatch Magazine

There is something in the blood of a military child. Growing up in a patriotic home enormously impacts a child’s world perception. For children of the Vietnam era, there is a protective pride for the grand ole’ flag.

Vietnam veterans and their supporters didn’t have community support. Still, they had each other, and their children were brought up to respect and honor the flag at all costs. Veterans of that era knew what they were fighting for, even if most of their country didn’t. They fought for each other.

An upbringing enveloped in patriotism is what ultimately became the foundation for Veterans Funeral Care in Clearwater, Florida.

Jim Rudolph, the president and founder of Veterans Funeral Care, grew up the son of a paratrooper: J. Rudolph Sr.—“Rudy” to his friends and family. Jim had not served in the military but had been raised with an ingrained sense of duty to respect and honor military service thanks to his father.

“My father was a paratrooper and the toughest guy in any room he walked into. He was also the life of the party. You would get to pick which Rudy you wanted to deal with. Trust me, you wanted the life of the party, Rudy. You wanted to stay on his good side because it was unpleasant to be on his bad side. Even still, I grew up idolizing him. Being a military kid, I already knew the military community as a tribe that is very possessive and protective of each other.” Jim often quotes Admiral Bill McCraven, who says, “It’s the military family that takes care of the veteran.” This is a concept Jim believes to be absolutely true.

Jim and his siblings were raised to know the difference between a sergeant and a sergeant major. These continued lessons about military service were a big part of Rudolph’s upbringing and shaped him as an adult.

And so it was, by happenstance, one day when Jim was reading the employment ads in the local newspaper, that he found his dream job. Jim had spent the summer cutting the grass of neighborhood yards and needed to secure employment during his upcoming Junior year of high school. Jim was fifteen then, and most of his friends worked at the local McDonald’s or the Tyrone Square Mall.

But an ad in the paper for a grass cutter and car washer seemed SEE INGRAINED, PG 10

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Ingrained in Life, INGRAINED, FROM PG 9

right up Jim’s alley. Little did he know the work would be at a local funeral home. “I probably would never have gone to the interview had I known the job was at a funeral home.”

Says Jim. Undoubtedly, working at a funeral home brought a bit of stigma. But, before long, Jim’s duties had elevated to parking cars for funeral guests, which required him to wear a suit to school on workdays. Complete with shiny black oxford shoes, a button-up shirt, and a tie, Jim began to get noticed by the girls at school. Jim’s high school years were the best of his life, and just like any high school kid, getting his driver’s license was life-changing. “With my driver’s license, I could drive the hearse during funeral services. How many kids did you know in school who drove a hearse?” exclaims Jim. One job led to another at Reese Funeral Home in Seminole, Florida. Jim worked there until leaving for Junior College.

During his employment, what impacted Jim the most were all the times he witnessed the families hugging and shaking the hand of Mr. Reese, Owner of Reese Funeral Home, after each funeral service. Having been raised in a solid Baptist home, Jim recognized the funeral experience as a type of ministry. “I remember paying great attention to Mr. Reese’s interactions with people. That was the part of the job that appealed to me.”

Jim admits to craving human interaction, and the thought of working in the ‘back-room’ jobs, such as preparing bodies or operating the crematorium, was not appealing. “When I recognized a Funeral Director as an event coordinator and understood the emotional impact I could have on people, I realized I had found my way.” Says Jim. Jim found that being a self-employed Funeral Director required owning a Funeral Home or working for someone else. Since well-established funeral homes in Tampa and Pinellas Counties had already been around for a hundred years, Jim didn’t see the benefit of opening the ‘Jim Rudolph Funeral Home.’

Jim says, “I literally remember the day I woke up at about two in the morning with an epiphany. I would open a funeral home for veterans. I greatly understood military language and deeply appreciated military rank and title. So, it felt like a perfect fit.” As Jim continued his research, he was astonished to find no other funeral directors in the area who specialized in military funeral service. “To this day,” shares Jim, “I have not met another Funeral Director who knows that a Bronze Battle Star is different from a Bronze Star Medal.”

That is how Veterans Funeral Care was born. In 2000,

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Veterans Funeral Care became the first full-service funeral home in America built around the military and veteran community, focusing on assisting with Veterans’ benefits and arranging military honors. Jim obtained a federal trademark for Veterans Funeral Care and quickly gained a reputation as a military funeral specialist. Later, Jim was invited to testify before the General Accounting Office (GAO) for Veteran Affairs, the office responsible for veteran benefits as part of the annual budget for the United States of America. The GAO had reached out because they needed the knowledge of a funeral director with experience in the military process related to funerals. Veterans Funeral Care’s reputation proved them to be the best and purest service for veterans by being prolific in manners of veteran death benefits.

The GAO’s inquiry was focused on measurements for the budget. The GAO would budget for veterans’ benefits each year, and the allocated money would remain in the account.

The office’s use of actuarial tables for calculation was the process in question. Per Jim, the estimates were correct, but the real problem was all the veterans who would die without filing a claim for the money owed.

“Veterans are told about their end-of-life benefits when they leave the military. But, in your twenties and thirties, you’re not thinking about the National Cemetery or how much cash you will get when you die. That is my job as a funeral director. We must be knowledgeable and prepared to coach a family in mourning.” Says Jim. At Veterans Funeral Care, the staff will automatically apply for all benefits the veteran is due. Other funeral homes don’t know about veteran benefits and do not apply for them.

“Recently, Mrs. Little died. We sent her to Arlington National Cemetery because her husband is a retired Major General, and her son-in-law is a retired Lieutenant General. To prepare for Mrs. Little’s funeral, I had five stars sitting at my table. For many funeral directors, that would be a lot of pressure, and it should be. These people have reached the apex of what it means to serve.”

Jim’s knowledge and respect for military matters in service gave him the confidence to start Veterans Funeral Care. “I embrace the responsibility. Everyone on our staff, over 22 people, is either a veteran or the child of a veteran. With that pure love in your heart, veterans are well served.” He explains.

GUNNY

Veterans Funeral Care was honored to do Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Emery’s funeral in 2018. The family had

Honored in Death called numerous funeral homes in the Los Angeles area, but none could talk appropriately about military funerals.

The issue of a technically correct Marine Corps Funeral was paramount to the family. In their frustration, they called Quantico Headquarters of the Marine Corps asking for help, where they were told, “We don’t even help Generals with their funerals. We will do the honors, but you must find your own funeral home.”

The Quantico office provided the Emery family and Gunny’s Manager with Veterans Funeral Care’s contact information as a military funeral specialist. Not long after, Jim received a call from Gunny’s Manager in Los Angeles. After a long conversation, the Manager said, “You’ve had all the answers to our questions. Is there anybody in Los Angeles who does what you do?” Jim told him no but promised to fly a team to Los Angeles, and everyone involved in Gunny’s funeral service would be a Marine or the son of a Marine. “This was such an incredible honor for us,” says Jim, “We had a team in Los Angeles for a week preparing for and running the funeral for Gunny.” The funeral in Los Angeles was for family, his church family, and Hollywood friends. Six months later, Veterans Funeral Care held the Marine Corps honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

THE MUSEUM

Veterans Funeral Care in Clearwater offers a beautiful chapel and military-themed reception area. Still, the heart and soul of the organization is the military museum that Jim Rudolph and his staff proudly procure. One of the museum’s most recognized pieces is the uniform worn by Navy Seal Danny Dietz. Danny was awarded the U.S. Navy’s second highest decoration, the Navy Cross, along with the Purple Heart, for his actions during the War in Afghanistan. He is

also recognized as the first Seal to die in the Lone Survivor Story. The museum also proudly presents the uniform for the 12th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, SGM Gene Overstreet (ret.), who is on the Veterans Funeral Care Board of Directors. “We have mementos from our time with the Emery family, including Gunny’s Challenge Coin. Most pieces in our museum are given to us by families we have served. It is a beautiful way to commemorate their loved ones.

The beloved museum has often been requested to be the resting place for a veteran casket or urn for final viewing ceremonies. “We recently had a funeral for a retired Navy Captain who had served with the Special Operations Command. A service was planned on MacDill to accommodate his many Special Operations Command friends and colleagues. We staged the chapel with museum pieces for him, and the family absolutely loved it.” Explains Jim. The reaction to the museum and its pieces inspires the Veterans Funeral Care team and families who continue to provide pieces to the collection. The families know their mementos will be treated with dignity and respect. “We have Vietnam Vets who have come in, and they see the cot with the mosquito netting and just laugh. It brings back a bad memory that is now a good memory.”

The whole idea is to move people emotionally. “When your dad served 30 years in the Air Force or 26 Years in the Marine Corps., the Flag Presentation to your mother moves you. It is the recognition of a life’s work.” Says Jim.

IN SERVICE

Veterans Funeral Care focuses on ensuring those who have honorably and bravely served their country get every benefit they are entitled to at their time of death. The VFC Staff are trained in military culture and the unique needs of veterans and military families. The team at Veterans Funeral Care will handle every aspect of a service and burial, whether in a private cemetery, a local or out-of-state National Veterans Cemetery, or at Arlington National Cemetery.

To be in the presence of people who understand what it means to be a military family is ultimately the greatest gift when dealing with a loved one’s death. Inspired by his father, Jim Rudolph continues to carry the torch, ensuring families find peace in the knowledge that their loved one is honored and respected as they have earned in military service to this country.

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BATTLE BRIEFS & War Stories by: Ken Smits

What to Wear?

In 1968-1969 Vietnam, I was part of a MACV SOG Unit in Vietnam, a recon unit with missions ‘across the fence.’ That was the term used to describe going across the border into North Vietnam and the countries of Laos and Cambodia. Areas where the U.S. Military was not supposed to be. Our purpose for these missions was to track and record what the NVA was doing, their supply routes, etc.

The jungles of North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were dense. They were called triplecanopied jungles. The trees were 400 feet high with three levels of leaf covering, taller trees above that, and even higher trees above that. It was relatively dark in the middle of the day, like twilight dark.

There were few rules for the SOG Teams, teams of men that ranged from 4 to 12 per team.

Since Americans were not supposed to be in these regions, the U.S. Army didn’t regulate what you wore. If you were caught or killed, the U.S. Government would deny sending you there.

They always maintained deniability. There really was no limit to what we could do. If you wanted to wear tropical tops with your standard-issue pants, you could. There was no dress code like the regular military had. You wore whatever you felt was the best camouflage. We all learned quickly to camouflage our uniforms with pieces

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of branches, twigs, and leaves.

In 1968 and 1969, the standard uniform for the U.S. Military was jungle fatigues, but they were O.D. (olive drab green); there was no pattern or anything on them. So, when you were out in the jungle, you stood out.

The South Vietnamese Army and some of their elite forces, like the Korean ROK special forces guys, wore a tiger stripe pattern uniform. These uniforms provided really good camouflage in the South Vietnam Jungles, which were lighter and less dense. But the U.S. Army OD Green and the South Vietnamese Army Tiger Stripe uniforms stood out in the Northern Vietnam Jungles.

It is important to remember that there were two classes of Vietcong. The Vietcong from the north were well-trained, extremely good soldiers.

Then, there were Vietcong from the South, mostly local recruits, many of whom had never even fired a weapon before. They would be given a weapon and six rounds and be told, “Okay, go kill an American.” I brought this up because it was the Northern Vietcong we needed to emulate to maintain anonymity. The Northern Vietcong wore black uniforms, so we began to dye our uniforms black.

When we were up there, Laos, Cambodia,

and North Vietnam, the Vietcong didn’t expect us there. We weren’t supposed to be there. The U.S. Government advertised that we didn’t go there, that the area was ‘off limits’ to U.S. forces.

So, if a Recon Team came across a group of NVA (North Vietnamese Army), they would have a split three or four seconds before the NVA realized that they were not one of them. We dressed like them, used the same weapons as them, like Chinese and Soviet weapons, and even our gear was NVA gear. The only thing we didn’t wear were their boots. We couldn’t fit in them. We had regular jungle boots but with two different types of treads. They also had additional features; one was strapped to

the boot to make it appear you were walking barefoot. The other had steel plating in the bottom of the boot, so bungee sticks couldn’t pierce the boot if you stepped into a bungee pit.

The other crucial item of clothing we used was our gaiters. They were worn over the boot to protect us from snakes, leeches, and the highly dense underbrush of the jungle.

When NVA saw a Recon Team from a distance, they would think we were one of them.

The clear giveaway would be the mere size of the American Soldier. We were much taller than any NVA soldier. Their average height was 5 feet or something.

The Montagnards, a hill tribe people from Vietnam, worked alongside U.S. Special Forces and acted as point guards because they looked SEE BATTLE BRIEFS, PG 16

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BATTLE BRIEFS, FROM PG 15 Vietnamese. So, when they dressed like the NVA, it wasn’t easy to distinguish them. We never put a big American at the front.

We were all experts with their weaponry. Most of the weapons were silenced. We had Swiss K SMGs (Swedish K Submachine Guns) that were small enough to break down and go into the back of our packs. They were silenced, and our pistols were silenced. We used pistols a lot. We also used their RPDs (RPD Machine Gun, Soviet), which we would cut down so they were easy to maneuver in the jungle.

On our first day of training for the SOG team, we were told that there was a 200% casualty rate. You knew when you went out, you would get shot up. But, when you were in those northern countries, no one could help you. If you were in the South and ran into trouble, you

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would call in a ‘hatchet team,’ which were large teams of Montagnards and American Soldiers who would come in to get you. But, if you were in Laos, Cambodia, or North Nam’, your only contact with the world was through Covey (Coveys flew missions to support ground forces).

The Covey was a plane that flew around up there, and that is the only thing you had radio contact with.

At night, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, so you would have a pre-planned sleep area to go to. The Covey would leave at night. They would fly back to the base, trade off pilots, refuel, or whatever. But, at night, you were truly alone up there. First thing in the morning, you would get on the radio to contact Covey to

tell them where you were moving.

For the smaller teams, we didn’t have medics on the team. Doctors were flying around up there where Coveys was, in helicopters and such, who could get to you pretty quick. However, it wasn’t good for the helicopters to enter the area. The Vietcong would have 300 to 500 people sitting in tree huts whose whole job was to watch for helicopters coming in. As soon as a helicopter tried to land, it would be swarmed, boxed in from all sides by the enemy. You had to get out of the open area real quick.

When in the jungle, it might take us all day to move a thousand meters, but in the open, we moved fast.

There were no time constraints. You would be given OPS orders and instructions to stay until your mission is completed. Most of the

time, our orders were to monitor a section of road or trail and report what was coming down those pathways. An example would be monitoring a route where you witness a truck convoy of 20 or so pass by. You would radio in the visual, using whatever code names you were assigned, and report their direction of travel. Then, there would be B52s up ahead, waiting about an hour or so from when you radioed in to blast them out. If they were lucky, they would hit the convoy. If they weren’t, they just blew up a bunch of jungle for no reason.

It was a blessing and a necessity that we could wear what we wanted on those missions in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. Without those freedoms, we would have been easily detected by the enemy and far less effective.

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Under Cover of Night A JOURNEY WITH

CAPTAIN JACK It’s hard to read Captain Jack. Something about him screams military, yet he’s not a veteran. But, somehow, somewhere, there’s a connection to the military. Something in his past caused that look in his eye, that manner, and that undying love of American troops. So, we ply him in with promises of a good lunch and a few beers to hear his story.

It is another gorgeous, hot day in Central Florida, and we meet Captain Jack on his boisterous tiki boat, docked and ready for its next set of vacationers. Bahama Mama, as she is christened, is always prepared to take them out for a leisurely ride, bar included, to a variety of destinations. Captain Jack himself is always at the Bahama Mama’s helm with a glimmer in his eye, a joke to tell, and an adventure to seek.

The road that led Captain Jack to where he is now began on Mount Minsi, on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware Water Gap National Park River, in the early ’90s. It was a time in his life when he was just floating around, trying to figure out what he was going to do with his life.

We can’t help but think, knowing the end of this story, that it was all about fate. Being in the right place at the right time.

For now, we will shorten his name to Jack and get back to the “Captain” later.

Thirty years ago, Jack dreamed of climbing Mount Everest and would spend his days rock climbing with his buddy Jesse Junior, training for that next big adventure.

But wait, who is Jesse Junior?

“I met Jesse one day when another buddy of mine and I were driving up the mountain and decided to pull off into a little gravel parking lot near the cliffside. I looked over and saw a rope hanging off the cliff. “‘You see that rope?’ I asked, and my buddy said, ‘Yeah.’

“I walked over and tugged on it, and it felt pretty solid. I hung on it, and it felt pretty solid. I started shimming up the rope and climbed the cliff. When I got to the top and put my hands over

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the side, I saw this guy, sweating his ass off, holding onto the rope and trying to keep himself from going over. He had just summited up to the top and hadn’t pulled his rope up yet, but all of a sudden, there was weight on it. He was holding onto this rope for dear life with no idea what was climbing toward him. So, that is how I became friends with Jesse.”

Through their friendship, Jack learned many rock climbing techniques, including how to properly use ropes and hammer cams into cracks in the face of the rock. The pair climbed together for a few years at the Delaware Gap—until the day…

“Jesse and I were in a parking lot getting ready to climb when a group of crazy-looking dudes that looked like something out of the ‘Lost Boys’ pulled up in a pickup truck. They were screaming, yelling, and hooting like high schoolers. We just kind of waved and started walking with our gear toward the trail.

“One of them yelled, ‘Hey, you guys, have you climbed here before?’ “‘Yeah,’ we answered. Then he asked, ‘Do you mind if we follow you? Tag along and follow you up the cliff?’ “‘No problem,’ we said.”

“When we got to the base of the cliff and began getting our gear together, we noticed a big storm rolling in, and I mean big.

A menacing black storm cloud on the other side of the river was rolling towards us. Jesse and I decided we had climbed here enough and would sacrifice this climb and hunker down to let that monster storm pass.

“But the ‘Lost Boys,’ well, they decided to go for it.”

Jesse and Jack wished the “Lost Boys” good luck, not sure what their actual climbing skills were. But they appeared to be “pretty badass dudes that weren’t afraid of anything,” says Jack.

As the storm rolled in, dumping rain sideways like bullets, Jesse and Jack hid in a wolf den under a cliff ledge, where they found the girlfriend of the “Lost Boys’” lead climber.

She happened to be on coms with him, so Jack asked, “What’s going on? Are they okay?”

But the girlfriend just sat there with a horrific look on her face.

“I asked her how high they were, if they could move, and if they had a good grip. She said her boyfriend, lead ‘Lost Boy,’ thought they were about 700 feet up, but he did not know how

the other guys were doing since they were below him on the same rope.”

The lead climber had frozen in fear. With the rock being wet and slippery, if he made one wrong move and slipped, he would fall and take his climbing mates with him to their deaths.

For Jesse and Jack, there was really no choice. They knew any effort to help the “Lost Boys” could end badly. But they could already see the rocks as the steam evaporated off them and determined that things should be pretty dry by the time they reached a significant height.

“We shimmied up alongside these guys and, one by one, shifted them from their rope clips to ours,” Jack recalled, “The lowest guy clipped on first, and then the next, and the next, until we had them all on our line.”

The climbers were on a 1000-foot cliff leaving another 300 feet for them to reach the summit.

“It was a significant feat to get to the top. When we did, we became brothers; we were all alive,” explains Jack. “We were like, ‘This is freaking crazy!’ We literally thought we were all going to die. There is nothing worse than having climbers you don’t know on your line.”

As they sat there on the summit, catching their breath, Jesse and Jack just had to know, “How many climbs have you guys done?”

As it turned out, the “Lost Boys” revealed they weren’t rock climbers but bungee jumpers.

“Yeah, Brian here; he makes bungee cords. You know, the ones they have at the amusement parks and use on the cranes? We break them in.”

They excitedly explained that Brian made the bungee cords, SEE CAPTAIN JACK, PG 20

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CAPTAIN JACK, FROM PG 19 and the rest of the “Lost Boys” helped to test them.

“Where the hell do you do that?” asks Jack.

“On train trestles! You wanna try?”

“Hell yeah!” Jack replies, excited at the idea.

Jack and Jesse meet the “Lost Boys” the following weekend at an old train trestle in the Jersey mountains.

“They told us to get off the road at a specific mile marker and find a small maintenance access road. We followed this road through a mountainside that had been tunneled through for the train that was no longer running.

“When we came out the other end, there were a bunch of tents set up, a bonfire, and loud music. They were all jumping off the train trestle in the middle of the night. I was like, ‘Wow, this is different. I like you guys!’”

From that moment, Jack became a bungee jumper.

“It was a psychological shift because, with rock climbing, you’re always micromanaging every decision of your next move like a game of chess.”

As a rock climber, you must understand how your next move will impact your next five moves. At any time, you must be able to retrace your steps in case one doesn’t work out.

“So, here I am, jumping off into darkness attached to a giant rubber rope, one hundred feet off the ground and over a river. It shifts your whole thought process. Whether I was rock climbing or bungee jumping, the way my mind processed things was with faith, not fear—everything I did was with faith, not fear.

That became my personal slogan. Every time I faced a critical move, not just in climbing or bungee jumping, but in life, I stuck to that.”

For Jack, it wasn’t a matter of faith that he would be okay.

Rather, it was an acceptance that when it was his time to go, it was his time to go.

“You build a relationship with death. When you have stared death in the eye enough times, you begin to have conversations with him. It’s not fear anymore. It’s more like, ‘So, you’re going to get me this time? You better have a steam roller and come at me at a hundred miles an hour, motherf****. That is the only way you’re going to catch me!’”

Jack developed a relationship with death and became very comfortable facing fear. He did this through faith.

“Every time God has pulled me through, whether it was a

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gas tank empty in the middle of the desert, or the stuff I did overseas, it didn’t matter, it was faith.”

For Jack, this is where it all started. It started with rock climbing, then bungee jumping, and building a mindset over the years to face fear. This ultimately carried over into Jack’s business life, impacting and developing his moral compass.

Jack eventually made his way to Mount Everest.

“When you are talking about that level of height on Mount Everest, one of the biggest fears is letting go of the possibility of death. The real training is not as much physical as it is mental,” Jack explains.

“When I climbed Mount Everest, it wasn’t what I expected physically. In some ways, it was much easier. I was overprepared, and in other ways, I wasn’t. I never expected my legs would feel like they weighed a hundred pounds each on that mountain.”

As Jack shares about the relationships he built, we begin to see that first perceived resemblance of military service. Sharing in extreme danger, protecting each other, having each other’s

back, those experiences build bonds that last a lifetime.

“That last guy on the rope thirty years ago was just here visiting with his daughter. We have been friends for all these years. We remembered a time we were sitting atop a mountain drinking a beer over a campfire. There was a full moon, and the fire was making crazy shadows on our faces. We were laughing and talking about stupid shit.

“I remember telling him, ‘You’re going to be a funny-looking old man.’”

“No, you’re going to be a funny-looking old man!” he countered.

Now, here we are in our fifties going, “Yep, you’re definitely funny looking!”

There was a time when Jack lived in a Denver canyon where he could hear the yells of other climbers from his kitchen window. He lived there with the now “old guy,” Mark, and his girlfriend, who was in the States on a group visa from China.

Jack was working for a Chinese-American joint venture company when his girlfriend’s visa expired, and she had to return to China. He was devastated to see her go and was facing unwelcome changes at work. So when his girlfriend called and said, “Hey, I have an opportunity for you in China if you’re interested,” he decided to go.

In China, Jack became a hiking guide on the Great Wall.

“I would hike across the Great Wall and get paid. I knew nothing about China; I barely used chopsticks. But I ultimately asked that girl to marry me on the Great Wall.”

Life was good for Jack in China. He was there at a time of significant financial growth. China had just been awarded the bid for the Olympics in 2008, and he knew property values would soon go through the roof. He and his new wife purchased a condo, and the value increased tenfold.

There are always those opportunities that happen because you’re in the right place at the right time, and once again, fate seemed to have a hold on Jack.

The condo Jack owned was on the 21st floor, and a condo on the 25th floor had a burst pipe, forcing everyone to evacuate the building for repairs. During the renovations, Jack and his wife stayed in a Beijing hotel.

“I’m just walking around this hotel lobby, bored to death, when I hear a bunch of noise, like a convention or something going on in one of the banquet rooms. I head down the hall and see this white guy, which was uncommon to see—and he is whiter than white! I mean, he is Ronald McDonald white! Super white guy with this big mullet of red hair.

“Turns out, his name is Mike, a Kiwi from New Zealand.”

He asks Jack if he likes to drink, and Jack finds himself invited into a room with a group of old guys smoking stogies and drinking whiskey.

“They were all Kiwis. One of the guys actually wrote speeches for parliament in New Zealand. The other guy reminded me of Mr. McGoo; he was deaf and blind and just laughing all the time, mumbling shit,” Says Jack.

Over the next few weeks, the group invites Jack to numerous parties and dinners.

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CAPTAIN JACK, FROM PG 21 “We went to this amazing restaurant. I will never forget it. A marble lobby, a 30-foot fish tank, and an elevator made of jade stone,” Jack recalls. “When I arrive at the dinner party, there is a giant round table with diplomats from foreign countries, fivestar generals from third-world countries, and reporters from the AP press.

“The next night, it’s the same thing. Over and over. Until finally, I had had enough of not knowing who these guys were and what they were up to. They were clearly trying to bring me into the fold. I just didn’t know for what.”

So Jack invited the mysterious group to his repaired condo on the 21st floor overlooking Beijing. “Mr. McGoo” is there with another guy named Pierre. Everyone was drinking, and they started talking about Jack’s past, his experiences as a guide on the Great Wall of China, and admiring a large sword Jack had mounted on his wall. Things were loosening up, but they wouldn’t explain what they wanted from Jack.

Finally, Jack decides to ask them.

“I don’t know what you guys do, but the dinners have been great. Everything’s been cool. I have enjoyed hanging out with you guys, but clearly, you’ve brought me in for a reason, and you’re not telling me what it is. So, I’m going to tell you something. I’m a warrior for the Lord and the Lord only. If you, or what you do, is not in line with the Lord, I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“I can assure you we are in line with the Lord, and every mission we do is in line with the Lord,” Pierre replies.

But Jack needs proof.

He explains to the group that his brothers back home had all proven themselves men of faith, not fear. He tells them he doesn’t want to go to any more of their dinners or meet any

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more of their people until they can prove they are men of faith, not fear.

“What would you have us do?” Pierre asks.

Jack’s thoughts are racing. He looks up at the sword but decides that it would be going too far, so instead, he pulls a steak knife out of a kitchen drawer.

“Give me your hand,” Jack entreats.

Jack grabs Pierre’s wrist with one hand, holding the steak knife in the other, and places the knife into the skin just below Pierre’s thumb. Being careful not to break the skin.

“This is going to hurt, and you are going to bleed a lot, but don’t worry, I have ceramic tile floors and can mop it up later.”

Jack watches the reactions of the other guests. They all have Get me out of here! etched into their expressions. One of them turned a color of white Jack had never seen before.

“Are you ready, Pierre?”

“I’m ready,” Pierre answers.

Jack increases the pressure on the knife a little more, still not breaking the skin. He holds the knife there for ten or more seconds. Pierre doesn’t flinch.

“Okay, I trust you now,” says Jack.

The group makes their excuses, and Jack imagines them thinking, Crazy American! as he escorts them to the lobby, never expecting to hear from them again.

The next day, the call came with the answers and explanations Jack had been seeking.

“We run North Korean refugees from North Korea to China, and you possess the skills we need.”

Climbing mountains, saving lives, bungee jumping, risking life, overcoming fear through faith, moving to a communist country, living and working there, had all brought Jack to this…

JOB ONE The plan The plan started with bringing a North Korean refugee to a hotel in China to meet with the Associate Press to share his stories about North Korea.

In China, you must register every event in hotels and report exactly what the event is about, or they shut it down. So as cover, they planned to utilize a visiting South Korean pop star who was staying at the same hotel.

They would dress the refugee up like the pop star, with a hoodie, sunglasses, and gold chains. When the limo pulls up, and the real pop star gets out, the Chinese girls would go crazy—imagine young women in the ’50s & ’60s seeing Elvis in-person for the first time.

Jack and the group would take the pop star down the hallway and quickly trade places with the refugee. When management asked what they were doing, they would say the person who came out of the limo was a decoy and this is the real pop star, and they were headed upstairs to meet with the press.

That was the plan.

What actually happened Everything went smoothly until 15 minutes into the interviews when the hotel manager, who could speak English, realized this was no South Korean pop star!

The manager hits the power, and the room goes dark. The reporters all flicked their lighters on and continued to talk, but now, the Chinese undercover military police are on the way.

They plan to lock everyone in the room, confiscate every recording apparatus, and interrogate everyone.

Jack is out of there!

“I’m wearing a suit and a tie. I have my briefcase and trench coat. I see 15 Chinese running up the escalator on my opposite side. I know exactly where they are headed.”

Jack heads out a side door to avoid any screening check and finds a beat-up taxi sitting there. He doesn’t think much about it, just wanting to get out of there. He gives the driver the address of his destination, and as they get near it, he begins pulling out the cash to pay the fare—but the driver just keeps going.

“I can’t speak in Chinese right now because I can’t think in Chinese right now. I am becoming overwhelmed and filled with

adrenaline. I yell for him to ‘Stop the f****** car!’ but he ignores me.”

Jack rips out the flimsy cage that separates him from the driver and leans over, trying to grab the wheel of the taxi. The car is weaving back and forth across the road, narrowly missing pedestrians. Jack tries to get the key out of the ignition, but the driver is hitting his hand and arm. Then Jack grabs the meter off the dashboard and starts smashing the side of the driver’s head.

“His head was banging between my fists and the window of the car. Finally, he became dizzy and discombobulated, giving me a chance to pull out the key and throw it out the window.

“I get out and walk around to his side of the car; I’m ready! I’m going to pull him from the car and beat him to death. I’m in ‘you just f***** with the wrong guy’ mode.

“This guy pulls out another key, starts up the car, and drives off!”

Pumped with adrenaline, Jack makes his way back to his condo, where he finds guards at the front gate. He approaches one of them to ask what is going on and if a taxi driver has been here looking for a foreigner.

“Yes, he wanted to know what unit you lived in, but we sent him away,” the guard answers.

Jack turns to see the beat-up taxi and its crazy driver across the street under a tree, probably watching to see what unit Jack enters.

Jack tells the guards to call the police and the man is arrested, but now Jack must also go down to the police station.

At the station, he is put into a room with a phone and begins to receive phone calls. Not from his guys, but from guys who know his guys.

“Just be cool. We got this. We know what is going on. We got our people on the back end working with the head Chinese foreign affairs guy.”

Jack waits. Hours later, a Chinese man shows up with a translator.

“Turns out he is a Chinese 5-star general or something,” Jack recalls.

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CAPTAIN JACK, FROM PG 23 He asks Jack for his side of the story. When the interview is finished, the man gets up and goes into the next room to visit the taxi driver.

“I hear screaming, yelling, and crying. I hear all kinds of stuff coming from that room,” says Jack.

After a while, the general returns. He appears to be a bit pissed off. Jack just wants to avoid sounding like the poor guy in the other room.

“What do you want me to do with him?” the general asks.

Eventually, Jack is able to get out of there and meet with his group. They tell Jack to write a report about everything that happened, and after handing over the report, Jack gets called to a meeting with the team.

“Well, that was an incredible story,” they say. “If you can do that, we have a hundred percent faith you’re going to make it back across from the border of North Korea. You’re in.”

Jack then realized the true plan: they were testing him, and he had passed.

The missions “My work was seasonal. The missions took place in the winter months when the river would freeze over. I always had the option to participate in each mission based on the intel I was provided. 99 percent of the time, it was to rescue a woman or a child that had been held in political labor camps where they did hard, unimaginable labor.”

Jack shakes and lowers his head, “It took me years to be able to talk about any of that stuff without choking up.”

Jack’s moral compass always guided his decision to accept missions.

“I said to myself, You’re going to get that kid. You’re going to get that woman and her kid, or whatever it may be.”

Once a mission was accepted, the waiting began for the most opportune time to begin the effort.

“There is a river that separates North Korea from China. The river would freeze over in the winter months. We had a guy on the North Korea side that would sneak them out of the labor camp in the middle of the night, take ’em through the woods, and to the river where they would wait for us.”

There Jack would be waiting, tied off with a harness and a rope for his run across the river. This way, if he were shot,

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injured, or killed, they could pull his body back across to the China side of the river.

“It was typically a female and a child, or one or the other.

They were always wearing potato sacks with a rope tied around them and smelling like ass. They would be covered with lice.”

Jack would continue these missions for the next seven years.

After a while, however, paranoia set in.

“My face has got to be out there somewhere. When I was in China, walking down the street with my family, I was always looking into the crowds to figure out who was Korean.”

Jack eventually pulled the plug and moved into alternate forms of service.

“I began being the second line of the mission, taking the refugees from China into inner Mongolia to a group of nomads.

This particular group of Mongolian nomads follow their sheep as they graze, carrying big, white, round tents called ‘yurts.’

They set up their yurts in certain areas until there is no more grass, then they move on,” he explains.

“We would take an old communist-looking train as you’ve seen in the movies and travel up into inner Mongolia, which is still part of China, so getting the refugees up there with a fake passport wasn’t too hard. After the train, we would drive out into the grasslands in a waiting car or little van.

“We would drive through fields of hemp for miles and miles.

Eventually, we would come to a clearing on a dirt road, where the road would just stop. There would be some horses on horse posts waiting for us. Our guide was typically a kid who would come running out of the grasslands looking like the boy from The Jungle Book. He would jump off his horse and hand the other horses over to us.

“We would follow him on the horses with saddles half the size of our asses, made of brass. I will never forget the back end of that saddle. It would chafe the skin off your backbone, and your feet would be dragging on the ground; these horses were so damn small.”

Jack chuckles—the kind of chuckle you make when you remember something awful that you know you won’t ever have to do again.

About an hour and a half into the journey, the team would come to a lone Yurt in the midst of the grassland.

“This Yurt would have a big bonfire going with a lamb roasting on a spit. Then, out comes this old Mongolian guy looking like Dimitri; no teeth and has a hatchet. He walks up,

Ultimately, Jack knew his time of service was ending in whacks this roasting lamb’s legs off, and hands it to us.

China. It was time to go back home. He found and purchased “He would usually go back into his tent and come back with some land in the Appalachian mountains in Pennsylvania and bowls of goat’s milk with Mongolian vodka mixed in and make built a house. us drink it.”

He lived on his own in an RV while the home was built, then Dimitri is ultimately the middleman who would then once it was completed, he brought his family over from China. communicate with “Jungle Boy” on where the nomads are and “My wife was from Beijing, like New York what direction they are going.

City on Steroids. She basically lost her shit “This is how off-grid this shit was,” living in the mountains of Pennsylvania. One recalls Jack.

I support the day she told me she was going home.”

The next part of the journey would military every There is another story here for another time have the team following “Jungle Boy” that involves death, murder, child abuse, to a community of nomads out in the chance I get. escape, and hiding. But, in the end…. middle of nowhere. The group would Who do you “It ended up just being me, my six-year-old come together with the tribal leader son, and our dog, living in a large house in the sitting in a circle with tables and chairs think trained mountains. made of tree stumps, where they me and kept “One day, I came home to a six-foot snow would hand off the refugees. drift at my front door. I had just picked up my In attendance would always be a me alive? son from martial arts class and was sitting in U.N. representative who would provide the car, staring at this snow drift for twenty medical attention to the refugees and minutes. I sat there and reassessed my whole life. get them cleaned up with new clothes. The U.N. rep would also “I said to my son, ‘Do you remember Universal Studios? document their story through translation.

Would you like to go on a road trip and stay there this time?’”

“My job,” says Jack, “was to bring the report back with me to Beijing, where I would meet with U.N. reps and hand off the New life report.”

After arriving in Florida, Jack spent the next six months sitting Eventually, the report would find its way to the CIA because on the beach contemplating life when one day, he saw a boat the refugees were usually people whose husband or father was pass by. a guard or high-level ranking military official whom Kim Jong Un “I’ve climbed mountains, scaled cliffsides, jumped from had decided was a traitor. bridges, traversed foreign rivers while being shot at, escaped “These were people who had been taken into town squares from kidnappers, and saved lives. I think I want a tiki boat now. and executed, and then their families—generations of I will change my name and appearance and blend into a new families—were placed in labor camps.” life on the water,” the now “Captain” Jack says with a cigar in one hand and a cold beer in the other.

Consequences There it is: that seeming military bearing in him finally “What I was doing took a toll on my marriage,” Jack recalls, explained. “partly because of the paranoia which made me a little crazy in “Yeah,” Jack says, “I support the military every chance I get.

Beijing. I kept finding myself in random physical confrontations Who do you think trained me and kept me alive?” because of my paranoia and thinking they were there to get me.

“Most of the time, I was wrong. They were just there talking shit because I was a foreigner with a Chinese woman and a kid. Situations just triggered false alarms for me all of the time.”

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A Teacher’s Thoughts on By

VETERANS DAY

Kristy Verdi, Learn and Serve Tampa Inc. Veterans Day. No apostrophe. It’s a plural noun and not possessive. It belongs to all who served and came home.

Veterans Day, the day we honor all veterans, is celebrated in many countries around the world. It began as a day to remember those lost to war. Some call it Remembrance Day. Some countries still call it Armistice Day. November 11, 1918, marked the first ceasefire called in “The Great War,” World War I. While the ceasefire would be renewed another three times before the Treaty of Versailles officially ended the war the following summer, the “laying down of arms” on November 11th effectively ended the fighting.

Many may not know the armistice was agreed upon at 5:20 a.m. that November morning, but one negotiator liked the ring of 11/11 at 11, so the official signing was postponed until 11:00 a.m. Tragically, during the next five and a half hours between 5:21 a.m. and 10:59 a.m., more than 11,000 service members were killed or wounded. For many, 11:00 a.m. never came.

The following year, in November 1919, many nations honored those who died throughout the war with Armistice Day celebrations. In 1921, an unknown American soldier’s remains from a World War I European battlefield were interred at Arlington National Cemetary in a memorial ceremony on Armistice Day, and a wreath-laying tradition began.

After World War II, the war after “the war to end all wars,” the first American Veterans Day was celebrated on November 1, 1947, in Alabama. The shift from a memorial observance to honoring those who had survived began to take shape. By 1954, the U.S. government had officially declared November 11 a federal holiday named Veterans Day. This new holiday honoring everyone who made it home called for parades and celebrations. While “Happy Veterans Day” is acceptable verbiage, I remind students that while we celebrate the living on Veterans Day, we should also remember that those veterans often carry with them the loss of those who did not return or returned less than whole.

Now, Veterans Day is observed each year on November 11, which means it can be on a Monday, a Thursday, or, as is the case this year, a Saturday. Congress tried to set it for the last Monday of October, but the 11th hour of the 27th day of the 10th month didn’t have the same ring as the 11th hour of 11/11. However, being a federal holiday, local, state, and federal offices and schools will be closed on Friday, November 10, this year in observance. Due to these closures, schools hosting

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Veterans Day ceremonies will hold them on Thursday, November 9. Be prepared for those early invitations.

Veterans, you need to go to these events. Our youth need to see you, watch you stand, and salute our flag. Wear your uniform. It might be a squeeze, but give it a go. If not your uniform, wear your cover, your medals, or anything that makes you stand out as a United States Armed Forces veteran. This is your day, but it is also your chance to draw in a new generation of service members, which we need very much. If your local school isn’t planning a Veterans Day ceremony, ask the principal, “Why not?” Offer to help plan it! Call Learn and Serve Tampa, Inc.!

Remember, go with grace. We civilians have much to learn.

For the young and many civilian adults, there is often a great deal of confusion about many military traditions. For example, understanding the many types of veterans and, for that matter, the differences between active duty, reserves, and the National Guard. Titles and ranks can also be confusing; only some civilians know a Staff Sergeant outranks a Sergeant. Adding a new branch to our military didn’t help the situation either. Additionally, each branch also has a seal, a song, a march, and a chant. Some civilians could also use help clarifying the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day. On a final note, Memorial Day, which falls on the fourth Monday in May, is now outside most school schedules and marks the end of the school year in many places. Regrettably, this means that many schools lose the opportunity to honor Memorial Day and that lessons about this holiday get lost in the rush of final exams and end-of-the-year routines despite teachers’ best efforts.

Students are too excited about summer and the freedom it offers to give any attention to remembering those who died in service to their country. Ironic, wouldn’t you say? Let’s work together as a community to ensure the memories of those lost in the name of that freedom stay with our youth.

As veterans, you are our best resource to ensure that current and future generations can understand and appreciate the service and sacrifice given by those who didn’t make it home and to help us understand the service and, for many, the price still being paid by those who did. Thoughts and ideas are welcome. To get involved, please see the contact information for Learn and Serve Tampa, Inc. at the end of this article.

Sources www.daytranslations.com/blog/countries-veterans-day www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/vetday.pdf Learn and Serve Tampa, Inc. Website: www.learnandservetampa.org Email: learnandservetampa@gmail.com Phone: (813) 727-9813

Operation Toy Soldier

By Maisie Petchey

Contributing Writer, FireWatch Magazine

Christmas is upon us, and many wonder how to afford a memorable Christmas for their kids. With so many things to be concerned about financially, the pressures of parent performance at Christmas shouldn’t be one of them.

For enlisted ranks whose years in service are at most ten years, the average pay is less than $40,000 per year. The challenges this puts on families have always been recognized but were made even more relevant during the deployments of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. During deployments, spouse leadership played an integral part in trying to keep families together through the stress of deployment. Amry Major’s Spouse, Kim Garrett, recognized two main family stressors: ‘ back-to-school’ and Christmas. Kim, who served as the Family Assistance Center Manager at the Department of Defense and served within the Georgia National Guard Family Program of the 48th Infantry Brigade, began working on a way to help ease these stressors for deployed soldiers and their families during these two crucial times of the year.

It was a conversation between Mrs. Garrett and Veterans Funeral Care Founder and President Jim Rudolph that ultimately became Operation Toy Soldier. When Jim was made aware that military kids in this country were not getting presents at Christmas, he made it his mission. Jim knew his customers would donate toys, and before he knew it, his mission had spread throughout the country through his funeral director connections, namely Tim and Frankie Stewart with Tim Stewart Funeral Home in Georgia, who ultimately became members of Veterans Funeral Care in

If you are interested in donating to Operation Toy Soldier, you can send a check to: Operation Toy Soldier P.O. Box 4122 Bay Pines, FL 33744 To drop off toy donations, please visit OperationToySoldier.com for local and nationwide donation locations.

2010. In the first year of Operation Toy Soldier, Frankie and his team placed 55-gallon drums in his four funeral homes in four different cities. When the drums were filled, he delivered them to Mrs. Garrett, who, with the help of other officer’s wives, distributed the toys to spouses of all service branches.

Operation Toy Soldier has grown to be an incredible movement designed to increase awareness and community involvement. The program has become a nationwide initiative by Veterans Funeral Care to provide toys to the children of deployed and non-deployed soldiers. The program is here to support children of the fallen as well.

At the beginning of the program, Operation Toy Soldier donation locations

were set up for toy donations only. It became relevant that many wanted to donate money instead of actual toys. This led to the creating of a Florida Non-Profit Organization that accepts monetary donations for the purchase of needed toys and supplies for kids.

The program isn’t just for small children.

Families with pre-teens can also benefit from gift card donations for the older kids.

With inflation and cost of living increases, the need continues to grow in the Greater Tampa area. Veterans Funeral Services in Clearwater, Florida, has held a live nativity with special guests, Santa and Mrs. Clause, for the past two years to fundraise for Operation Toy Soldier.

Visitors are greeted with toys and hot chocolate.

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Mission Link LOCAL VETERAN Non-Profit Spotlight

During this month of thankfulness, we take a moment to recognize area organizations that have dedicated themselves to veteran causes. Each organization featured in FireWatch Magazine is grassroots, local, and working hard to elevate its impact. We hope that you will discover an organization that resonates with you. From horses to children’s education, we are sure there will be an organization that will touch your heart.

When that happens, we encourage you to send a gratitude donation to your chosen charity this #GivingTuesday on November 28th,2023. We have included contact information for each organization so that you may make your donations directly.

Peaceful Pastures Ranch www.peacefulpasturesranch.org 813-449-2500 admin@peacefulpasturesranch.org

HEALING TOGETHER There is a rush in the city. Everyone is anxious and late for something. The high stressors of everyday life seem to envelop you in a dense fog. But, driving north on I-75 with the bustling city behind you, the buildings become sparse, the trees become plentiful, and your mind begins to relax. You are headed to Webster, a town not too far north of Dade City, and a little ranch called Peaceful Pastures.

Peaceful Pastures Ranch was founded in 2020

by Jessica Oliver, LCSW. Jessica had spent many years planning her dream of opening a horse rescue and providing help to others through animal-assisted therapy. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work and a master’s degree in clinical social work,

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specializing in military trauma. In February 2020, it was time to put her dream to work. By March, Jessica had seven rescue horses on the Ranch and a pandemic to worry about, but that didn’t stop her. The Ranch grew and provided a muchneeded escape for the quarantined through socially distanced rides and therapy.

Fast forward to 2022, and Peaceful Pastures Ranch had become a cherished resource to the community with a collaboration with Honey’s Mini Therapy Adventures. The two organizations teamed up to bring weekly equine group therapy to area schools and centers. Working alongside the Veteran’s Adventure Network brought twenty+ Veterans to the Ranch in the summer of 2022 to experience equine therapy, mindfulness, meditation, and yoga. An incredible 2022 ended with a spectacular fall festival and Santa’s Village at the Ranch! As word spread about the benefits of equine therapy and the impactful experience at Peaceful Pastures Ranch, Jessica’s reach grew even further.

In 2023, Peaceful Pastures Ranch hosted a school visit from East Pasco Education Academy and another Healing with Horses event alongside Veterans Adventure Network.

Peaceful Pastures Christmas Wish List “We are trying to save up for a hay barn.

This will allow us to purchase hay in bulk, saving hundreds, even thousands per year.”

In July this year, Jessica achieved the goal of becoming an In-Network provider for TriCare, which has enabled her to increase access to equine-assisted therapy and other mental health services to the active duty and veteran population. For veterans seeking alternate therapy or emotional support, time spent on the Ranch can be the perfect answer. No clinics, just fresh air, the smell of the earth, and horses. With 2023 coming to a close, Jessica can look back on the past three years with pride, knowing her dream of helping people and horses has far exceeded her expectations.

For those of us who have had the wonderful opportunity to spend time on the Ranch and benefit from Jessica’s therapy, we can only say “thank you!” Thank you, Jessica, for everything you and your family do to keep Peaceful Pastures Ranch strong, growing

impact, and changing lives.

To run a ranch like Peaceful Pastures costs money. To provide free and reduced cost therapy costs even more. Most of the ranch’s herd comes in dire need of medical attention.

Immediate costs can range from a few hundred to over one thousand dollars. Once rehabilitated, daily hay, feed, supplements, monthly farrier visits, and yearly vet checks can bring the annual total to over $6,000 per horse.

If you love horses, if you love people, and if you can help, please donate to Peaceful Pastures Ranch, a Florida 501(c)3. You can also sponsor a horse through the Peaceful Pastures Ranch Sponsor a Horse Program.

Check out the four levels of support you can choose from on the Peaceful Pastures Ranch website. One-time donations are always welcome as well.

Learn and Serve Tampa

to create a 200-foot by 100-foot American Flag. Each placard contained the name of a person who had died on September 11th, 2001. What is most incredible about this memorial is that schoolchildren built it.

What is Service-Learning? It is recognizing a community need or issue and using that as a catalyst for lesson planning. While that is the technical answer, we would rather share a story…

www.learnandservetampa.org 813-727-9813 learnandservetampa@gmail.com

EXPERIENCE THE IMPACT OF SERVICE-LEARNING This past September, Learn and Serve Tampa led the way with a 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance at Fowler Field on the USF campus in Tampa, Florida. A memorial of 2977 placards was placed in an empty field

SEE LEARN AND SERVE TAMPA, PG 35

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WITHOUT GLORY The Frog

Most of the airmen in the squadron are assembled in the orderly room. A handful of the day shift personnel remain at the bomb dump, loading trailers with explosives to be delivered to the flight line. The war goes on.

Colonel Farris, the Squadron Commander, can’t halt that for his monthly commander’s call.

Six seats down the row from me, I hear laughter and giggling.

“Rib-it, rib-it, rib-it” “Shut the hell up, airmen!”

I know they’re making fun of our squadron commander, amusingly called ‘The Frog.’ I’ve been with the 421st for eight weeks without seeing our leader. I’ve been curious how he earned that nickname.

“Room, a-tent-hut!” The first sergeant commands.

We jump to our feet. I watch out of the corner of my eyes as a short, squatty man enters the room. I’m half expecting him to be hopping. He walks with a skip step that almost appears as if he’s bouncing when he moves.

“At ease. Take your seats.” His croaking voice reminds me of that kid Froggie on the TV show ‘Our Gang.’

While taking my seat, my eyes lock on my commander’s legs as he ambles across the front of the room.

He must’ve been injured or wounded years back. His right hip looks strange, sticking out further than the left side. The heel and sole of his right combat boot are at least two inches thicker than his left one. The deformity

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forces him almost to hop as he walks. I look at his face. God played a wicked ruse on him. His eyes are huge, covering a sizeable portion of his face. His irises are a flat-black color with deep, dark black pupils. On the side of his nose is a wart the size of a dime. He has olive-colored skin with a greenish-brown tint. His face is covered with scars, those shiny, scaly-looking burn marks. His hair is dark brown and cut close to the scalp. The right side and most of the top of his head have the same burn blotches.

His body’s pear-shaped; his waist is three or four times bigger than his shoulders. He could be a Disney cartoon creation. Half-human. Half-frog. They were right.

The lights go out, and he seems to disappear into the darkness. If he said anything, I didn’t hear it. We watch newsreels taken by our aircraft during bombing runs.

The shorts have been narrated, cut, and spliced for optimum effect by the U.S. Air Force. Some would call it propaganda, others a practical strategy. The films show bridges being blown up, trucks destroyed, and a whole lot of VC jungle exploding in fireballs. After the movie finishes, Colonel Farris, the Frog, gives us a pep talk about how exceptional we’re doing and to remember that without us, munitions personnel, the U.S. Air Force is just another airline. That brings cheers and howls from most of the men in the room.

“Gentlemen,” The Frog starts. “Let me take this time to thank each and every one of you for the great war effort you’ve put in. I know it’s hard to be away from your families and loved ones, but what we’re doing over here is an honorable undertaking. We’re freeing an oppressed people and securing the safety of our own country. Keep up the good work.” After going on for some time, the Frog closes with, “We have a guest speaker with some important information to pass on.

Please pay attention to what he has to say.” The Frog turns and waves to someone hidden from view down the hall. “They’re all yours, Sergeant.”

BY KEN SMITS

THE FROG AND CAPTAIN AMERICA An airman wearing a U.S. Air Force 1505 Khaki uniform marches to the center of the room. His pants are bloused above ladder-laced jungle combat boots.

I am trying to remember where the manual allows the uniform to be worn like that. On his head rests a maroon beret—the symbol of a true warrior. Only the elite units are issued berets. Air Commando. My dream duty assignment. The entire reason I entered the Air Force. Around his waist, a new webb belt supports a black holster with a .45 caliber pistol and an ammo pouch.

A metallic clicking noise echoes in the room with each step he takes. No doubt he has one of those small metal devices in the soles of his boots and the insides of his heels. That would explain the clacking sound whenever he walks or snaps to attention. But that’s not part of military footwear. I wonder if the Frog has said anything to him about his abuse of the dress code. I bet no one tells this man what to do. He looks like a modern-day gunfighter. He is hard-core.

If I walked around my hometown like that, people would know to listen to what I had to say, too.

Over his left pocket is a Silver Star—a Silver Star for gallantry and a ‘V’ device for valor. Standing before me is why I came to The Nam. This airman should be stationed at a state-side recruiting office.

His square shoulders, iron-muscled arms, chiseled chest, ash blond hair, and intense eyes would make a great recruiting poster. I see honor, duty, God and country written all over him. He reminds me of Captain America.

“A silver star, wow!” I whisper to Smitty. “That’s impressive.”

“Afternoon, gentlemen!” he begins in a thick Jersey accent. “I’m Sergeant Billings with the 421st Air Commando Squadron based out of Qui Nhon Air Base, Qui Nhon, The Republic of South Vietnam. I’ve been ordered to come here and seek out a few volunteers to join a new team being formed.” He speaks in a loud, clear, military tone. He paces stiff-legged back and forth in front of us like he’s marching. He’s a war-

rior, an elite fighting man.

“I’ll be leading the team.”

I sit up straighter, intrigued.

“As many of you know, the Air Force Air Crews are equal to the Army’s Special Forces. Their mission is to go where downed U.S. flyers are and retrieve them. However, my team and several others like it will also be trained to locate U.S. ordinances that didn’t detonate and destroy them in place. These men are called Air Commandos.”

This is it! Adrenaline rushes through my body. I want to stand up and cheer Sergeant Billings.

With his slightly slanted cobalt blue eyes scanning his audience, Sergeant Billings resumes speaking after an effective pause. “Gentlemen, I need good men. Men willing to give much more for their country than you’ve already been asked to give. The task I’ve been assigned is very dangerous. But it’ll save the lives of hundreds of good men – American men. It will require working in enemy-controlled jungle and a lot of personal sacrifice and hard work.”

He appears to grow larger than life as he breathes in sharply. He doesn’t speak for another moment or two, then adds, “Those of you who are interested, please stay behind. Thank you, gentlemen, for your time. Dismissed!”

Sergeant Billings’ speech sparked an emotional challenge in young, reckless men eager to do their patriotic duty. When he returns ten minutes later, five volunteers are anxious to follow his lead. Of course, I’m one of them.

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N A R E T E V

VOICES

I

f you are looking for a place that honors, helps, and supports veterans, who better to ask than the veterans they have helped? We contacted local veterans and asked them to share a story, experience, or recommendation for an organization that has truly helped them.

AIR FORCE VETERAN

Lex

The Circle of Veterans and Families, Inc. (COV) is a 501(c)3 Charitable Organization in Saint Petersburg, Florida. We have recently relocated to our 9-bedroom St. Petersburg location, expanded services, created more living space, and moved closer to the Veterans Hospital for care and resources. We have created a small Veterans Village with employment support, educational opportunities, and social services. But most importantly, a “Peer Supported” communal living environment. COV provides housing, food, utilities, peer support, social service coordination, and other amenities and activities for our veteran residents.

home

Restore – Repurpose - Re

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AIR FORCE | ARMY VETERAN

Ken

VA Eye Clinic

10770 N. 46th Street Tampa, FL 33617

en blind in one I went blind. I had be , 12 20 of g rin Sp In the at loss of -connected injury. Th ce rvi se a to e du eye since 1979 ce car driver and me. I had been a ra ed pp sto r ve ne d ha sight vel positions in my held management-le a photographer and lly when both eyes changed dramatica life t Bu . life al ion ger drive, profess dence. I could no lon en ep ind my t los d ha were gone. I or take pictures. rk on my computer, wo , TV on s vie mo watch unable to remain in I was at risk of being Since I lived alone, the VA Eye Clinic, t support system at ea gr a nd fou I . me my ho ing he could to help on, who did everyth where I met Bill Wils provided with was . The first tool I was life w ne my e ag an me m rary resource with BARD is an online lib my BARD Reader. e BARD Reader s and magazines. Th ok bo dio au of ds an thous pe the realities a way for me to esca d an nd frie od go became my d a computer and years, I have receive the er Ov . me nd arou d. Goggles the visually impaire for e ar ftw so ial ec printer with sp eglass readers with d TV screens, and ey an r ute mp co g ein for se . I know the VA , booklets, and mail els lab ad re to e vic a special de the VA Eye Clinic best reputation. But the ve ha s ay alw n’t does this veteran. really stepped up for

VIETNAM VETERAN (a Story Shared by Don Hinst, Navy Veteran)

Gary

Service in Vietnam has taken its toll on Gary’s body. It hasn’t stopped him, though; he keeps on keeping on. I had asked Gary if he had any service-connected disability rating, and he said no. He explained that he had not pursued disability com pensation because others were mor e deserving, and the paperwork was overwhelming. I encouraged him to contact Carol West, one of the Vete ran Service Officers for Pasco Cou nty.

Gary didn’t seem too interested at the time. About a week later, I ran into Gary at church. He rushed across the hall to greet me with a huge smi le on his face. He began thanking me for the introduction and encouragem ent to contact Carol West at Pasco Cou nty. He shared how Carol and Set h warmly welcomed him at the Vete ran Service Center for Pasco Cou nty and quickly began working on his vete ran needs and challenges.

I recommend Carol to any veteran who needs help regarding services and claims. Carol and her team at the Veteran Service Center in Pas co County treat veterans respectfully 4111 Land O’Lakes Blvd. Ste 102 and do everything they can to help with veteran claims.

Veterans Services

Land O’Lakes, FL 34639 November 2023

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POWER of EMPLOYMENT

The

Veterans

Spouses

Graduates

The most advanced job tool available to Vets and Transitioning Military.

Military spouses bring unique perspectives and skills and are flexible and committed employees. Oplign’s military spouse alignment tool helps to match these unique characteristics with skills in the workforce.

Oplign shows new graduates their aligned opportunities. Oplign begins with your educational major, then zerosin on full- and part-time entry-level opportunities, including internships.

Oplign uses the power of big data to provide complete market awareness.

Vetlign, Oplign’s Veteran Alignment Engine

Oplign understands veterans like no other system in the world. Oplign’s algorithms update daily. As new skills emerge in the workforce, Oplign makes the connection.

Vetlign’s Military Spouse Alignment Tool

Gradlign, The New Graduate Breakthrough

Veterans, how do your skills match up in the civilian world?

Many before you have had the same problem: how to match up military skill sets with the civilian job force. No one need to tell you how to dress for an interview, but someone needs to tell you what you are qualified for. That is where Oplign comes in. With Oplign’s Veteran Alignment Engine, you are guaranteed to be matched with well-paying jobs!

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Mission Link LOCAL VETERAN Non-Profit Spotlight LEARN AND SERVE TAMPA, FROM PG 29

It was 2009. Kristy Verdi, Founder of Learn and Serve Tampa, was meeting with her service-learning leadership class. A student who had moved from New Jersey the year before suggested the class do a remembrance activity for Patriot Day. The boy had been 3 or 4 years old on September 11th, 2001, but the memories of his mother crying were very strong. The boy and Kristy discovered that most of the other students in the class did not know much about that terrible day in American history. It was then that a service-learning project was born.

The students proceeded to plan out a memorial where every person who died would have a star. And every star would be placed on the front lawn of their school. The students brainstormed many ideas, such as where to find a list of victims and how the stars would be positioned in the ground. They made supply lists and installation plans. And they learned. They learned that 2977 isn’t just a number. They planned, created, and touched every one of those 2977 stars.

The following year, students began writing biographies about the victims and attaching their stories to the appropriate placards.

In 2023, students wrote biographies for each person who perished at the Pentagon.

One student said, “It is so much different to see 2977 than just hearing 2977.” Another student who had volunteered to help place the placards in the field stated, “This is truly impactful because this happened before I was born.”

Through this project, students served by remembering and memorializing the September 11th, 2001 victims. They learned through advocacy, direct service, and research.

This method of learning allows students to learn and develop through active participation.

It enables them to make a difference in their own communities.

If you love children and want them to learn through goodness, volunteerism, and charity participation, please donate to Learn and Serve Tampa, Inc.

Learn and Serve Tampa Christmas Wish List

“I want to grow these programs into more Hillsborough and Pasco County schools. Funding will help with materials, teaching aids, and support staff.”

Find more LOCAL VETERAN NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHTS on page 39

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VETERAN

&

Health

Back Pain? Sciatica?

Just shoot me now!

By Richard Corson/Health & Wellness Writer

If you served in combat arms, especially in special operations forces, you know all too well the debilitating effects of lower back and sciatic pain. Heavy rucksacks, airborne operations, and long deployments over a lifetime of service take their toll on your body.

Like you, my lower back is a mess! The constant pain from my L4-L5 being 7mm out of alignment, three bulging disks, and degenerative disk disease have been a constant companion for the last 40+ years.

Over the years, with advice from and procedures by many doctors, PAs, physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, and friends, I have developed ways of mitigating these issues to the best of my ability.

These include a wide range of techniques, tools, and procedures.

• I have a yoga-based stretching routine that I start each day with immediately upon rising.

[This at least gets me moving and “functional,” albeit still with some pain.]

• Exercises that focus on core strength, which is critical for back pain. [Makes a big difference] • Other “remedies” I have found helpful when my back acts up include heating pads, ice baths, and using a TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) Unit, which provides temporary pain relief. [extremely helpful to me on long drives] Due to developing neuropathy and concern about potential paralysis in my legs, I saw a neurosurgeon many years ago about my back. After reviewing my records before my appointment, his first words were, “You don’t need me.” I said, “Excuse me?” Again, he said, “You don’t need me! You just walked in here. When you crawl in here, that’s when you need me.”

He showed me a spine model with rods on either side at the L4-L5 vertebrae, telling me he would likely have to do this. I immediately loved this guy for his honesty. I left his office to continue my life as usual, albeit in constant pain. That I knew how to live with.

Five years ago, when these various techniques no longer provided relief, I underwent two rounds of spinal injections. The first of these had no impact, which is not uncommon. The doctor had warned me about this. A month later, I had my second session, which provided about 6 months of relief, which I was thankful for.

Fast forward to 3 months ago, when I made a new acquaintance. “Mr. Sciatica” came into my life uninvited and really threw me for a loop.

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&

Wellness

Like all of us, I had learned to deal with the “normal” pain I live with every day. However, this was a whole new experience that knocked my knees out from under me. Fortunately, I am blessed with a high pain threshold. Until now, there has only been one instance in my life I would claim to have experienced the dreaded “10” out of 10 on the pain scale, and I never wish to go there again.

My new “friend,” sciatica, had other ideas saying, “Not so fast skippy! Have I got a surprise for you.”

I tried the old standby, “Ranger Candy” (800mg Motrin), which I had lying around, but they no longer cut it. I immediately went to Urgent Care, who prescribed some steroids to help break the cycle. “Wee…I’m Superman!” They make you feel like you can take on the world…until you start to wean yourself off them. Then, guess who showed up again, “I’m Back! Did you miss me?” It appears he plans permanent residence in my body.

So, what to do? I am currently being reviewed for another possible round of spinal injections, which I will welcome if they help like before.

Recommendations: First off, Do Not self-diagnose. See your primary health official and follow their guidance.

Based on their recommendation, you might consider the following: • Watch your weight & posture. [You’ll be amazed by the impact of good posture.]

• Develop a stretching routine and stick with it! [Being religious about this has made a big difference for me.]

• Develop a workout routine within the limits of your ability and based on medical guidance, focusing on core strength.

• Invest in a good heating pad and use it as necessary to relieve muscle pain.

• If you have access to it, try ice baths. [I found these very therapeutic!]

• Consider getting a good quality TENS unit. These are great for temporary relief of muscle pain and spasms. [Great on long drives] • See your primary care provider at the VA regarding possible benefits of: Acupuncture Chiropractic treatment Massage Therapy EMS or Electric Muscle Stimulation Spinal injections [usually done under local anesthesia, and not as bad as they sound] I hope you have found this informative but, most importantly, of value.

Go forth and conquer the world!

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. These are my personal experiences, provided as a standard frame of reference to assist you in dealing with this all-too-common problem. Please consult with your medical professional.

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Mission Link LOCAL VETERAN Non-Profit Spotlight My Warriors Place

www.MyWarriorsPlace.org 813-321-0880 info@mywarriorsplace.org **My Life After…the Death of My Son, A Story of Miracles, available on Amazon Kindle GIVING THE GIFT OF HOPE AND HEALING Nestled off the Little Manatee River between Snake Island and the mainland of Ruskin, Florida, sits My Warrior’s Place, a place of tranquility and peace founded by Kelly Kowell, mom to Corey, who gave his life in service to our country in Afghanistan, September 2009.

Messages from heaven led Kelly after the loss of her son, from billboard signs to mysterious gas stations, messages on pillows, and side-of-road boats.

In a clear and perfect dream, Kelly was instructed to buy a boat she had seen for sale on the side of the road. By December 2009, Kelly was busy providing boating expeditions to all of her and Corey’s favorite places for veterans and families of the fallen. Blessings continued; the following year, Kelly’s non-profit was formed.

Over the following years, and multiple shell casings (read Kelly Kowell’s book**), Kelly began a grief and peer mentoring program she named ‘Project Corregidor,’ Corregidor being a

nickname given to her son as a boy, purchased and revitalized a veteran’s retreat in Ruskin, and impacted many, many lives.

My Warrior’s Place has become a refuge to find peace, camaraderie, and support for veterans, Gold, Blue, and Silver Star families, law enforcement, active service members, and firefighters. Programs at My Warrior’s Place include the MWP Retreat Center, My Service Dog’s Place, Operation Solid 7, FAVE Boating Expeditions, Everyday Heroes USA, and Kelly’s newest location, My Warrior’s Place in Punta Gorda.

There are many powerful and magical things to come for Kelly and everyone she touches in this life. An ALL-volunteer staff runs my Warrior’s Place, so your participation is always welcome if you are interested in helping. After Idalia in September 2023, a lot of work must be done. Ways to help at My Warrior’s Place include becoming a Volunteer, Gardening and Landscaping, Assisting with boating and fishing expeditions, property maintenance, and My Warrior’s Place events.

If you recognize the power of friendship, how a day on the water fishing and boating can make a person smile, or the need for a place where someone who is hurting can turn, then please donate to My Warrior’s Place, a Florida 501(c)3 via their website.

My Warrior’s Place Christmas Wish List

“We had such devastating damage after hurricane Idalia; any help via gift cards to Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, or other stores, and any cash donations would help us to replace items we lost in the storm and materials for repairs to our buildings and structures.”

SEE MISSION LINK, PG 40

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Mission Link LOCAL VETERAN Non-Profit Spotlight Suicide Prevention Training Institute www.educatingtosavelives.org 813-807-7784 spti@educatingtosavelives.org

EDUCATING TO SAVE LIVES Dr. Derrick Copper, a counseling psychologist and Navy Veteran provided behavioral health services to the Department of Defense, U.S. Army, and Army Substance Abuse Program for 35 years. He trained as a LivingWorks Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) trainer in 2008 while serving at the U.S. Army Presidio of Monterey, California. Dr. Copper’s expertise includes individual counseling, group counseling, prevention education, crisis intervention, and crisis debriefings supporting deployed and redeployed soldiers and their family members. Dr. Copper provided suicide prevention training until his retirement in 2015.

After 35 years of civilian service to the military, Dr. Copper said he was done with training.

Dr. Copper moved to Florida in 2015 and continued as a university and community college professor. One day, while watching local news coverage about a teen who suicided in a nearby park, he became outraged. Why didn’t someone notice the signs? How could the parents and school allow this to happen? God

spoke to him and said – you can be a part of the problem or a part of the solution.

Dr. Copper decided to be part of the solution and established the Suicide Prevention Training Institute, a veteran-owned 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. With nothing more than an idea and a passion to save lives, he forged ahead and garnered the support of an all-volunteer team comprised of a Board of Directors and an Operations Manager. He re-certified as a LivingWorks ASIST trainer in 2019 and established a cohort of ASIST-registered trainers.

The vision of the SPTI is to become the premier Community prevention education training resource focusing on reducing the incidence of suicide. The mission is to provide evidence-based educational opportunities to the community designed to develop advocates for suicide prevention and educate them to identify the risk factors for suicide and equip them with effective intervention skills.

With a clear vision and mission for the organization, Dr. Copper and his Board of Directors embarked on a plan to create awareness in the community that suicide can be prevented. Anyone can learn life-saving suicide prevention “first-aid” tools to recognize thoughts of suicide, have a conversation with a person having thoughts of suicide, and keep that person safe for now, thereby increasing

Suicide Prevention Training Institute Christmas Wish List

“Monetary donations would allow us to fund four Veteran and Gatekeeper workshops with twelve attendees each at no cost to participants.”

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help-seeking behaviors thus decreasing suicide attempts and deaths.

The ASIST Workshop presented by SPTI teaches suicide first aid. The training program encourages people to talk about suicidal thoughts, teaches participants how to identify people at risk of suicide, and equips them with the tools to intervene to help them stay

safe. The workshop offers something to every participant, no matter how experienced, and is widely used by professionals and the general public.

If you understand that education and awareness are vital components to a community-driven assault on suicide, we encourage you to donate to this organization.

Cryo-Eeze 22 Christmas Wish List

Funding allows Cryo-Eeze 22 to provide its vast array of services to veterans at no cost. These services are not covered by insurance plans and are often financially out of reach for many veterans. Donating will help make these services available to more veterans in your community.

Cryo-Eeze 22 www.cryoeeze22.org

TOGETHER, WE CAN CHANGE 22+ PER DAY There has to be a better way than hospitals and prescription pills to help ease the suffering of veterans, service members, and first responders.

Ryder Gaston, Founder of Cryo-Eeze 22, knew this and was determined to change the playing field. With a singular vision, Ryder strove to provide alternative, transformative, and holistic solutions for the veteran and military community.

He started a non-profit, Cryo-Eeze 22.

When veterans visit Cryo-Eeze 22, they are embraced with love and acceptance and introduced to a wide array of holistic healing services backed by state-of-the-art technology.

Ryder and his dedicated team will spend time with a veteran, service member, or first responder to understand any challenges or obstacles and help determine what option can serve them best.

Cryo-Eeze 22 service options range from a serene and calmly lit salt room built to reduce

stress, headaches, increase energy, and improve sleep patterns to a high-tech Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment system that will enhance a body’s natural healing process. Whole-body Cryo therapy involves stepping into a body-enveloping chamber and using extreme cold briefly to improve inflammation and reduce pain.

Cryo-Eeze 22 Mission Statement We are unwaveringly dedicated, determined, and driven to transform the lives of military members and veterans by confronting one of our most urgent crises - the alarming rates of suicide within these communities. We stand as a beacon of hope, offering holistic alternatives grounded in cutting-edge technology to traditional “consumption” approaches that often fail to tackle the root causes of physical and emotional stress... **Please see the complete mission statement on the organization’s website.

If you want to be a part of this gateway to holistic wellness and advocacy for our nation’s heroes, we encourage you to donate to this organization.

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National Family Week November 19, 2023 American Legion Post 108

For more than 45 years, the week of Thanksgiving has been proclaimed National Family Week. A guiding principle of The American Legion’s Children & Youth programs is maintaining the integrity of the family. November 19-25 will mark this year’s National Family Week, where the American Legion Family is encouraged to promote and celebrate healthy families and communities.

For over a century, the American Legion, Legion Auxiliary, and the Sons of The American Legion (SAL) have worked steadfastly, side by side, promoting patriotism and national security while supporting youth and advocating for veterans, active-duty military personnel, and their families.

The Legion family includes American Legion Riders.

American Legion Post 108 is proud to announce the formation of its very own American Legion Riders Group. To become a member, you must first be a member of the American Legion, the Legion Auxiliary, or the Sons of the American Legion.

While members of the American Legion family are individually unique, we are a multi-million-member powerhouse of caring advocates dedicated to service for God and Country. We believe your connection to the American Legion family will be one of your best decisions. You can be a part of making a difference in your life and that of your fellow veterans.

The modern American Legion invites all Veterans, Spouses, Daughters, Granddaughters, Sons, and Grandsons of Veterans.

Post 108 has a place for you!

Join us on the 4th Monday of each month!

PLANTATION PALMS GOLF CLUB 23253 Plantation Palms Blvd.

Land O’Lakes, FL 34639 5PM Auxiliary 6PM Sons of the American Legion 7PM The Legion Don Hinst, Commander The American Legion Post 108 Lutz-Land O’Lakes – Wesley Chapel

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At Stop Soldier Suicide, we believe that no one who has served our country should ever feel alone.

VETERAN FOUNDED. VETERAN LED. VETERAN FOCUSED. U.S. Army veterans Brian Kinsella, Nick Black, and Craig Gridelli co-founded Stop Soldier Suicide in 2010 amid the worst suicide crisis our military has ever seen.

To them, the problem was clear: The systems in place aren’t working. Getting help isn’t as easy as it should be — and trying to navigate a complicated maze of organizations and resources can be overwhelming when you’re in crisis.

Stop Soldier Suicide was built to change that.

Stop Soldier Suicide serves all veterans and service members from every branch.

If you’re a veteran or service member in crisis, please call 844.907.1342

www.stopsoldiersuicide.org November 2023

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Carol West

AN ANSWERED PRAYER Florida Department of Veterans Affairs advocates for the more than 1.5 million veterans in Florida. This is accomplished by dispatching Veterans Services Officers to every county in the State. Veterans Services Officers (VSOs) work to ensure veterans have access to the benefits they have earned. Since One-third of Florida Veterans are entitled to benefits they do not receive, VSOs have a mission to connect Florida’s Veterans with the benefits they’ve earned and to provide much-needed services and support.

VSOs are there to help veterans and their dependents write and submit benefit claims to the VA. They can also assist with widower benefits after losing a loved one who had served.

Sometimes, they are simply a place for veterans to turn to when dealing with delicate issues.

There are nearly 170,000 female veterans in Florida, and 5,000 live in Pasco County. In 2022, Chaplain Don Hinst, with The American Legion Post 108 (which encompasses a large part of central Pasco County), recognized a severe void in female

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representation and the need for someone to advocate for the female veterans of his Post and his county. He began to pray for a female Veterans Services Officer .

Carol West had been caring for her mother in Highlands County.

After 21 years in the military and retirement as Master Sergeant with the United States Air Force, Carol devoted her time to her mom. It was 2022, and while holding her mother’s hand, Carol’s mom spoke with sincerity and conviction, “It is time for me to go so that you can live.” After Carol’s mom had passed, she grieved deeply for her mother but also felt a strong push to honor her by living. It was then that Carol felt fulfilled and ready to move forward. Her mission in Highlands County was complete.

Carol felt spiritually led to move, and while scrolling through her email feed, she came across an opening for a Veteran Service Officer position in Land O’Lakes, Florida. Carol had retired from MacDill Air Force Base but knew nothing about Land O’Lakes except the butter. Carol proceeded to apply for the position. With only a short time before the position would close, Carol stayed up until midnight, completing her online application.

Carol did not know about the Chaplain who was praying for her.

Praying for her arrival in Pasco County.

Carol got the job. Her official job offer came on the first anniversary of her mother’s passing. Her start date was June 20th, her mother’s birthday. Carol could feel her mother in everything happening, and she knew God had his hand in everything that had brought her to this point.

For the Chaplain, his prayers had been answered.

When Carol arrived at her new position as a Veterans Services Officer for Pasco County, Don quickly entered her office to meet her. It wasn’t long before Carol was ‘Voluntold’ that she had been voted in as The American Legion Post 108 Service Officer, where her obligations include being an asset for veterans who need help with disability claims, pensions, and benefits. She is also tasked to sing the National Anthem on occasion.

someone who has recently lost their spouse. She remembers the loss of her mother and the pain she felt. When working with a widower, she comes around her desk to offer an embrace and a shoulder to cry on. “I want them to know they have a friend and someone who cares,” says Carol, “I ask them to tell me a funny story about their spouse. I ask them to show me a picture and where they met.” Carol’s empathy almost always stops the tears.

“They light up when reliving a memory they have of their loved one.”

If you are a veteran in Pasco County, there is someone waiting to speak to you. Someone with a warm smile and a lot of patience.

You can visit Carol’s office at 4111 Land O’Lakes Blvd. Ste 102 in Land O’Lakes, Florida. There is a plethora of assistance opportunities available at the Pasco County Veterans Services Office, including: • • • • •

Request Your Military Records and Discharge Papers Help to submit Benefit Claims Benefit Counseling Appeals Access to Resources

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Carol admits that her arrival to Pasco County was not her doing.

The power of God’s work is what brought her here.

Carol is currently the only female VSO in Pasco County, Florida.

She understands and is humbled by the enormous impact her presence can have on the female veteran population in Pasco County. Carol recognizes the value of all Veterans Services Officers. There is no denying that some female veterans feel more comfortable speaking to a female regarding delicate matters. Carol feels her impact strongly when dealing with

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www.1916irishPub.com November 2023

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Buying a Home with Your VA Eligibility Part One Are you Eligible?

Being in the military does not guarantee a person qualifies for a VA Home loan. Criteria are primarily based on time in service or discharge for a service-connected disability. The service requirement timeframes are relatively short, ranging from 90 total days, 181 continuous days, or 24 continuous months of service, depending on when you served. These timeframes are overlooked if a person is discharged in a lesser time served due to a service-connected disability. National Guard and Reservists are also eligible for a VA Home loan if they have completed six years of honorable service, are mobilized for active-duty service of at least 90 days, or are discharged because of a service-connected disability. Surviving spouse programs are also available and require the spouse to have a CEO (Certificate of Eligibility) for their deceased veteran.

What does it cost to buy a home?

A veteran home buyer will have different types of fees that depend on where the home purchase is. There are title fees, loan fees, state taxes, pro-rations, and initial contribution fees for HOA communities in Florida. All these fees are VA Allowable fees, which means the veteran can be (and will be) charged these fees. Often, a veteran believes they can purchase a home for zero costs out of pocket because the VA Loan is a zero down payment loan. However, closing costs and pre-paid items like insurance, taxes, and interest will be charged to the veteran.

When combined, closing costs and pre-paid items can equal anywhere between $ 3,000 and $20,000, depending on the community and the price of the home.

When in the process is this money due?

When a VA buyer enters a contract, they must make an escrow deposit. This amount can vary but is typically 1% of the

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TONI HEDSTROM, PA Licensed Agent LIC #SL3240813

Compass Florida, LLC ToniHedstrom@DreamStyle360.com

home purchase price. Unless otherwise negotiated, this deposit is due within three days of contract execution. Additional funds are needed immediately to cover the cost of any home inspection needed or required for the loan. In most cases, inspections must be completed within 10 to 15 days of contract execution, and the inspection cost is due at the time of service. Lastly is the appraisal. Depending on the mortgage lender, payment may be required when the appraisal is ordered. Once a VA homebuyer has paid their escrow deposit, paid for inspections, and appraisal, they likely will only have additional funds out of pocket on the closing day.

What happens to the escrow deposit?

Depending on the terms of the contract, the escrow deposit will likely apply to any monies owed by the buyer at closing.

Therefore, if the escrow deposit was $3,000 and the buyer owes $5,000 at closing, the buyer would need to bring an additional $2,000 to the closing table.

How does a person know what closing costs will be?

It is vital to have an established relationship with a trusted mortgage lender who can ‘run the numbers’ on any potential home purchase. For the lender to establish the most accurate estimate of closing costs and pre-paid items, they must anticipate insurance and taxes for the home and obtain averages for standard fees like title fees. Once the lender has estimated all fees, they can provide a cost worksheet that breaks down all home purchase expenses.

Are there items that cannot be estimated?

Depending on the closing timeframe, the lender may be unable to lock in an interest rate. Interest rates can vary daily, so this expense can change until a rate is locked. Furthermore, insurance costs are estimates until a policy is bound. Lastly, taxes for a potential mortgage are based on the prior year’s tax bill. It is crucial to understand that a home purchase will force a tax value reconsideration within the county of the home. This re-evaluation could cause a home’s property taxes to increase after the first year of ownership, thus raising a monthly mortgage payment.

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