Vets' Corner: Advocates march in parade
By Ron Verini
Friday, August 7, 2009 10:01 AM PDT
The Malheur County Fair Parade kicked off with the Army’s Staff Sgt. Brian McBride, our local recruiter, marching with his father, Tim McBride (two generations of war time service), with the support of the Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida members Bill James, Harold Baer, Martin Luther, Glen Crosby, Charlene Pelland and Chris/Glenna Sandoval. The Veteran Advocates uniform logo and design was designed by Lucinda Day, owner of Big Sky. Our local Troop 400, all members of the “Order of the Arrow,” Sam Plummer, Scott Bentz, Sam Hovey, Jon Hovey and senior troop leader Jacob Corey-Merrill, pulled it all together by marching with the service flags.
We all proudly marched with the “C” company float representing the support group and families of our local 116th headed up by Kelly Jones, who, with the support of the families (including the children), decorated a trailer donated by Bob Baker, owner of Roadrunner. This Sunday will also be the annual training barbecue for the 116th troops and families and will be put together by Kelly with her crew, the Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida and community support.
The local JACL had our Intermountain and Pacific Northwest Bi-District Conference this last week. Janet Komoto, the president, did such a wonderful job with her board to put this together. The JACL does their utmost to honor men and woman of our military. I had the pleasure of sitting at the table with George Koyama, a Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge recipient while serving with the 442nd. I learned after talking with Patrick Takasugi, Idaho state representative and keynote speaker, that he earned his Airborne Wings, the Ranger tab and the Special Forces “Green Beret.” Our community veterans have many stories to tell, and with organizations such as the JACL we will preserve our heritage.
Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits went into effect as of Aug. 1. We as a nation will have done what we have promised, and that is if they serve then we will help educate our men and women in uniform. Our greatest generation had the Montgomery/GI Bill, and now the greatest generation of today will have the Post GI Bill. Two Web sites that will help with this are
www.gibill.va.gov and
www.military.com. TVCC has Debbie Kriegh as the veterans certifying official, and she would be able to help with the complexities of these bills.
At Sizzler the other night, a patriotic event occurred and was hosted by Stonecroft Ministries. Boy Scout Troop 361 members Ty Higley, Jeremy Ross and Josh Reed educated the crowd by presenting and retiring the colors, folding the flag and explaining the meaning of the folds and in general talking about flag etiquette. What a great job they did. Key note speaker Col. Tom Greco, who in Operation Desert Storm help managed to break the assault of Kuwait by Iraq, had interesting stories to share with the audience.
“When placed in command – take charge.” — Norman Schwarzkopf.
Ronald Verini is a local veterans advocate who writes a weekly column for the Argus Observer. He can be contacted at (541) 881-8881. The opinions presented in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Argus Observer
