Still helping out
Even after injury sidelined Ontario veteran Russ Snow, he still finds time to work at local advocacy center
By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
LarryM@argusobserver.com
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 11:23 AM PST
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| Russ Snow stands in the foyer of the gymnasium at Treasure Valley Community College, where he is head basketball coach. A member of the Idaho Air National Guard, Snow served a few months in Iraq before injuries to his feet required an early return home. He also works in the Malheur County Veterans Service office. |
ONTARIO — Russ Snow, a short-term veteran of the war in Iraq, is himself now helping local veterans by working at the Malheur County Veterans Service office.
He is also the head basketball coach at Treasure Valley Community College, where he was previously an assistant coach.
Snow said he graduated from Middleton High School in 1994 and then joined the Idaho National Guard in 2000.
He joined up, he said, for a simple reason.
“I was trying to pay for college,” he said.
Now, nine years later, Snow, who has both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees is doing the paper work to be discharged from the Guard. He looks back on his service as a citizen-soldier with pride.
“It was a part-time job to pay for school, and it opened doors that would not have been opened in other ways,” he said.
Snow attended Linn-Benton Community College, TVCC, and then obtained his bachelor's degree from a college in New York, working with a proctor on base at Gowan Field. He later obtained his master's degree in athletic administration from Idaho State University.
As a member of the Idaho Air National Guard Snow was involved in transportation.
“I drove everything from semis to buses and forklifts,” he said.
He was called up as part of a 144-man group of Air Guardsmen from different units to protect convoys hauling supplies for the Army. He served with the 1058th U.S. Air Force Gun Truck Detachment, attached to the 1st Infantry Division. They were in five-ton trucks, he said. He doesn't know if he was fired on directly, Snow said. But, the convoys did experience mortar fire.
He was in Iraq from February through May of 2004, having to come back to the states because of injuries to his feet.
“I didn't do any thing heroic,” Snow emphasizes.
What may have been heroic was putting up with hot temperatures.
“It got up to 117 degrees where I was. From April on, it got really hot,” he said.
Still, Snow said he and his fellow Air Guardsmen were well taken care of. He said care baskets meant a lot to the troops, he added.
Besides being head coach of the TVCC basketball team, Snow has been on the job for about a month as a veterans service officer, working with Bill Thomson, who has held the position for several years.
“I started Oct. 5,” Snow said. The office is funded by the state and other monies, and they walk veterans through the process of filing for any number of benefits.
Snow said he saw an ad in the newspaper for the position and applied for it.
The office is pretty busy, Snow said.
“There are still a lot of veterans who don’t know we are here, or don’t know all the benefits available for veterans,” Snow said.
The office is situated in the Malheur County Justice Court Building, 1178 S.W. Fourth St. Ontario. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which is a reduction of hours, Snow confirmed. However, “No one gets turned away. We try to help people as they come in,” he said.
Among the benefits they help veterans file for are education credits through the GI Bill, or they may help older veterans file papers to get into the Oregon Veterans Home in The Dalles.
They get veterans from all conflicts dropping in on a regular basis, Snow said: World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan, those who served and but were not in any conflict or served during peacetime.
In addition to helping those who have served, Thomson and Snow help support spouses of the service people who are away.
“It gave me a chance to give back and help other veterans,” Snow said.
