Volunteering at the USO!

Earlier this summer Karin and I spent some time on the beautiful Oregon coast.  We rented a small, fully furnished house near the beach and spent time reading, watching a movie or two, walking our two dogs and sight-seeing.  We visited the very popular Tillamook Cheese factory in Tillamook (maybe you have had their cheese or fabulous ice cream!).  Besides the great self-guided tour of the cheese factory and a very good restaurant, they have a very good gift shop because it is a major tourist attraction on Oregon’s Highway 101.

While we were browsing, I spotted a rack with a series of books entitled Things To Do When You Turn 50, and Things To Do When You Turn 60, etc.  Since I had just turned 69, I looked at the one titled Things To Do When You Turn 70 (Sellers Publishing).  These are great little books filled with short, quick reading essays by authors who have been there or are experts working with people who have been there.  One of the essays suggested that you make a list of all those things you have wanted to do but have never had the time.  So, I started a list.  Volunteering at the USO is one of the items I wrote on my list.

For a long time, I have wanted to work with veterans, and I have had the desire to volunteer at the USO at Seatac Airport or at JBLM (Joint Base Lewis McChord).  Since I am now officially retired, I thought I certainly have the time to do this.  A couple of weeks ago I drove to one of our nearby park and ride lots, caught the bus to downtown Seattle, transferred to our light rail train that went directly to the airport and knocked on the door of the manager of the SeaTac Center of USO Northwest.  I introduced myself and was warmly welcomed; I told him that I wanted to volunteer and he basically answered “When can you start?”

What a great response!  Matt Sult, a retired Army LTC, is the manager, and he can’t be much older than my eldest son!  He showed me around the Center which hosted over 100,000 visitors last year (active duty and their dependents, retired military and occasional visitors).  SeaTac is one of only eight USO Centers in the US that is open 24-7, and is one of the busiest.  It provides a place for soldiers, sailors and Marines to layover between flights (there are regular daily AMC [Air Mobility Command] flights from the Far East) where they can get food, a shower, bunk time, computer/internet access, or just watch a Seahawk game.  (The Seattle Seahawks, La-Z-Boy and Alaska Airlines are great supporters of this USO center.)  And all this is provided free of charge.

Well, I have completed my Basic Training that consisted of 2 four hour hands-on sessions over the last 2 Tuesdays.  I begin working a regular Thursday 0600-1200 shift after I return from our DC reunion!  I’m really excited that I will be able to work with active duty personnel and their families, as well as veterans.  And the USO has such a great team of volunteers it’s just plain fun to go to work again.  That’s what Matt told me was the most strictly enforced rule for USO NW volunteers: You gotta HAVE FUN!

I plan on having more fun than a guy my age should be allowed to have!  See you in DC next week too!

Bill Reeder’s New Book “Through the Valley: My Captivity in Vietnam”

I had a wonderful conversation with our friend Bill Reeder the other evening.  Bill and I have known each other for many years through the OV-1 Mohawk Association; he was a pilot in the 131^st Aviation Company at Phu Bai, one of our sister units.  He holds the distinction of being shot down twice in Vietnam; once while flying a Mohawk mission from which he was rescued and again in while flying an AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunship.  On that mission during his second tour he wasn’t so lucky.  He tells his story in Through the Valley: My Captivity in Vietnam which has just been released in printed book form and also electronically by Amazon.

I have just finished reading Through the Valley, and it is an amazing account of what several GIs, both American and South Vietnamese, endured as prisoners of war by the North Vietnamese during that war so many years ago.  The following are a couple of reviews that I found on Amazon:

Reeder's account of his shoot down, capture, and subsequent trek to Hanoi is spellbinding. A true 'page turner', which must be regarded as one of the best first-hand accounts of what our POW's had to endure at the hands of their captors. Written with gut wrenching detail and emotion, it is a story of triumph and the bonding of strangers brought together by fate and war. –Amazon Customer

“Colonel Reeder's story of how he became the last soldier captured by the enemy in South Vietnam and how he endured captivity and then a forced march north up the Ho Chi Minh Trail is awe-inspiring. His will to survive, and the courage and sacrifice demanded of him, make this book hard to put down.” ―Joseph L. Galloway co-author of We Were Soldiers Once...and Young and We Are Soldiers Still

I am sure this is a story to which we all can relate, especially since Bill is a friend of many of us and also a Mohawker.  I cannot imagine what he and his fellow POWs went through, although I remember some of my own thoughts as a 22-year-old (photo lab tech-company clerk-flight follow observer) about the possibility of crashing as I sat for hours in the right seat during many of the 225^th Aviation Company’s flight-follow missions.  We were keeping track of our guys as we flew orbits at ten to twelve thousand feet as they flew their photo, IR or SLAR missions on the deck below us.

I’m looking forward to seeing Bill in DC in just a few days as he is the main speaker at our annual OV-1 Mohawk Association Reunion!  And be sure to get his book...it’s a definite must read for any of us who was in Vietnam!