Author: ateeter

Commander Stoltz’s Final Letter

This will be my last contribution to the Post newsletter in my soon to end capacity as Post Commander. After the changeover officially takes effect after the VFW state convention in June, you can look forward to the dynamic prose of new Commander Nestor Tamayao. In the interim, I want to provide you with a few updates and special recognitions.

 

Our Honor Guard has now received three surplus M1 Garand rifles, thanks to the effort of our colleague Bill Hoeller. Bill has devoted considerable time getting our Honor Guard off the ground and researching proper drill and ceremony and Honor/Color Guard etiquette. Thanks Bill, for your hard work. In addition, among the many of you that assisted with our District 2 fundraiser on May 1, I want to offer particular appreciation to Russ and Kay Seelig, who contributed a significant amount of the food preparation, ticket sales and auction items. I’m pretty sure they were the first to arrive for set up and the last to leave. My thanks also to the many of you that did your part to make our fundraiser successful.

 

On May 18, I represented the post at the military honors service for recently passed 1st Lt. David Bauders, who died in Iraq on May 6 while serving as a platoon leader in the 176 Engineer Company of the Washington National Guard. The service at Tahoma National Cemetery was heavily attended and featured an impressive turnout of Washington State Patrol Troopers (the late Lt. Bauders’ day job) and a contingent of Seattle police officers, one of whom is the brother of the deceased. The death of Lt. Bauders reminds us that the conflict in Iraq continues to absorb American resources, and sometimes lives, even as our media seems to have lost interest in the story the second former President George W. Bush left the White House for the ranch in Crawford, Texas. I offer my thanks to citizen soldier Lt. David Bauders for his efforts to keep us all safe from the ISIS animals spawned by what has become a largely underreported war. I urge all of you to keep Lt. Bauders and his surviving family in your hearts and prayers.

 

By Aaron Stoltz

Loyalty Day Spaghetti Dinner and Raffle

Our new Ballard Eagleson Color Guard started things off by posting the colors. They looked sharp and performed with precision as they brought the colors to the stage.

 

Kay Seelig, as our Executive Chef, cooked up 230 servings of her tasty spaghetti sauce. Volunteers from her family and our post helped prepare salad ingredients, spaghetti and garlic bread.

 

Chuck Tuft, a 48-year member of our post, and his family along with other volunteers, manned the serving line. Volunteers from our post and Auxiliary baked delicious home-made cakes. More volunteers set up the hall with tables and chairs.

 

Kudos to Russ Seelig and his team for setting up the raffle prize tables and efficiently managing the raffle and thanks to Jesse Basher for serving as Master of Ceremonies.

 

After dinner Barbara Moore, District 2 Senior Vice President, gave a Loyalty Day presentation.

 

In all, more than 40 volunteers set up the hall, cooked and served the dinner, tended bar, raffled prizes and cleaned up. Grandma used to say, and John Heywood recorded in the sixteenth century, “Many hands make light work,” and the old saying was once again proved true on this occasion.

 

By Harold Rodenberger

VA home loans: a great benefit

Did you know that you may be eligible for a home loan through the VA? The VA also offers adapted homes for disabled veterans. Below is information regarding their home loan programs courtesy of their website. You can start the application process via this link as well.

 

 

VA home loan programs may be used to obtain homes, condominiums, or manufactured homes; refinance an existing home loan; or install energy-saving improvements. VA offers these three main types of guaranteed home loan benefits:

 

– Purchase Loans

– Cash-Out Refinance Loans

– Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans

 

Adapted Homes for Disabled Veterans

VA also offers grants to Veterans with certain service-connected disabilities to build an adapted home or install ramps, widen doors, or make other modifications to live more independently. VA operates three types of grants that accommodate Veterans’ unique circumstances: Specially Adapted Housing, Special Housing Adaptation, and Temporary Residence Adaptation.

Event raises money for Post Relief Fund

Our St. Patrick’s Day Social was a resounding success with good food, good company and an approximate profit of $1,500 for our Post Relief Fund.

 

The cooks received many compliments for the tasty food. From the Irish Soda Bread to the spinach salad, corned beef dinner and the bread pudding with whiskey sauce, the diners raved about the food and the service.

 

Many thanks to the volunteers who put on this dinner. Without the wonderful volunteers it would have not have been possible. Thank you, thank you.

 

More hearty thanks to those who made outright donations to the Relief Fund and those who bought raffle tickets.

 

Most of all we want to thank those who attended this fund raiser. Without you our best efforts would have been for naught. With your participation we all had a good dinner and shared some good camaraderie while raising money for a good cause.

 

– Harold Rodenberger