Wreaths Across America Brings Comrades Together

Comrades Joe Fitzgerald, Jon Guncay, Harold Rodenberger, Anthony Rose and Dan Stokke participated in the Wreaths Across America Memorial Service at Lakeview Cemetery on Saturday, Dec. 15. WAA coordinates wreath­laying ceremonies at more than 1,400 locations across the United States, at sea and abroad.

Comrade Guncay and his son lay a wreath on a gravestone.
Comrade Guncay and his son lay a wreath on a headstone.
Post 3063 Honor Guard members perform 21-gun salute.
Post 3063 Honor Guard members perform 21-gun salute.
Comrades Joe Fitzgerald and Jon Guncay render a salute during the ceremony.
Comrades Joe Fitzgerald and Jon Guncay render a salute during the ceremony.

From the Commander (October 2018)

By Pete Krawitz

 

Did you know that our building is approaching it’s 68th birthday? Did you also know that the last time we pulled a construction permit for our building was 1986? Why is this important? Well, we know that the building likely needs significant repairs in the near future. Tackling those repairs may be a lot more complicated and costly than many of us realize.

 

We’ve been lucky to have our handy quartermaster, Harold Rodenberger, at the helm for so many years, however, some of the inevitable facility issues we will need to address in the future will likely be even beyond his capabilities to solve. So many Seattle building codes and regulations have been introduced and changed since we last pulled permits in 1986. For example, if we do any work in the building that would require a permit, it would likely cause an expensive cascading effect that would force us to bring other aspects of the building up to code. We would soon learn that the expertise and time required to fully understand these implications was well beyond all of our capabilities.

 

In order to better arm our post with the knowledge to make informed decisions now and even 10 years from now, we recruited the assistance of a local design-build team: Schacht Aslani Architects and Heartland Construction. The House committee and the leadership team reviewed a proposal, which was subsequently introduced to the members and approved in August.

 

I believe this will be one of the most important investments that the post has made in many years. The results of this work will provide all of us with critical information that we will be able to use for many years and will hopefully help ensure the long term survival of our post in Ballard.

 

So now what? Over the next few months, representatives from the architect and contractors will be crawling through our building to determine the current state of our facility, researching how new zoning and permitting impacts us, and conducting interviews with a variety of members of the post to better understand how we currently use the space. By early next year, we should have the results of this work and a series of recommendations from these experts.

 

At this stage, we’ve had an initial kick-off meeting with the contractors and will soon be developing the final schedule of interviews and surveys. We will be providing regular updates to the post members via the monthly business meeting and the newsletter.

 

If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to [email protected] or stop by before the next business meeting on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 6:30 p.m. (the meeting starts at 7 p.m.).

 

Finally, it’s worth noting that the work described above is going to be the primary focus of the leadership team and house committee between now and the end of the year. This doesn’t mean I want to put all other aspects of our work and mission on hold, we just need more volunteers to assist in coordinating post events and activities now more than ever (socials, VA hospital visits, etc.). If you are interested in assisting and/or leading any of those types of events or activities, please bring it up at the next business meeting (remember, you can submit the agenda items online by visiting www.vfwseattle.org) or send me an e-mail at [email protected].

New Member Spotlight: Comrade Leo Potts

This is a recurring column that highlights new VFW Post 3063 members. Comrade Leo Potts joined the post in April 2018.

Comrade Leo Potts
Comrade Leo Potts

 

What motivated you to join the VFW?  I enjoy the camaraderie with other soldiers.

 

What is your military background? Originally enlisted as E–1 and was an infantry soldier, Was talked into joining ROTC and became an officer in 1987. Combat Engineer, got out in 1991, got back in 2000. Deployed to Iraq & Afghanistan, retired in 2015 as a major. There’s more but I don’t want to bore you.

 

Civilian job, education, family, hobbies, or anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself?  I’m fully retired and what I do for fun is travel, vacation, help other soldiers get their benefits, and help other people travel and vacation more.

 

What do you hope to achieve being a member of the VFW? I want to be part of a family, military family, and whatever I can do to help the unit I plan on doing that.