The Vet Connection. From the President. Scott Duke. Dates for monthly meetings (Meetings start at 4:00 pm) In this Issue...

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1 In this Issue... From the President Page 1 Meet a Vet Page 3 Memorial Day Hike Page 4 Brig Gen Woellen Speaks to Club Membership Update Page 5 Page 6 Who am I? Page 8 The Board of Directors Page 9 Backpack Update Page 10 The Moving Wall Page 11 Honor Flight Arizona Page 11 Agenda Page 13 Volume 2 Issue 6 From the President Scott Duke Tvc.pres@zona.net s we begin Summer, we also enter A our busiest time as a club. So many activities going on and thanks to your support, we are making a difference in the lives of many less fortunate than ourselves and within our community. It remain an honor and privilege for me to be associated with you and our club. Our efforts to increase membership is going well and just in the past 6 months, we have brought 27 new members into the club. As Mark Grindle, our Secretary points out on page 6, our membership is at the highest since the club was formed paid members! Highlighting what the club is doing is a big part of our success as a club and getting new members. As one member said to me the other day, I am as busy as I have ever been in the club, and loving it! I had the opportunity to meet with Catholic Charites earlier this month to talk about a new possible mission for the club -- Bernie s June 2018 Place. Chris Salzer and I met with Tami Bohannon and it seems that Bernie s Place is a place for homeless female veterans to reside. This might be a good opportunity for our club. What would also be very cool is for one of our 5 female veteran club members to become the mission leader, if we choose to take on the mission. More about this during (Continued on page 2) Dates for monthly meetings (Meetings start at 4:00 pm) is a monthly newsletter for the members of the Trilogy Veteran s Club. If you have an article that you would like published, please send to Scott Duke at tvc.pres@zona.net January 30, 2018 June 26, 2018 February 27, 2018 July 31, 2018 March 27, 2018 August 28, 2018 April 24, 2018 September 25, 2018 May 29, 2018 October 30, 2018

2 Page 2 (Continued from page 1) our meeting later this month. I could not have been more thrilled with the turnout of our backpack efforts. We collected $475 which will purchase 43 backpacks for military children at both Luke AFB and Yuma MCAS. When you couple that with the nearly $810 that our fellow veterans at Corte Bella have collected so far, that adds another 73 backpacks. Combined, we will be donating enough funds to purchase 116 backpacks! Thanks to everyone for helping! My personal thanks to those that supported our new friend, club member, and fellow Veteran, Jim Reavis and his wife, Darlene getting into his new home in Trilogy. Jim and Darlene were so grateful to the club for helping them get their belongings from the truck to the house and with so many club members that showed up, we had the mission done is less than 30 minutes! We welcome Jim and Darlene to the community! How awesome was the General s discussion with the club last month? Check out the article on page 5. Brig Gen (ret) Woellen did an amazing job reliving stories from the second World War. We are looking to bring hm back in the Fall for some Q&A. Club member, John Polli deserves a great amount of credit for pulling this off for the club. He met with the General, drove him to the club and drove him home. Great job, John! July is going to be one of the busiest months ever for the club as we take on two ad-hoc missions; Operation Homefront s Back-to- School Brigade, and the Moving Wall mission. Operation Homefront starts on July 5th and runs until August 3rd, while the Moving Wall gets our attention on July 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. Combined, we have over 25 club members participating in those missions. Quick note about the November Golf Tournament. Nancy Duke (Chair) and her team, Ian Gale, Marv Shadman, Jim Brager, and Les Kessler are off to an amazing start. They have already captured sponsors like the Diamondbacks, Zona Communications, Delta Air Lines, City of Peoria Mayor s Office, and City of Peoria City Council. Finally, we have changed our November meeting date and time. Please mark your calendar to show our meeting starting at 3:00 PM on the 20th of November. Club Members attend U.S. VETS Open House hree members of the Club traveled to the Grand Veterans Village T (GVV) to attend the U.S. VETS Open House. Mission Leader for the U.S. VETS, Richard Brown, Project Officer for several missions at the GVV, Bob Henry, and club President, Scott Duke, attended the open house and received a tour of the campus, including computer rooms for the residents, and their residence within the campus. It was fascinating to see the different levels of programs that are offered at the GVV for military veterans in-need. There are permanent as well as transitional housing for the military veterans and the campus even included a pool! Our club has conducted over 10 missions at the GVV since approving U.S. VETS as a new mission for the club. Richard Brown has also incorporated Airmen from Luke AFB into this mission.

3 Page 3 Our Meet A Vet this month is U.S. Air Force Veteran, Jack Todd. Jack was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1940, and grew up on the south side of Chicago with his parents and one sister. He graduated from Calumet high school in Rather than step into his uncles shoes by becoming a Chicago firefighter or policeman, Jack joined the Air Force. After graduating from basic training in San Antonio, Texas, he was stationed at Chanute Air force Base in Illinois to attend Aircraft Electronics Technician school. Jack s first assignment after Tech School was two years at Itazuke Airforce Base in Japan with several TDY s to Okinawa. There he maintained the electrical systems for three F-100 and one F-102 squadrons. When Jack returned to the United States in 1961, he was assigned to Dover Air Force Base, with several month-long TDY s to France, Tripoli Libya, and Kano Nigeria during the Congo Revolution. He was allowed to Honorably discharge three months early to enroll at the University of Illinois in June of One of his earliest jobs after graduating with a BS in Industrial Administration, was as a system engineer and one of the first 300 employees of Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Ross Perot s Company. He later managed all the systems development for International Harvester s Agricultural Division, Blue Cross of Illinois, and American Express in Phoenix, before starting his own Employment agency and career consulting firm. His last career stop was as a financial adviser for a large Broker Dealer. He and his wife, Denise, moved to Trilogy in March of Denise works at USAA carrying on her father s legacy of serving the military (Army retired who worked for the Veteran s Administration). Jack has four children, and four grandchildren split between California and New York. Trilogy has opened the doors to a whole new world of clubbing to include the Veteran s Club, STEM Club, and History Club. He dabbles in Pickleball but relishes Texas Hold em and loves making the Casino runs. Missions volunteered for are: Soldiers best friend Madison street meals VFC Meals for kids Operation Homefront

4 Page 4 Memorial Day Hike t was a beautiful morning on Memorial Day as nearly I 30 members of the club, their spouses, and even some residents of Trilogy took the hike up the Vietnam Memorial Trail (located outside of the Trilogy community). Led by club member, Scott Carty (Army), the hike took about 15 minutes to the top. Once everyone arrived, Scott gave a historical recap of how the trail came to be, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited, and then the playing of the National Anthem. It was a wonderful way to honor those in women that gave the ultimate sacrifice to defending our great nation.

5 Page 5 Brig Gen Woellen Speaks to Club he name of the room (Center for Higher Learning) lived up to the title last T month when Brig Gen (Retired) Dave Woellen spoke to the Veterans Club. Brig Gen Woellen regaled the room with stories of flying a B-17 in WWII, being shot down over Germany, becoming a POW, and his return to the United States. You could hear a pin drop as the General spoke, sometimes passionately about his time as a POW. He also came with a message to the club about the work the club is doing for Veterans and how important that is today, more than ever. Here are some pictures from the big day with the General. Thanks to club member, John Polli (USAF) for making this happen! Support for Grand Veterans Village ork continues at the Grand Veterans Village with support W from club members and our Luke AFB Airmen. Here are some sights of one of their recent missions.

6 Page 6 Membership Update Mark Grindle jetsetter05@msn.com (MTL), having a dynamic website, writing articles about the club, conducting a Facebook interview that talked about the club, creating brochures about the club, and bringing in guest speakers each month. In some part, all of these worked and the increase of new membership by 27 veterans speaks for itself. Just a reminder, we have hats, bricks, t-shirts, club coins, and polo shirts for sale. Check out the prices on page 12. The form to fill out is on our website (tvaveteransclub.weebly.com). We will be doing another order relatively soon, so don t delay, get your order in today! embership could not be any stronger! This month we hit 155 M members, 27 of them new members! It is the largest number of paid members since the club was created several years ago. Earlier this year, the number was 133 paid members and your Board of Directors decided to do a full-court press with bringing visibility to the club. We did that in a variety of ways. Coffee Talk, having a club table at social hours for both Mita and Kiva Club, increased posts on the My Trilogy Life Humor in Uniform Fishing in a Rain Puddle - submitted by Ralph Esola The rain had stopped and there was a large puddle just outside the door to the American Legion hall. A rumpled old Air Force Chief Master Sergeant was standing near the edge with a fishing line in the puddle. A curious young Marine fighter pilot came over to him and asked what he was doing. thought to himself and invited the old Chief into the bar for a drink. As he felt he should start a conversation while they were sipping their spirits, the young jet pilot winked at another pilot and asked the Chief, "How many have you caught today?" "Fishing," the old Chief simply said. "Poor old guy," the Marine officer "You're number 14," the old Chief answered, taking another sip from his double shot of 12-year-old Scotch, "2 Navy, 3 Army and 9 Marines

7 Page 6 VOC Lunch Chris Salzer casalzer@zona.net he meals for the veterans and the VOC was a great and fun event T for all of us that participated. We had 30 attendees. The main course was Cheesy Chicken and Rice, with rolls, bananas, cookies and soda and was very well received. There were many seconds and third serving made. A big shout out to Richard Brown as this was the first meal he has ever cooked and he got a blue ribbon for it (see below)! I was joined by Richard Brown (help, I am lost) as a driver, along with our fantastic TVC volunteers, Joe Ingalls, Steve Winer, and Marv Shadman. Also joining us from Luke AFB were Mathew Helm and Myriah Blazicek-Dills. Thank you to all of the members and family that donated all of the food and drinks for this event. You are one of the big reasons this mission is so successful! I do believe that I can say, this was fun and we were all thanked by everyone for the food and our caring to bring them all a meal.

8 Page 7 I Thirsty Troop Thursday! blame the weather. Temps were right at 108 for Thirsty Troop Thursday, but 18 club members battled the heat and made the event! Thanks to those that made it out to be with other veterans, especially on the Army s Birthday! Triple T is a monthly social event that brings our club veterans together to exchange stories and meet other veterans. on t forget to check your mailbox this month for the magazine, Mountain View. D This month, the magazine is highlighting the Trilogy Veterans Club on their cover and in an article. This magazine is delivered to each Trilogy and Vistancia residents, so it will bring some much appreciated visibility to the Trilogy Veterans Club. Do you know who I am? I am a member of the Trilogy Veterans Club and served in the United States Marines. Answer can be found on page 13

9 Page 8 PRESIDENT Scott Duke tvc.pres@zona.net VICE-PRESIDENT Bob Meizinger boval51101@gmail.com SECRETARY Mark Grindle jetsetter05@msn.com TREASURER Les Kessler kesslerleslie@yahoo.com Member-at-Large Richard Brown rbrowntrilogy@cox.net Member-at-Large Bruce Murray mtxtopaz@gmail.com Member-at-Large Joe Ingalls jingalls15@cox.net

10 Page 9 C ongratulations to Trilogy Veterans Club! Thanks to your generosity, we collected $475 for backpacks in support of Operation Homefront s Back-to-School Brigade. Our Sister club, Corte Bella Veterans did one better as they collected $810 (so far) for the purchase of backpacks. For this month, we will return to the raffle format and the gift card ($25) will be for Harkins Movie Theatre.

11 Page 11 t last month s meeting, the club voted unanimously A to volunteer time in supporting The Moving Wall coming to Surprise, AZ in July. Our club president made contact with the event coordinator and as of this article, over 20 members of the club have volunteered their time on July 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th, to help assist in staffing and working at the Directory Table. The replica wall was created so that people who cannot travel to DC, can still share in this special way of honoring and remembering the sacrifice of our Vietnam service members. The wall is engraved with more than 58,000 names of killed or missing Vietnam service men and women. We are hoping that a few more club members volunteer their time to make this exhibit a success. If you have not already signed-up, send an to Scott Duke, tvc.pres@zona.net as soon as you can. nother vote was taken at last A month s meeting and that was to support Honor Flight Arizona as a mission for the Veterans Club. Jim Long has been named as the mission leader. Our club president made contact with their HQ in Prescott to get details on how the club can help. Those options were briefed to the membership and we are now in the process of selecting which one our club would like to do. Leading the way is the writing cards and letters to Veterans that will make the trip to Washington, DC. We are told this is extremely personal to the veteran receiving the letter or card. We are also looking at hosting at the Kiva Club a presentation by the Honor Flight Arizona group in November and opening it up to all residents of Trilogy at Vistancia. We are also thinking about inviting members of the Corte Bella Veterans Club and the Vistancia Veterans Club. We will move our November club meeting to accommodate what day/time, Honor Flight Arizona can make the presentation. The mission of Honor Flight Arizona is to pay homage to our WWII and Korean veterans by providing the support needed for them to complete a three-day journey of honor and remembrance to their memorials in Washington, D.C. at no cost to them. Our secondary mission is to educate our youth about the impact of WWII and the Korean War and the freedoms our nation enjoys because of the service of the WWII and Korean Veterans.

12 Page 12 rilogy Veterans Club (TVC) shirts, hats, bricks, and coins are for T sale. Prices are below. Please fill out the form (website) and send or hand to Mark Grindle (Secretary) during our monthly meeting. Polo Shirt Tee Shirt Customized Brick Club Coin

13 Page 13 H ere is a look at the agenda for this month s meeting of the Veterans Club. We hope to see you there! Meeting comes to order at 1600 Pledge of Allegiance Guest speaker: Peter Fleckenstein (MANA House) President s Comments Membership Update Old business New business Good of the Club Adjourn If you thought it was Dave Lederer, you would be correct!