Military Officer - October 2007 - (Page 54)

A girl watches her father read a book on a DVD he made with United Through Reading (left). DeBolt and Osborne (below) make a care package donation at a USO center. Bob and Patty Little volunteer at the DallasFort Worth USO center (facing page). all ﬁve branches of the armed services. According to Hinman, the Puget Sound area is experiencing one of the largest ongoing troop deployments in the past 20 years. Because the USO is a private, nonproﬁt organization and receives no federal funding, Hinman must rely on donations, in-kind contributions, and volunteer labor provided by area businesses and associations such as MOAA to meet the needs of the troops and their families. This year, Seattle Chapter members donated $500 to the Puget Sound Area USO, and last year, a joint fundraising effort with the Mount Rainier (Wash.) Chapter resulted in a $600 contribution. Individual members, such as Lt. Col. Ken Deich, USAF-Ret., drop off dozens of books, comfort-care items, and necessities travelers tend to forget, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste. But the biggest contribution chapter members make, says Hinman, is the special brand of caring they impart to troops and their families who pass through the Sea-Tac center. “A soldier came through here once on his way home, and he showed me 54 MILITARY OFFICER OCTOBER 2007 some combat photos he had taken,” says chapter member Gail DeBolt. “He wanted to talk about what he’d been through, and he needed to talk, so I listened.” Fellow chapter member Dee Osborne was there to help when more than 5,000 ROTC cadets passed through Sea-Tac this summer. Osborne distributed drinks and When supplies run low, chapter members ask business owners for donations. hundreds of the Sea-Tac center’s “internationally famous tuna sandwiches” to the grateful and hungry cadets. She also located lost luggage and guided cadets to the buses that would take them for training at Fort Lewis, Wash., or McChord AFB. When supplies run low at the USO, DeBolt and Osborne ask area business owners to support the troops by donating food, drinks, toiletries, and other needed items. Sometimes Osborne challenges merchants to match her contribution. “Whenever I’m out, whether it’s Target or Trader Joe’s, I’ll buy something like a case of soup, and I’ll ask the merchant to match my donation,” says Osborne. “Sometimes they do, and sometimes they give me a gift certiﬁcate to buy anything the USO needs.” Other chapter members, such as Cmdr. Dale Huff, USN-Ret., stand watch at the Sea-Tac center — one of only a few USO facilities that’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Huff works the busy but hard-to-ﬁll midnight-to-4 a.m. shift, greeting and assisting servicemembers and their families who arrive on incoming ﬂights from Korea or Japan. “We talk to the guys and gals and just make them feel at home,” says Huff. “A lot of people are grateful we have a family room, which has toys PHOTOS: LEFT, BETHANY PLEDGER; RIGHT, KELLY CAREY

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - October 2007

Military Officer - October 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: A Hero's Welcome? Partners in Patriotism Tales from Beyond the Battlefield Financial Results of MOAA Pages of History Information Exchange Faces of MOAA Member Books MOAA Scholarship Donors Advertising Index MOAA Member Services MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - October 2007

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