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during those hours. It speaks volumes about our club, our mission, and the people that make up or membership. Peo-ple like YOU! Thanks for all you do and please know how much it is ap-preciated. A couple of days ago, we remembered those that lost their lives on 9-11-01. For Nancy and I we lived through that ordeal while assigned to Washington, DC. It is a day we will never forget and one that proved just how strong Americans are. Patriot’s Day is a
special day of remem-brance to be sure. On a happier note, on September 18th, we say HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNITED STATES AIR FORCE! It is our 72nd birthday and birthday wishes go out to our 59 Airmen in the Veterans Club. As of this issue, we have 31 signed up for the Pi-ma Air and Space Muse-um field trip. This is way
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“The Vet Connection” is
a monthly newsletter for
the members of the Trilo-
gy Veteran’s Club. If you
have an article that you
would like published,
please send to Scott Duke
Dates for monthly meetings (Meetings start at 4:30 pm)
From the President Page 1
Veterans of Distinction Nomination
Page 2
Meet a Vet Pag 3
The Moroccan Beef Tangine was a hit!
Page 4
Who am I? Page 4
Adopt-A-Street Update Page 5
Membership Update Page 6
Veterans Outreach Cen-ter Mission 4
Page 7
Let us Never Forget Page 8
Moving Wall Mission Page 9
Monthly Events Schedule
Page 11
Pima Air and Space Museum Trip
Page 13
Club Meeting Agenda Page 16
In this Issue...
The Vet Connection
September 2019 Volume 3 Issue 9
From the President Scott Duke
January 29, 2019 June 25, 2019 November 26, 2019
February 26, 2019 July 30, 2019 December 17, 2019
March 26, 2019 August 27, 2019
April 30, 2019 September 24, 2019
May 29, 2019 October 29, 2019
A s we con-tinue to support and
volunteer to serve mili-tary veterans in need or at risk, I am reminded, “It’s not the hours you put in your work that counts, it’s the work you put in the hours.” That is so true when you look at the missions that you are volunteering for. Whether it is an hour at of work at Happy Hour, or two hours at Adopt-A-Street, or even four hours at the Moving Wall display, it’s about the work you are doing
short of what we need to fill the bus, so I am hoping some of you are rethinking a good time in Tucson with fellow club members. You can still buy a ticket at the Kiva Club, front desk. If we don’t get a better turnout soon, I am going to open the seats up to spouses of club members. Maybe we will hit our target number by then. If not, we will have to cancel this year’s field trip. I am excited to announce we have a Club photographer! Al Ungar (Marines), who is a professional photog-rapher has volunteered his skills in support of our club missions and activities. He, along with Bryan Young (Air Force) will take over primary duties as photographers at various club events during the year. Trust me, they won’t be taking pictures from an I-Phone, like yours truly always does. LOL! Check out the photos from the Moving Wall mission that took place, September 5-9. Our team leaders and volunteers (42 to be exact) did an amazing job, and took some terrific pictures that highlight the days we sup-ported. Finally, next month we will be nominating club members to fill the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasure, and Manager of Charities positions. As of today, I know that nearly all the incumbents would like to serve another two-year term, but if you are interested or want to nominate somebody new to these positions, please do so during our October club meeting. Self-nominating is totally acceptable. The two Members-At-Large positions are nominated by the club president and approved by the membership, so whomever is elected as President, will either retain or nominate new members for the membership consideration.
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I t was an honor to not only meet Senator McSally, but to represent the Trilogy Veterans Club as a nominee for the Senator’s Veterans of Distinction Award today.
Many thanks to Bob Meizinger for writing and submitting the nomination package and thanks to the Board of Directors for their support. Also, thanks to club member and my beauti-ful spouse, Nancy Duke for going with me.
I was not selected as one of the recipients of the award, but I got to shake the hand of the first American female to fly in combat. Way cool!
O ur “Meet a Vet” this month is Eddie Blais.
Eddie was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky in December 1961. Eddie and his 4 siblings were Army brats and spent time at Schofield Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Guam and Fort Ord. His
father completed 2 tours in Viet Nam with 1stCalvary and retired as Ser-geant First Class. After retirement ceremony in Fort Ord, Eddie's father moved the family back to the island of Guam.
Eddie's family was on Guam for ~4 years and he completed elementary and began junior high school in Barrigada. His parents divorced and after 4 years his mom remarried a Navy person and his stepdad received orders to Moffett Field, California. Eddie and siblings made another move state-side to California. Eddie's stepdad retired out of Moffett Field and the fam-
ily stayed local. Eddie attended Joseph George middle, James Lick high and Silver Creek high, all in San Jose, CA. Eventually graduating from Silver Creek high.
Eddie's high school buddy was joining the Navy and Eddie looked into doing the same. He visited local Navy re-cruiter and was assigned up for Delayed Entry Program. After graduation in 1979, he was off to RTC San Diego! After Eddie graduated from boot camp he received orders to Millington, Tennessee for A School training as an Aviation Elec-trician's Mate (AE). Upon graduating from A school, Eddie received orders to NAS North Island, Coronado, CA to continue AE training at FRAMP squadron, VS41, Shamrocks, specifically on Lockheed S3-A Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft.
Eddie was concluding last module of FRAMP (PJT) and was asked if he wanted to do his 90 days TAD (everyone is assigned TAD after FRAMP training) at a remote computer site, ATSS (Aviation Training Support System). He jumped at the opportunity as coming from northern California - Silicon Valley was just getting started.
In 1981, while stationed on NASNI, Eddie met and married his wonderful wife, Alica. They lived in Imperial Beach off of Coronado Avenue. Eddie was 20, Alica was 19.
As we all know can happen, after 18 months of not being assigned to permanent duty station, basically they mis-placed/forgot him, Eddie submits a request for "change of rate". Eddie wanted to be a DS (Data Systems Analyst) since he had spent the TAD time learning computer systems. With their first child born and another on the way, he receives the rejection notice for DS and gets reassigned to sea-going squadron, VS33, Screwbirds(ASW), deploying in 3 months on the USS Ranger (CV61). After a year and a half of "computer networking" Eddie is getting reacquainted with S3-A schematics, Principle of Operations and basically how to troubleshoot the aircraft.
Ranger pulls out on June 1983 and heads south out of San Diego and circled west of Panama for 45days then pulls into Pearl Harbor. During this time, Alica gives birth to their son, Nicholas. Eddie receives notice while between Ha-waii and Philippines by receiving a package with butcher paper that Alica outlined their son with marker. It was a great day! Eddie's shipmates joined in with celebrating.
Many events and stories, Eddie's first and last deployment, the USS Ranger completed >100 days in the Indian Ocean, crashed into a replenishment ship and we lost 6 sailors in a below deck fuel fire.
Prior to Eddie's WestPac being completed, Alica sent out Eddie's resume in the Bay Area to line up interviews for his return and eventual EOAS. Eddie returned, had interviews and got a job with Versatec-Xerox. Spent 15 years with Xerox working his way from manufacturing test technician to Global Technical Operations. Left Xerox to do critical situation management for Sun Microsystems. After 15 years, Oracle acquired Sun in 2010. Eddie is Program lead for the Oracle hardware recall program.
Eddie and Alica are celebrating their 19 year wedding anniversary in April 2020. They have 6 children and 8 grand-children. They are also celebrating 2 years at Trilogy this Sept 2019. It's been the best move they have ever made in all their travels. Eddie's new to the Trilogy Veterans Club and enjoys helping out when work permits. Only a few more years to retirement!
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We are excited to report, as of this issue of “The Vet Connection,” we have 9 female military veterans in our club! Three years ago, the number was just one. Our club boasts 6 Air Force Veterans, 2 Army Veterans, and 1 Navy Veteran. With our Veterans First Limited mission, which can only use females to sup-port, mission leader Colleen Tucker is going to get some help! Could we have an all military veterans female Bocce Team for next year’s tournament?!
Do you know who I am?
I am a member of the Trilogy Veterans Club and served in the United States Army.
Answer can be found on Page 16
W e continue to serve, not only hot meals,
but are getting quite fancy in the menu! This past trip to the VOC had us feeding over 20 military
veterans and they thoroughly enjoyed the Beef Tangine! Mission leader, Chris Salzer continues to test and with
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the help of club volunteers, deliver such fantastic food to our homeless military veterans.
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A nother great outing with our Adopt-A-Street pro-gram!
Mission Leader, Paul Bernard want-ed to make it clear that the Veterans Club was in no way endorsing this per-son for public office. In-fact, the sign was part of the massive amount of trash collected by our volunteers. We are always looking for folks to volunteer their time on the last Saturday of each month at 7:30 AM. Volunteers meet at the Circle K right outside of Trilogy for assignments. Congrats to these volunteers and all our volunteers for a great job in commu-nity service! As we say in the Air Force, “Service before self!”
T he crowd was about average for this time of year (24 veter-ans). Our Veteran Snowbirds
are not back yet, and many full-timers have departed the fix, outbound for cooler temperatures.
Thanks to those that showed up and continue to make this club social event
so successful!
For our new members, we do this on the second Thursday of each month, 3:00 - 4:00 PM at the Cross Eyed Cricket. They take care care of us with free appetizers! Love the Cricket!
T his has been a busy month for the TVC and membership is doing
well. Currently, we have 222 members which 41 are new for 2019.
We are encouraging members to bring friends that are Veterans and live in Trilogy to our meet-ings and this Thursday's TTT at 1500 at the Cross Eyed Cricket.
Starting October 1st, if some-one joins the TVC, their dues are paid till 2020. Hope everyone had a great summer and looking for-ward welcoming our Snowbirds back.
T he temperature was 114 degrees, but that that did not stop Trilogy residents from coming out to donate used/new light bulbs in support of the
Trilogy Veterans Club’s Operation Bright Idea! 667 light bulbs were collected and club members Scott and Nancy Duke drove them down to the U.S. VETS, Grand Veterans Village in Phoenix. Mike Biggs was ready to accept them and that grin says it all! Special thanks to Marvin Shadman (Air Force), who stood out in the heat with Scott, collecting those light bulbs. Thanks Marv!
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Mark Grindle
T he word is out! The best hot meals are coming from Trilogy at Vistancia!
The VOC4 mission was an-other success with 31 veterans showing up for a hot meal with delicious sides.
Volunteering for this mission included seven (7) members of the Veterans Club, plus three (3) Airmen from Luke AFB, includ-ing for the first time in my memory, a commander from Luke serving military veterans in need. That’s right! Lt Col Adam Hauer (56 AMXS/CC) was front and center bringing plates of food out to the veter-ans.
Both the VOC2 and VOC4 missions are so worth volunteer-ing for and the look at these vet-erans faces and the smiles as you serve them...well my friends, it sure does warm your heart and make you feel so good. Thanks to all that volun-teer for this mission and special thanks to our mission leaders, Jose Lopes and Chris Salzer.
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I t will be a day, many of us will never forgot, but also a day
we ALL should never forget. As Patriots Day was a day or so ago, it was a time to reflect on the loss of life in New York, Washington DC, and in Pennsylvania.
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Moving Wall - 2019
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I t is that time of year, again! “Totes for Troops” will be com-ing on October 25th to support MANA House.
Mission Leader, Ron Gabaldon
(Air Force) is currently working with the reps at MANA House to determine what items they will need for the Fall.
what items they will need for the Fall. When we get that list, we will use sign-up genius to get the word out so you can support.
The club supports the MANA House Troops with Totes of toiletries and cleaning supplies. Pictured below is what we have donated in the past.
Moving Wall 2019
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Events September 2019
Point of Contact
Date
Tickets went on Sale (PimaAir/Space) Museum
Kiva Club Sep 3
Moving Wall of Healing Club Volunteers Sep 5-9
Patriots Day Club members Sep 11
Thirsty Troop Thursday Club members Sep 12
Veterans Outreach Center (VOC2) Chris Salzer Sep 13
TVC Board of Directors Meeting Scott Duke Sep 17
POW/MIA Day Club members Sep 20
Air Force Birthday Air Force Members Sep 18
Club Meeting Scott Duke Sep 24
Veterans Outreach Center (VOC4) Jose Lopes Sep 27
Adopt-A-Street Paul Bernard Sep 28
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PRESIDENT
Scott Duke
SECRETARY Mark Grindle
VICE-PRESIDENT
Bob Meizinger
Member-at-Large Richard Brown
TREASURER Les Kessler
Manager of Charities
Chris Salzer
Member-at-Large
Joe Ingalls
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L ast month, we had another raffle winner (Jose Lopes), who
will enjoy two tickets to a weekend game with the Arizo-na D-Backs, thanks to Mark and Jacki Urdahl (Zona Communications)
Will you be the next winner? All you need to do is show up at our next meeting at 4:30 PM and purchase a ticket for $1. Heck, increase your odds and buy five!
All proceeds from the monthly raffle offset costs of operating the club and funding various events and operations.
T ickets went on sale at the front desk of the Kiva Club on September 3rd. As of this issue 31 tickets have been sold.
Cost of the ticket is $53; however we need 56 people to go in order to keep the cost that low. As previously mentioned, we might have to either cancel the trip OR invite club members spouse’s to go.
The bus will depart the Kiva Club at 7:00 AM on October 16th, and return no later than 6:00 PM on the same day. Here is the breakdown:
10:00 AM - Check in at the Museum 10:15 AM - 11:30 AM - On your own walkabout around the Museum 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM - Pay as you go lunch period (they offered a lunch package for $19 that included a sandwich, chips, and soft drink/tea, but decided it would be better for you to purchase lunch ala carte, or bring a bag lunch). 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM - Tram Tour of the outside grounds of the Museum 1:15 PM - 2:00 PM - Continue with your own walkabout around the Museum Depart Museum: 2:15 PM Arrive Kiva Club: 5:30 PM NOTE: We will make one (1) stop at a Pilot Travel Center on our way back to the Kiva Club
Example of ticket for trip
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B elow is our price list and as of today, no increase in prices are being forecasted.
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Item Cost
Club Polo Shirt (red) Branch of Service Logo $45
Club Tee-Shirt (red) Branch of Service Logo $35
Club Hat - (blue) with Club name and American Flag $15
Club Memorial Brick $40
Club Coin $10
Vietnam Veteran Necklace $10
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 4:30 PM
Pledge of Allegiance
Guest Speaker: Lt Col Adam Hauer (56 AMXS/CC)
President’s Comments
Secretary Report
Health & Well Being Update
Old business
New business
Good of the Club
Adjourn
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If you thought it was Melvyn Mitosfky, you would be correct!
