Welcome to Community Stories.
I'm your host, Melissa K.
This is the fourth episode in our veteran series and the seventh story.
You can hear episodes one through three on our shows tab at civicmedia.us.
Within these stories, you'll hear what it was like to be deployed overseas in different
branches of the military.
You'll also hear why these folks made the decision to join the military and what happened
along their journey.
Some of these stories are funny and some are difficult.
If you listen between the lines, you can detect the bravery and courage it took for these
heroes to dedicate their lives to service so we can enjoy freedoms in our country.
Today, I'm delighted to introduce you to Sean Plant.
Many of you already know him or have seen him serving in the community.
He's post commander of our Buckley Baldwin VFW post 2534.
Without further ado, I'm Melissa K and this is my conversation with Sean Plant.
Well hello, Sean.
Thank you for sitting down with me on Community Stories today.
Please introduce yourself and a share with me what military organizations you're involved
in.
My name is Sean Plant.
I am currently the post commander for VFW post 2534 here in Wisconsin Rapids.
Okay.
And when and why did you get involved in the military?
I joined the Wisconsin National Guard when I was still in high school and I was still
a senior in high school.
October of 94, I joined the guards while I was still in high school, drilled on the
weekends up until I graduated.
After I graduated high school, I actually went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for basic
training and then Fort Lee, Virginia for advanced individual training as a food service
specialist.
And then came back and served here with the 120th Field Artillery in Wisconsin Rapids
until October of 1998, at which time I joined the active army and was stationed in
school field barracks Hawaii.
Oh wow.
Okay, let's jump back for a second.
That was a lot of information for me.
Why did you join while you were still in high school?
My family has a long military pass, my father and my three uncles all served in the military.
My grandfather served in the military.
So it was just a natural thing to go into some kind of service.
That's why I joined the guard initially was to be able to serve that time, but still
be able to continue on with my education, go to college and so having had that background
with your family history serving, did you always know you were going to join the military?
Not really.
Initially I was going to be a truck driver.
Okay.
But somewhere along the way, I kind of grew up a little bit and decided to, at that point
when I was in high school, I decided I was going to go into police science.
And I knew that there was an MP of military police unit in the National Guard.
So I kind of leaned out in that way to try to get some training and some experience.
But then when I found out that the nearest military police unit was all the way down in
Milwaukee, I was talking to the recruiter here in Wisconsin Rapids.
I was like, well, what do you got here in Wisconsin Rapids?
So at that point, yep.
So at that point, I became a cook.
And did you choose that or was that assigned to you?
I chose it.
They said, well, basically you can do administrative paperwork.
You can go work on vehicles and I was not mechanically inclined.
You could go shoot artillery.
I kind of like to be able to hear or you could cook.
And I was at the time I was working at Herschelibs here in Wisconsin Rapids and I was like,
I like to cook.
So I'll be a cook.
Okay.
So you went through training when you got to what was the base name in Hawaii?
Uh, Skollfield Barracks.
Skollfield Barracks in Hawaii.
What year is this?
1998.
Okay.
So you've been in for four years, roughly.
And what did you do in Hawaii?
I was a cook.
I got stationed to the 225th Ford Support Battalion and got assigned to one of the
Garrison dining facilities on post.
Did they have, was it, is it a large post there?
Like how many soldiers were you serving?
We were serving about 800 a meal.
Wow.
So breakfast lunch and dinner about 800 people.
How much staff did you have in the kitchen?
We normally had 14 to 18 people per shift.
Wow.
So depending on what day it was, you were either working on meats or you were working
on surges and vegetables or you were working on the short order line or you were working
on the salad bar.
So what was your main position in the kitchen or did it fluctuate?
It changed from week to week.
A lot of the shift leaders I have were big believers in, okay, you do this job for a week
and then you go to a different section and learn that job for a week and they just rotated
us through.
So that way we were well trained on all the different aspects of our job instead of,
okay, you're good at this, this is what you're going to stay here doing and that does great
for the position that you're on but as far as your overall skill set that doesn't work
very well for a well-rounded position.
Have you found in your experience with the military that that's kind of, that's something
that they do?
Like I said, it depends on the leadership.
Some prefer to, okay, you're good at this, I'm going to leave you on that so I don't have
to worry about it.
And like I said, with me, my thought always was rotate the people through, get them to
learn every asset of their job, that way they're good at any part of the job they have
to do.
If you focus one person in, one part of the job that they're good at, they don't learn
everything else and somewhere along the way in a different position or a different site,
if they have to do something else, they don't have that experience and you're doing them
at this service.
Yeah, you're limiting them to their learning capability.
While you were there in Hawaii, did you cook with some of the local food that they had
there?
No, we were primarily just on post and cook and just standard menus.
Okay, so after how long were you there in Hawaii?
I was in Hawaii from 98 to 2001.
Okay, where did you go next?
Hawaii, I got stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas.
Okay, I bet that was a bit of a transition.
Yeah.
A very different climate.
Very different climate.
Very, very much appreciated.
I grew up born and raised here in Wisconsin.
So we had four seasons in Hawaii.
It was the same thing all season long.
The only difference was the grass grew longer in the summer time than it did in the winter
time.
It grew a little bit slower in the winter time.
But it was summer all year long in Hawaii, so did you miss the snow?
Yes I did.
Very much so.
Some people are going to empathize with you on that and some people are going to shake
their heads.
That's okay.
I can handle.
All right.
So then you're in Kansas and what did you do there?
Same thing, food service.
I was attached to the first maintenance company and we were assigned to again assigned to
a dining facility there.
Similar number of people coming through.
Yeah.
About the same, 800 to 1000 people per meal.
Okay.
It was a little bit bigger down the ceiling.
Did you have to do a lot of like bag lunches when they're out doing training?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We did do some bag lunches.
We did some what we called remote site feeds where we cook everything and then we box
it into thermal containers and send it out and then they serve it out there in the
field.
Nice.
So then how long were you in Kansas?
We're in Kansas from 2001 to 2006.
Okay.
So five years in Kansas.
What did they focus on as a training facility there?
It's it's it's the same basic military training.
At least once a year we were going to the National Training Center in California to train
up.
It was you know after 9-11.
So everybody was training up to deploy to Iraq at the to Iraq and Afghanistan at the time.
So we were doing a smaller field training exercises on post.
So that way we were getting trained both on the the the garrison the everyday jobs and
then getting trained up on our field equipment to be able to go out into the real world to
do the job.
And then like said once a year we were going to California to train in the California
desert as to do our jobs as we would if we were actually out in the Iraq year at Ghani Desert.
And then from Kansas where did you go next?
From Kansas.
I got stationed in Fort Richardson Alaska.
Alaska?
Yep.
Oh wow.
You really have been all over the States then.
So what was what was the difference in Alaska?
Not much.
Really.
Alaska environment is not much different than Wisconsin is.
Really?
There were some winters where we actually got more snow in Wisconsin than we did in Alaska.
Sometimes it was the other way around but it was still beautiful for seasons and you know
but we did do some extreme cold weather training.
We'd go all the way up to Fairbanks by the Arctic Circle and we did one field training exercise.
We were out doing weapons qualification in 60 below.
Thanks.
Yeah.
That got a little interesting but it was like do weapons function while at 60 below?
As long as they're dry yes.
If you oil them up oil gets really sticky at that cold temperature so that's a good thing
to note.
Yep.
It was some training opportunities definitely.
Do you have any memorable experiences from Alaska that stand out?
Not really.
It was just you know overall not training so much but the off time was so much more enjoyable
in Alaska because it's so beautiful and it's so rustic up there and you know you get
bears that are just you know walking down the street you get up at five in the morning
get ready to go to work and here's a bear or a moose walking down the street in the middle
of the post you know and everybody's used to it you know it's just part of the wildlife
there you know here you get squirrels and chipmunks and rabbits and you know Alaska we
have bears and moose they're a little bigger yeah a little bit a little bit.
Did you ever have any encounters?
The closest encounter I ever had I woke up one morning I just got him back from doing
physical training so I was getting I had gone home and changed to get ready to go to work
in the dining facility and I made a pot of coffee and I just poured my coffee and I go
to open up the shades on my dining room window and here's a moose butt in my window.
Moose was kneeled down on its front legs eating my lawn so nothing like waking up with
a good cup of Joe in a moose butt.
Yep yep.
Nice.
Well let's take a little break here Sean and then when we come back let's share with
our audience where you went next.
Stick around we'll be right back with a continuation of the story.
Well welcome back I'm here with Sean Plant and when we left you last he was just observing
a moose butt out of his window in Alaska.
Where did you go next John?
Alaska was my last duty station.
Okay.
After that I was medically retired after three deployments and came back home to Wisconsin.
Alright so can you talk about your deployments at all?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah my first deployment was 2003-2004 I was stationed in Kansas at the time and we went
to Iraq.
Okay.
So it was interesting it was it was the early days of the Iraq war so we flew in to Kuwait
and then we drove with all of our equipment from Kuwait up to where we were stationed
up in Iraq and we had to set up all of our barracks we had to basically we took over
a basically an abandoned Iraqi army post so a lot of the buildings were partially destroyed
and everything so we had to rehab the buildings to make our barracks and then we had to set
up our dining facility area and food storage and everything and start cooking for the
troops that we were supporting at that time so.
Did you have electricity or were you running off generators?
We were running off generators the electrical infrastructure was very very poor very very
sad so we we were running basically run our own electrical infrastructure off of generators.
Okay.
So what was it like cooking in that environment?
Not too much different than what we had planned on other than you know it was a heck of a
lot hotter you know we're talking 120's 130's during the day and 70's at night you know
so it was you know quite a bit hotter than than even California got when we were training
there and then you know the occasional random rockets or mortar shells coming in so it
was it was always always interesting.
Did you have any warning when those were coming like sometimes we have have minor warning
other times it was just like boom boom here they go again so.
Did you ever feel like you were in mortal danger?
There were a few times where they got kind of close to our dining facility we had one
one situation where the the one day they fired a single rocket in and it landed about 200
meters short of our dining facility it landed in in a in a supply yard and it was like well
you know there goes the supplies that that were in that area and then the following day the
same time a day right right during the lunchtime they landed another round 150 yards past
our dining facility and landed in a maintenance yard so it's like they're trying to shoot
for the defect.
This is not fun so the next day we were we were rather wary of of it you know we're like you
know trying to make every excuse not to be in the deep packet during lunchtime which yeah that
didn't work we had a job to do and you know the attack never came luckily for us you know
there there were people higher up that figured out that that was what it was and they were able to
intercept the guys that were setting up the rockets and took them out before they were able to
fire that third volley luckily they were stupid enough to set up in the same place every day so
it was easier to go okay that's where they're gonna be but that could have saved your life
yes very much so wow what was it like for when when the soldiers were coming into eat what were
you seeing from those soldiers um a lot of it was you know just just day-to-day activities um you know
the maintenance guys working on trucks and the supply guys you know taking care of supplies
the administrative people doing paperwork um sometimes you'd have units that were out on
missions during that day or during the night before so you know if they were doing night missions
they come in for breakfast they were happy to have a nice hot breakfast before they go take a
shower and lay down for the day or you know if they were out on a day mission that come in you
come in at dinner time you know then you know be able to get a nice hot meal and you know we had
TVs on and in a dime so only so it was a chance to to relax a little bit and unwind and you know
kind of work relax off the day seemed like a little bit of normalcy in a very weird situation
you're not used to yeah definitely so you were there for a year my first appointment was 15 months
okay so so then you came home mm-hmm and then you were deployed again right after that no no my
next appointment didn't come until after I had transferred to forages in Alaska my next
appointment was 2006 2007 back to Iraq again so you were in Iraq in the desert and then you got
to go to Alaska mm-hmm I bet that was a very big change yeah that was that that was that was
different and the train up for that one we did out in Louisiana mm-hmm before we deployed for
that one so also completely different yeah yeah that yeah that was that was not anything like
being a being in Iraq no mm-hmm so then when you were deployed again after Alaska you went
back to Iraq I went to went to Iraq for my second one yeah in 2006 2007 and we were stationed actually
again on an on an old Iraqi army post that was built just on actually we were kind of in the center
of Baghdad oh so we had one of the major thoroughfares run right across the front of our posts and
and we were surrounded on two other sides by farmland and one other side by a community area so
mm-hmm did you ever spend any time off base um yeah we did we did missions off post my second
deployment um I started with uh doing uh base security when we first got there and then afterwards
I was doing a lot of convoy security missions uh going with the convoy is making sure that
you know every whatever we were transporting was safe mm-hmm and then I also got into uh
detainee transport missions oh so the the guy that was in charge of it when we first got there
was getting ready to go do his his mid to her leave so they're like hey would you be interesting
to take an over for him while he's gone on leave yeah sure you know what the heck I'll do this for
you know two three weeks that ended up being six months of it so I did 98 detainee transport
missions transported 134 detainees how to different locations so mm-hmm so quite a bit different
work than being in a kitchen yeah I spent the total of three weeks in the in the kitchen during
that deployment so I did not get to do my job a whole lot but at that point in time um they had
the civilian contractors in there so they were they were primarily running the defects and we
were just kind of in there to to oversee and make sure everything was running smooth so we didn't
have a whole lot of of food service obligations during that second deployment so did you feel more
secure in that in base than the first deployment mm-hmm not really it was it was still you know
quite a bit of tension because we had like I said we had the major thoroughfare running across the
front mm-hmm of of the posts so you know we always had threats from vehicle-borne uh explosives
and then the the biggest problem we ran into was on the north side of the post it was
primarily a Sunni community and on the south side of the post was primarily a Shiite community
and the Sunni and the Shiites didn't really get along together so a lot of the times they'd
fire rockets at each other uh which would go right over the top of us because they don't like each
other and sometimes you know those rockets end up short and guess who stuck in the middle oh
so it it got it got interesting quite a few times so well don't go anywhere we'll be right back
with the continuation of Sean's story
welcome back to community stories I'm your host Melissa K and I'm talking with Sean Plant
at this point in his story Sean is stationed on an old Iraqi army post in the center of Baghdad
instead of being in charge of an army kitchen during his second deployment Sean was responsible
for base security early on and later convoy security missions off post he eventually took over
detainee transport missions for another soldier on mid-tour leave a two to three week assignment
turned into six months when we left Sean he was explaining how the Sunni and Shiite communities
lived on opposite sides of the old army base where they were stationed the two communities didn't
get along and would fire rockets at each other sometimes falling short as Sean said making
things interesting now we'll continue with his story as I asked Sean one of my favorite questions
what was the local cuisine like with having to do all those different transports did you see a
lot more of the country then yeah there was between the transports and the different supply
missions and and things that we did we yeah I got to see you know quite a bit of the area around
Baghdad and surrounding areas and other communities yeah spend a lot of time in the trucks on the
road and spend a lot of time in helicopters so did you ever eat any of the local food yes yes
we did we did have a couple of the local local nationals that were able to set up food stands
so the the the local flatbread was delicious so and occasionally we got to eat at a couple of the
local national restaurants that were you know they they were able to set up on post and all
that are ingredients and everything were regulated by the authorities on post you know so that
way they knew that they were serving us good holds some food you're not getting old meat yeah not
getting old meat or you know they're telling us they're serving as chicken and here it is seagull or
something like that something yeah whereas my brother calls them sea rats yep well do you have any
memory of like a favorite dish that you had over there are flavors that you really enjoyed you
said flatbread yeah the the flatbread was was the was the thing for me the the the brick oven
flatbread was just did it have just like a fire roasted flavor to it fire roasted flavor to it and
just the simplicity of it it was just it was just simple and wholesome and and and tasted good
sometimes we get just the regular flatbread sometimes they dip them in cinnamon sugar who
after they brought them you know fresh out of the oven and so it would kind of crystallize it
on the breads and all it was just delicious nice have you found anything comparable back here in
the states no no well so then after that second deployment what happened next after the second
deployment was was our third deployment in 2009 2010 that was my first deployment to Afghanistan
okay so was that a lot different than Iraq yes it was very much different from Iraq
like so the first two we were down in the desert the deployment to Afghanistan where we were
stationed was up in the mountains oh so we got up there in October just as winter was coming in
so we had a full blown winter with snow and everything in the deserts of Afghanistan oh wow
throughout you know what would be the normal winter months and then you know we had we actually
had four seasons in in the year that we were there so we had a full blown winter with snow and
mud and muck and was it was it similar to our winners here yeah it was it was it was pretty similar
it's just the the temperature sways were were a little more little bigger because we were up in
the mountains so during the daytime it did get warmer but then the nighttime because you know we
were basically up above the cloud cover we didn't have anything to hold the heat in so it got cold
at night and warm during the day so interesting so did that cause a lot of like the snow melt and
more ice or ice a little bit snow melt not so much because it was the hot time during the day
was a very short time it wasn't long enough to actually create a whole lot of melt off so and then
like I said it got cold enough at night to to really get a good hard freeze on the on the snow pack
did you get a decent amount of snowfall oh yeah yeah that in the once the one snowfall we got
eight inches of snow oh yeah you know and us having been for been an Alaskan unit we were like
okay you know this is nothing this is just another day for for the fourth brigade 25th ID so
we know how to handle this oh yeah so were you stationed then or did you serve in the dining
facility during the deployment yes that that deployment I actually ran my dining facility
oh okay and my and my food supply point so I was I was in e6 at the time and basically doing an
e7's job running the dining facility ordering the food for the dining facility plus I had
four splinter teams that were out running forward operating bases they were running
them forward operating bases okay so I had my e5s each running their own dining facility feeding
up to 80 guides of meal wow so I had to oversee their ordering making sure they were ordering what
they needed in the in the amounts they needed to include having emergency supplies in case for some
reason a forward operating base would come under attack they would have the food and the water
on hand to be able to support an extended siege men if they were stuck yeah if they were so
off our way were these other facilities um anywhere from 20 to 40 miles away from our our main
operating base so wow so you're running six dining facilities in the middle of an
Afghanistan winter oh yeah any memorable things that that popped up during that time um
it it was all it was all a new experience it was nice being able to run my own facility
and and to be able to oversee those I'd say the biggest memory I had was getting in there
and um looking at the supplies that I was left from the unit before me and going through and
realizing that this was 2009 and I'm looking at food and water supplies that had expired back
in 2003 I'm going this is a problem so I had to destroy all kinds of food and water supplies that
were either heat heat destroyed or extremely out of date and then to resupply my facility
my base and have my guys do the same thing at their bases so to to to make sure that you know
everything was squared away and good to go and being able to go into the ordering system and
be able to put on not you not just you know standard standard meal items but be able to put on
a surf and turf night once a week a soul food night with you know fried catfish and fried chicken
do an Italian night you know they do all do all these different specially meals along with our
regular meals and we were doing up to 1200 meals a day out of the dining facility that we were
running just the one you were running yeah just the one that we were running and you know like
said not to include you know not to exclude the extra five bases that my guys were running
plus um supplying different uh long range patrols that were going out and you know they'd be out
for three four five days at a time so I'd make sure they were supplied with the drinks and the
fresh fruit and the food supplies that they needed to serve their guys something more than just
an MRE and a bag so sending sending them out uh tray pack self-heating tray pack meals so that way
they could have you know nicer food nicer meals other than you know like said just having to eat
out of a meal because there's nothing that uh brings morale down more than than having to eat
something repeatedly that yeah is in no way enjoyable yep and morale was one of the biggest things
that we wanted to keep up you know the three the three M's that the that the soldiers run on is
money meals and morale yeah yeah that's so that makes perfect sense um and at that time you said
this is 2009 yep so had some of these soldiers that were over there that you were serving had they
been there for quite some time um it they rotated out everybody was on pretty much on a one-year
rotation uh we had an Air Force unit that was in there for uh six months with us the Air Force
ran each is a different uh branches ran different lengths of rotations uh like said the Army we
were out there for a body year at a time uh some of the special units were only in there for three
months or six months or nine months so everybody was on a different rotation so we had we had a
national guard unit from Kansas that got stationed on our post um they were out there for I think
eight months okay so that's still a long time yeah to be away from home and to be eating meals
I appreciate that you put the effort in to give them a special like taste of home yeah absolutely
you know we want we wanted to make sure that you know food wasn't one of the things they had to worry
about yeah each day so we you know we made it a point once a month to have a unit barbecue day
where we actually we you know we'd serve them breakfast and then we shut the dining facility down
it also gave us a chance to do a nice real good deep clean on the dining facilities yeah but then
we made sure that we we sent out uh we give the the units a list of four different things that they
could pick from to actually barbecue you know do a barbecue at each other so you know they'd have
brats and hot dogs or hamburgers or pork chops or ribeye steaks or you know whatever we could come
up with that would be something a little different and it would be able to build unit morale
yeah as as well as you know just be something different than having to come in the dining
facility three times a day right no that's that's important for morale and you said so you were
there for a year yep okay 12 months and then following that what happened uh following that uh
that was my my last deployment and I came home uh I had had uh back issues when I was uh in
Afghanistan my back had gone out on me so yeah yep went to go pick up a box and couldn't stand back
up so that's the worst yep it got interesting but you know we docks got me healed up and got me
back in it and we completed out that that deployment and then after that deployment uh between that
and um I my second deployment in Iraq I got blown up on two different uh occasions two different
missions so I had PTSD issues I had a moderate traumatic brain injury and between that and like
said my back had gone out and I was developing arthritis I had been at it at the job in the army
for almost 20 years at that point wow so my body was starting to give out on me so it was time to
start going through the process to to move on to something while I could still move on so
it's good foresight don't you yeah but at that point I move forward with with my medical retirement
and we got out and moved back to back to rapids okay well let's take another quick break and when
we come back I want to hear about being commander of the VFW post all right stay tuned we'll be
right back with more stories from your community welcome back to community stories on WFHR
we're glad you're here for the rest of the story so I'm here with Sean Plant who is the VFW
post commander of 25 VFW post 2534 how did you get into that position Sean um I got into the VFW
in 2016 and they were looking to move some some newer younger blood up in into leadership positions
they wanted me to become post commander right off the bat and I said I didn't know what the heck
I was doing so I wanted to kind of learn learn about the post and learn the job first before I
I took too too much of a of a step so I started off as as the junior vice commander of the post
and I did that for two years and it's you're basically the third in command for the post you
if the commander and the senior vice commander are absent you would run the meetings
you're in charge of running different campaigns like the the buddy poppies that we do every year
and different fundraisers I also started learning the the job of the post custodian
getting you know doing stuff for our spaghetti feeds that we do in November our stake feed that we
do in May now and just you know learn learn the different jobs and you know what the VFW did
I joined the honor guard to do funeral honors for military members that have passed as well as
doing flag presentations for the different high school athletic teams we do flag presentation
for the swing against cancer benefit every year the state cross country me you know different events
like that so it was you know kind of learning all those different things that we do and then I took
over as as commander of the post and and led the post for two years and then that was right at the
beginning of COVID and then our post custodian who was also our honor guard commander at the time
uh was 90 years old at the time oh wow and he developed COVID oh no and then developed pneumonia two
months later and then developed a heart murmur two months after that so he decided to step back
from the honor guard commander position in the post custodian position understandably so
he he basically passed that mantle on means that here it's it's it's your job now um and at that
point I decided that was too much for me to handle to be the post the post commander and the post
custodian and the honor guard commander that seems like a lot and we had also joined the chamber
of commerce here in town and I was the chamber ambassador for the VFW to the chamber so I told the
guys I had to step back you know I could keep you know the wheels turning and and keep the paint on
the walls but somebody else had to leave the post and at that point another member had taken over
as post commander and he did that for three years and in his his three years I had moved down to
senior vice commander to to advise him and mentor him and in his time as post commander 2534 has
been an all-state post all-state honors post twice wow we've been an honor guard honors post once
and this last year we also made all-american honors for the post wow so those are some prestigious
awards yep and through you know that work that he did he he has since moved up to a state
um committee position as well as some other stuff that he's doing in in his personal life so
he's decided to step back so I step back in as yeah I step back in as as post commander again so
I gave everybody a heads up that I will I will do this for two years and we've got new members
that are coming in so we are junior vice commander move up to senior vice commander and we elected
a new junior vice commander and so she is in the mix now and and learning the ropes so we've got a good
good chain here to to keep moving the the post forward into the future so wonderful so tell me
a bit about the organization and what veterans get by being members of the post our biggest thing
is is supporting the veteran community through legislative acts making sure that everybody gets the
benefits that they've earned through the service that they've given and also keeping you know helping
the community out in service of veterans and also the youth of the of the community um a couple
of years ago when the 4-H building burnt down 4-H clubhouse burnt down they had nowhere to go
we brought them in we brought them in they now have their monthly meetings at the VFW post
so we're you know they're their primary tenants are faith family and country
which go along great with the VFW because that's that's a lot of our tenants too is faith family
and country and you know it gives them a place to meet and to have their meetings and continue
their organization and it also helps us fulfill our obligation to help support the community
so because that is a big part of what you do yes absolutely so and for those out there who
haven't yet joined um a veteran organization like the VFW what what advice would you give them
join um the there was a big stigma around the time that I I proposed to join there was this big
stigma that the VFW is nothing about but a bunch of old veterans that you sit around drink beer
and smoke cigars and talk about the war that's not who we are at at one point in time that may have
been what it is but that's not anymore we we get together we support each other it's a place
for veterans to get together and just support each other you you build a camaraderie when you're in
military service the the man that's fighting to your right in your left you know you you you come
to support support them and depend on them yeah you have to trust them with your life yeah you have
to trust them with your life and then after you get out of the military you you lose that sense
of of togetherness of belonging um getting into the VFW you you you you find that camaraderie again
the we've had we've had a number of people join recently that they've said you know they they've
felt lost they they've felt adrift yeah they felt adrift they they've they've they've had no
no purpose direction and motivation to to do anything because they never felt part of a group
like they were when they are in the military service and joining you know if if you've deployed
in a combat zone you can join the VFW if you were in service but never deployed you can join
the American Legion if you were in the service and you were injured but not in in in in any kind
of combat you've got to dismiss disable American veterans so you've got these you've got all these
different VSOs that you can join and if you were in the in the military if you were deployed during
Vietnam you have the Vietnam Veterans of America you've got you've got these four primary veteran
service organizations that you can join and get back in and and this feeling of camaraderie with
with people who have been through the same things you've been with so you know if if you've got
something that you want to talk about there's got the guys and girls there to listen yeah it's
a different level of understanding yeah and and again it's you know it's not just guys it's
guys and girls our new junior vice commander is a female Navy vet who served during desert storm
so you know that our quartermasters a female you know we've we've got a number of females in the
post and that's one thing that we're we're having to fight through and and change the change the
vision on too is that it's just a guys organization right so you've really thrown out the this old
boys club yeah yeah yeah yeah the old boys club mentality is gone you know it's it's it's
grown into you know this soldier service organization so and we you know we we have our meetings once
a month where we you know share information you know what are we doing this month what did we do
last month what's going on here what's going on there and then with our VFW meeting after our
VFW meeting is done we said don't have a meal together you know we we we foster that camaraderie that
that fellowship that fellowship that feeling togetherness yeah so you know and so people can
be as active or not as they want to yes yeah yeah yeah we've we've got like said our our oldest
active member is 94 years old wow our youngest active member I think is like 32 okay so we've
got you know a large range and you know we we we do hear that from some vets you know yeah I you
know I just got back from Iraq or I just got back from Afghanistan but I'm in my mid 30s I'm
growing a family the kids are in sports I don't have the time you don't have to be there every
meeting you don't have to be there for every event it's great if you can but if you can't we
understand but still come join the organization you know have that feeling of of camaraderie whenever
you need it yeah you know and and that that ability to reach out to somebody and say hey you know
I've got this issue I need help with trying to get you know this benefit or or deal with this
thing with with the VA or or something like that it's a whole network of yeah people that can you
can reach out to and get help from absolutely well thank you for sitting down with me today Sean
if people want to get in touch with you you have the number for the VFW yep the VFW's phone number
is 715-6000-0401 we hold our monthly meetings on the third Thursday of every month at 6 pm at the
Donald J. Knuth Memorial Hall the VFW post 2534 it's at 2711 Redden Road you can come out if you're
not sure about joining the VFW you can at least come out and just sit in on a meeting you know
see what we're about you don't have to join right away it's not something where you have to know
the secret handshake to get in the door you can just come in and and observe us and see if you
know it's something you want to do if if it's you know something you want to do please by all means
come and join us if not you know it was nice to see you yeah yeah well thank you so much for
sitting down with me Sean absolutely and sharing your story with us thank you
you're listening to community stories on WFHR I'm your host Melissa K this new show is about
sharing stories from our community the first series of stories focuses on our veterans
as the show progresses you'll hear stories from our first responders small local business owners
and maybe even yourself if you'd like to share your story please reach out to me at community
stories at civicmedia.us you can also share feedback or thoughts on the show or you can let me
know if you'd like to be a sponsor now here's a sneak peek of an upcoming story with another
well-known veteran in our area well I'm here with rock larson hi rock hello what prompted you to
join the military when you did oh boy I was a young 17 year old in green bay Wisconsin try and
figure out what I might want to do with my life and I had a friend who had joined the Air Force
and then another guy and I were talking about it thank you for joining us for community stories
I'm your host Melissa K join us on Tuesdays and Thursdays from five to six for more stories from
your community
