TACOMA - Soldiers from JBLM's 110th Chemical Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade spent their Friday doing a little bit of spring cleaning at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 969 in Tacoma.

As part of the battalion's "Care Fridays," Soldiers helped with a beautification of the building both inside and out. "We're just trying to take the initiative and have some kind of community outreach and instill the spirit of volunteering in the Soldiers," said Capt. Todd Meskil, 110th Chem. Bn., company commander.

Care Fridays are used as a tool for one of the battalion's three main priorities - training, maintaining and caring.

"It's when we dedicate our time to the care of Soldiers, their Family members and the community," Meskil said. "In line with the vision of Care Fridays, we established this partnership with the VFW to try to help out."

They removed unwanted items and tossed them into a large dumpster that sat just outside the building. Soldiers also swept up the parking lot of grass and dirt clumps and weeds that were growing from one end of the lot behind the building.

"You can't ask the girl behind the bar to do this and most of us are too old to do it," said Don Moore, a retired Army first sergeant.

The Soldiers also placed fresh mulch around trees and in plant beds outside.

"It's been a real big help," said VFW quartermaster Ted Beckman. "Got some muscle to do things."

About 30 Soldiers volunteered as part of a community outreach partnership between the battalion and the VFW post.

Some of the community service projects the battalion hopes to accomplish with the partnership includes helping at local parks and contributing to any charitable events VFW Post 969 is involved with.

The work day also provided Soldiers with a perspective of the veterans who are part of VFW 969, which opened up Dec. 2, 1933. Veterans at the VFW represent a range of military branches who served in the Korean War, Vietnam War and Gulf War.

"As far as seeing the history and seeing the legacy of military service, this is a great opportunity for the younger Soldiers," Meskil said.

At the end of the day, Soldiers were treated to a spaghetti dinner served by the VFW staff as a sign of gratitude for their hard day's work.