Back to News Front

Now more than ever

This Armed Forces Day highlights those doing their best to help us all

The USO Cookie Boss (and shhh, retired Navy commander) will distribute free cookies to kids next week in a show of honor and support to all. Photo credit: USO Northwest

Email Article Print Article Share on Facebook Share on Reddit Share on StumbleUpon

History is littered with great quotes and even better deeds that demonstrate how some human beings rise to the occasion when the going gets tough. On this Armed Forces Day weekend, we found several examples of this spirit right here, not surprising, of course, many of it coming from the ranks of our active, reserve and veteran forces.

  • Over the last couple of weeks, appointments for blood donations at the Armed Services Blood Bank Center - Pacific Northwest have been down significantly from the previous five weeks since blood drives had to be curtailed, according to Madigan. Deployed service members, Madigan Army Medical Center and other military treatment facilities still need blood to save lives.

So, of course, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) units such as 5th SFAB, 2-1 Inf. Reg., 8-1 CAV, 51st ESB, Madigan Army Medical Center, Bravo Company 4-23 Inf Reg, and the 46th Aviation Support Battalion have made it a "mission" to give blood.

If a command is interested, please call Victor Shermer, the Donor Recruiter, at 253.968.1903 to coordinate a time.

  • McChord's Staff Sgt. Michael Loveless, 62nd Airlift Wing comptroller squadron, gives us all inspiration. The inspiration for him came from a cub scout named Quinn. His local hospitals were asking for help with creating more "ear guards" because they had to wear masks all day and it strained their ears. Quinn created them with his 3D printer and they were a hit. Quinn soon realized how many people could actually use these from all the responses on Facebook that he got, so he published the file to print them. Loveless saw the post a few days after and decided to download the file. Having a 3D printer already, he got started printing them. Next, he sent out a plea for financial donations on the 62 USAF Comptrollers page. Within a matter of minutes, multiple people reached out to Loveless, his donations quickly grew to $300, including a donation and request from a staffer at the Fort Belvoir Medical Treatment Facility in Virginia. She more than doubled his donations. Just $1 makes about 15-20 masks.
  • The USO Northwest hasn't ceased their support of our military, either. The USO Cookie Boss and his team will deliver Girl Scout cookies to the JBLM children May 20-22. The Cookie Boss is asking kids living on JBLM to decorate their front doors in honor of their moms and/or dads for their services to this country. Those that do will receive Girl Scout cookies delivered to their doors.  To participate, send the Cookie Boss your name, address and favorite Girl Scout cookie -- the link to sign up is here: facebook.com/USONorthwest/.
  • Chrysta Munoz, spouse of Airman First Class Eric Munoz, 62nd Aerial Port Squadron, and her children have been creating "workout rocks."

"We let our kids use their imagination to paint some rocks and we put small workouts on the back of the rock," Munoz wrote. "Whenever we go for a walk, we hide them all over the trails of McChord Field, so when other families go walking, they can find them and do the workout."

There are many more examples of this spirit, worthy of an Armed Forces Day shout-out. And while this weekend is about supporting our troops and their families, it is never surprising to find that it is often military people who are the ones supporting each other.

Read next close

News Front

D Street Gate likely to not re-open

comments powered by Disqus