veterans life

LifeVeteransA Sound Publishing Monthly Magazine November 2012

2 | V E T E R A N S L I F E | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 2

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76 the number of Navy veterans

at the stand down

133 the total number of honorably

discharged veterans

11 the number of veterans

“couch surfing”

17 the number of full-time

employed veterans

50 the number of veterans with no job

17 the number of women veterans in attendance

14 the number of Native American

veterans in attendance

25 the number of retired military

veterans in attendance

27 the number of veterans without

work for more than two years

34 the number of veterans who

enrolled in VA Healthcare

80 the number of veterans

without insurance


spent the previous night on the street


said they made less that $1,500 a month

$12,491 the number of Kitsap County property tax dollars given to

veterans in September through the county assistance program

Kitsap Veterans Stand DownB Y T H E N U M B E R S

In September multiple Kitsap agencies gathered to host the 2012 Fall Veterans Stand Down, which served 149 county veterans with access to services and a helping hand up.

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VeterANS

Veterans Life is published monthly by Sound Publishing Inc.; Corporate Headquarters: 19351 8th Avenue, Suite 106, Poulsbo, WA 98370. SUBSCRIPTIONS: $24/year via USPS. Copyright 2012 Sound Publishing Inc

3888 NW Randall Way, Suite 100, Silverdale, WA 98383www.kitsapveteranslife.com

LifeLifeLifeLifeLifeLifeLifeLifeLifeLifeLifeLife

As I write this, the first Pacific storm of the

storm of the year is blasting the upper ele-vations in the Cascades and I can’t wait for Veterans Day, the offi-cial opening of my ski season. After years of pestering, Mount Rainier National Park lets veterans in for free on that day.

As we know from talking with individual veterans, national days honoring them are often spent think-ing of those who served alongside or things that happened then. This month’s cover pays homage to the first-generation honored by the Veterans Day we know it today – World War II veterans. Specifically, the cover celebrates America’s women veterans. The photo shows a group of nurses arriving in France two months after Operation Overlord took the beaches of Normandy. Notes from the National Archive say those nurses had three years’ service in England and North Africa under their belts before landing in France. They were already veterans of war by the time Operation Dragoon sent them 7,700 wounded Americans in one month.

This Veterans Day, as with much of the last decade, I will be skiing on one of the Cascade volcanoes and much of the five-to-seven hour climb will have us moving uphill at 11 a.m. and remembering. We will remember what happened with someone who was there when it happened. We will celebrate Veterans Day largely in its second incarnation, the pre-1945 fashion of Armistice Day, which was focused on

world peace as declared by President Calvin Coolidge in 1926. With none in our Infantry Company killed, we will spend part of the day thinking about and praying for the families of the men we killed.

It was indeed a list of individual ideas about honor-ing the past that eventually led World War II veteran Raymond Weeks to offer the version of Veterans Day that we know today honoring all those who have served, living or dead. Weeks’ idea came to fruition in 1947 with the first observance and was signed into law as a federal holiday, shortly after the Korean War went into cease-fire, by President Eisenhower. Since then, World War II veterans have been the standard for the national observance remembering all those who have served. However, by 2011 only about 21 percent of employers across the nation said they would observe the federal holiday.

Honoring that first generation of Veterans Day veterans, reporter Chris Chancellor writes about an infantryman’s promise to God. In the Bond, Dennis Box shares a story from Philadelphia.

I don’t expect skiing to become any kind of trend for national observance, but for Clay and I, the snowy Cascades will remain the farthest and fairest view-point from which to remember our war in the desert.

Cheers to you all,Greg Skinner

Veterans Day tour

THE BONDI have seldom written about my hitch in the Navy and

never in any detail since I was honorably discharged on June 30, 1976. 15

POrT OrcHarD vETEraN lEarNED Of His DEPlOymENT ON THE NEws

Learning that his entire brigade was headed for an Iraq deployment while watching the news at home with his family was a shock for Sgt. Mark S. Traylor.8

viETNam vETEraN fiNDs succEss as aN ENTrEPrENEur

In the early 1970’s, at a time when more and more people were beginning to think that the fix was in for downtown Portland, Fred Scheffler and a few other movers and shakers thought otherwise.

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One thing has been achieved by cutting the amount of county aid that veterans in financial trouble have access to, there will still be money to give a veteran on Christmas.

That goal was articu-lated by the Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board late last winter when they realized that the county’s veteran assistance fund would not have enough money to meet the grow-ing need for help, under the guidelines.

At the time, facing an increased need from vet-

erans as the economy con-tinued to slide and a failed public vote to increase the property tax levy supporting the fund, the board recom-mended cuts as a way to help more veterans with less.

Now, as the county works through the 2013 budget for adoption, nothing is expected to change in terms of dollars available.

Without the change the fund would have run out of money for needy veterans by September, said Kitsap County Veterans Services Coordinator Leif Bentsen. He and the board recom-

mended last winter, when the monthly payouts hit $32,000, that the Board Of County Commissioners lower the amount of money a veteran could access from $1,200 each year to $900.

“That’s why we made the change to lower income eli-gibility to 150 percent of the poverty level,” Bentsen said.

Bentsen was hesitant to call the move a “success,” because less help is available per individual, but concedes that his plan worked. By June the VAB knew it would

After years of inquiry and feasibil-ity studies the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Regional Medical Center announced plans to open a new community clinic in Kitsap County by the end of 2014.

The announcement came during the Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board October meeting, which saw a large turnout of veterans sharing dis-content over the current primary care clinic’s problems with medical staffing, services and the length of time taken to get a new clinic under way.

At the moment, one doctor serves more than 3,000 veterans at the Bremerton Community Based Outpatient Clinic on Adel Ave.

Chris Foster, the regional director of Community Based Out Patient Clinics, said that the VA will seek proposals from developers starting Oct. 15, 2013. Veterans can expect a clinic twice the size of the current one, he said.

The CBOC provides primary care to about 3,500 veterans out of the 9,000 Kitsap County veterans enrolled in VA Puget Sound. The rest either don’t

use their benefits or travel to Seattle or Tacoma for care.

More than 38,000 veterans live in Kitsap County.

Kitsap County Veterans Assistance coordinator Leif Bentsen said the VA is expecting overall healthcare enrollment in Kitsap County to reach 12,000 with a CBOC caseload of 6,000 in the next five years as the Defense Department reduces its ranks by 1 million members. With numbers like those, a new facility is warranted, Bentsen said.

According to Foster, the clinic will be in a leased building and perhaps include radiology services. There is no location yet, but foster said veter-ans can expect the clinic to be built anywhere between Bremerton and Poulsbo.

Twice in the last several years, the lease at the current clinic location was extended while the VA considered its options, including a look at a joint clinic building with Naval Base Kitsap. Before hearing back from the Navy, VA representatives lauded a similar and successful clinic at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Part of the delay came last January when the Navy announced their fea-sibility study showed positive results for a joint facility. The study was sent to the upper echelon Navy Bureau of Medicine for a decision. At that time VAB member Fred Scheff ler called for support of an American Legion resolu-tion seeking an immediate move to a new facility.

Bentsen said that as of March 2012, the VA was still looking for grant money for a joint facility that would have been built off base. At that time, the VA also said they were preparing for an alternate scenario based on a standalone VA clinic.

Foster said the Navy last month offi-cially said no to the idea.

Several on the VAB questioned the delay saying the Navy made their lack of interest in sharing clinic space known long ago. And, that Kitsap County leadership in 2009 offered potential financial help and land in a letter to the director of the VA, which saw no response.

“The primary bones of contention have to do with improving services and the location of the CBOC, plus

recent changes to the shuttle system that transports patients to the CBOC or American Lake and Seattle VA hos-pitals,” Bentsen wrote in a recent email blast to a list of 300 veterans across the county.

Veterans in the gallery expressed some skepticism that the VA could turn a project such as a new CBOC from idea to operational in 16 months. Foster said Requests for Information (RFIs) and Request for Proposal s (RFPs) will be released through FedBizOps, the federal outlet for all government contracts.

Bentsen said when the history of the “new clinic” is considered veterans have a legitimate foundation of discon-tent holding up their list of skeptical concerns.

However, he said that at this stage he believes the new clinic will happen. Since the meeting last month the VA has been helpful and in almost daily communication about the CBOC and recent transportation issues, Bentsen said.

“I think it will happen,” he said.

By GREG SKINNER

New outpatient clinic for Bremerton in 2014

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Fall 2008 KCVAB tells VA of trouble with the Bremerton CBOC

Spring 2009 VA considers CBOC move

Spring 2009 County Commissioners offer possibility of money and land

Fall 2009 VA Asst. Dir. says sorry for lack of response, CBOC to move by end of 2011

Spring 2010 Advisory Board chair tells VA officials and Sen. Patty Murray’s office of difficulties recruiting doctors

Spring 2011 The KCVAB meets with VA representatives and staff from Senator Patty Murray’s and Congressman Norm Dicks’ offices in Bremerton.

Winter 2012 A second regional CBOC meeting with VA, Naval Hospital Bremerton, electeds, veterans in attendance.

Spring 2012 VA solicits project grant support letters.

Spring 2012 VA public affairs says a stand-alone facility would be sought if joint clinic fails.

Fall 2012 Navy says no

Fall 2012 VA announces timeline for standalone clinic

By GREG SKINNER

c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 9

Veteran’s fund to be solvent through year’s end

Most of the talk about new retraining money for older out-of-work veterans has focused on how fast the first 45,000 slots filled following its opening last spring.

This week marks the start of the second fiscal year of the program with an additional 54,000 funded retraining slots at commu-nity colleges and technical schools across the country.

Missing from the con-versation is a financial

hurdle created when the Department of Veterans Affairs started the program without a plan to cover tuition up front for qualified veterans without financial means to begin.

Among the local unem-ployed veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 signing up for classes at Olympic College under the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program some homeless and poor veterans didn’t have the estimated $1,500 upfront

money required to get start-ed using the new benefit.

VRAP is a collaboration between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Labor and is a provision of the Veterans Opportunity to Work to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, which Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law in November 2011.

As of Monday, 62,000 applications were received by the Department of Veterans Affairs of which 49,000 were approved nationally.

“We’re gratified that 45,000 unemployed Veterans can begin the retraining they need to compete for in-demand jobs,” said VA Undersecretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey last week. “We’re going to maintain

OC works with poor veterans to clear financial obstacles

Retraining sees slow start

By GREG SKINNER

c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 9

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Several hundred commu-nity members streamed into the Ivy Green Cemetery in early October to rededicate Bremerton's own Tomb of the Unknown Soldier follow-ing a massive cleanup led by citizens.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Bremerton is a replica of the landmark at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Bremerton’s rep-lica is one of only three such memorials in the United States. To those who hadn’t been to the cemetery in a while, the tomb and its sur-roundings would be nearly unrecognizable.

Back in August, Bremerton resident Todd Best spearheaded a cleanup of the cemetery that involved

hundreds of volunteers and he’s been working ever since to make the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier a worthy memorial to those that have served this country and given the ultimate sacrifice.

“We can’t forget those who have given us the free-dom we sometimes take for granted,” Best said. “They’re laid to rest now, but we have to give them the respect they so richly deserve.”

Best said he heard about the dilapidated condition of the cemetery from a friend and went to see things for himself.

“I was mad,” Best said. “I spent all day pulling weeds, unearthing grave markers of veterans and I absolutely started crying. And I’m not an emotional guy. I realized I had not even made a dent and said this is going to take

a lot more people than just me. I was sad and ultimately mad, so I took my anger and ultimately turned it into motivation.”

Best has been working non-stop ever since with a lot of help from area busi-nesses and volunteers. In all, about $40,000 worth of materials have been donated and the amount of volunteer labor would easily take the “price tag” into six digits.

“It’s not about me,” Best insists. “It’s about all of us. We all got this done together. I kept everything in motion and held it together, that’s all I did. I feel guilty taking credit sometimes over any-one else.”

Best says that was espe-cially true at the Aug. 4 cleanup, a day he says he will never forget, that featured more than 200 volunteers.

“This community’s amaz-ing,” he said. “If you put a call to action out in this community, and people respect you, the people will come out and they will come out in force. If I could put one word on it, we unified the community that day. Everybody was one, it was like one big family. If we could have a day like that every day in Bremerton, we’d have the best city in the United States.”

The effort to make the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier a world-class memo-rial involved a lot more than just pulling weeds and laying down new sod. A new con-crete walkway to and around the tomb, which was treated to look more like granite, is in the shape of a ribbon. A raised, semicircular con-crete seating area, featuring

the phrase “In Honor of the Unknown,” surrounds the backside of the tomb to allow for quiet contempla-tion. And new vegetation was installed to better screen a fence and homes adjacent to the cemetery. The updated memorial was designed by Joshua Fisher.

Best said he is still work-ing to secure seven commer-cial-grade flagpoles, one for each of the armed services and a flag recognizing pris-oners of war and missing in action. The tallest pole will

f ly the colors. Special light-ing will also illuminate the f lags at night.

Best said that the rededi-cation ceremony for the tomb was another emo-tional day.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” he said. “It was really neat to see the whole community, from all walks of life, come together for a special day. It’s really important to me because this community has such a rich Navy heritage to be proud of.”

Tomb of the unknown rededicated By KEVAN MOORE


It’s a quiet ping, smooth and steady. It often is accompanied by the smile of a child when it leads to a hit.

The volume represents the quiet happiness of Little Leaguers — and is worlds away from what longtime Port Orchard resident Art Mikelsen experienced more than 60 years ago.

Serving in the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, a ski troop based in Italy, Mikelsen earned three Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars — one for valor — the World War II Combat Infantry Badge, the Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the

European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal.

“There’s going to be differences that hope-fully you can settle diplo-matically,” said Mikelsen, when asked what war means to him. “It doesn’t always work that way — even within your family or within the community.”

During one of those times when diplomacy was nonexistent, Mikelsen was injured by shrapnel. He said the medic just pulled the metal out and dumped sulfate in the hole and sent him back up to the front. Later, he would get shot in the stomach.

“I’m damn lucky,” he said. “There were too many of my buddies that didn’t get out. I was run-ning from foxhole to foxhole to resupply my

ammo. They’d get blown up and their bloody bodies are splattering next to you and you survive. Why?”

It is that question Mikelsen, now 88, often asked himself in the decades since the war ended. Why they all died and he survived? One thing the Army veteran knows is that he made a battlefield deal.

“There were a couple times where I told God, ‘If you get me out of this I’m going to go home and do something good,” he said. “I live to that commit-ment.”

When the war ended in 1945, Mikelsen returned to the area and took a job at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. He worked as a nuclear planner and esti-mator supervisor until his

retirement in 1980. And he wasn’t alone — he and wife Alice will celebrated their 67th wedding anni-versary this year.

With his return to the states came the time to find hobby.

“Anything too noisy was out of the question,” Mikelsen said. “It didn’t take much more than a car backfiring. You hear a noise like that and you look for cover.”

Perhaps it was just one death or maybe several of them, but it turned out too much for Mikelsen after the war. Hunting, once a favored activity, was no longer in consideration, and not just because the decibel reading a rifle pro-

duces.“I lost interest after I

came back from the ser-vice,” he said. “I wasn’t interested in doing much killing.”

Mikelsen, who gradu-ated from South Kitsap Union High School in 1942, returned to base-ball and found himself presiding over a local semipro league in the late 1940s that featured teams from Olympia, Shelton, Silverdale, Port Orchard, Poulsbo, Port Townsend and Port Angeles.

Travel, particularly to the Olympic Peninsula in an era before the Hood Canal Bridge was built in 1961, was difficult. He said

the league had to make arrangements with the local ferry boat owner to get over and back, some-times in the middle of the night. Involvement in the league had its advantages, though.

“I pitched in that semi-pro league and played in the outfield,” he said. “I wasn’t a good ballplayer, but I was in charge, so I got to play once in awhile.”

Mikelsen was also busy as a commander in the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1950 when Al Farmer gave him a booklet called “This is Little League.”

“I looked at that thing and I said, ‘Geez, this is something we’ve never had around here,’” he said. “The only things we ever had here were intramural programs up in the school and one American Legion team.”

The first local Little League games began in 1951, and six years later Mikelsen was elected district administra-tor — a position he held until he retired 51 years later. When he started Little League in the area, the only others in the

By CHRIS CHANCELLOR

c O N T I N u E d O N p A g E 1 0

Battlefield promise to God leads WWII infantryman to develop local Little League


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In the early 1970’s, at a time when more and more people were beginning to think that the fix was in for downtown Portland, Fred Scheffler and a few other movers and shakers thought otherwise.

“Since he came to Portland three years ago

he has probably done more than any other single indi-vidual to reshape the busi-ness outlook for the core area,” wrote a staffer for the Oregonian newspaper at the time entitled, “Broker influences outlook of down-town.”

Scheffler was only 33 years old. He was also fresh off multiple tours to

Vietnam where he says he “had a couple of mishaps and got banged up a little bit.”

That, of course, is an understatement.

Scheffler, who now lives on Bainbridge Island with his wife of 45 years, was shot down the length of his pinky and right hand while signaling other troops forward; he was shot in the leg and carries the slug and walks with the limp to show for it to this day; a Claymore mounted to a tree in the jungle exploded next to him and blew his helmet off, leaving him temporar-ily deaf and blind on his left side; and he crashed a light observation helicopter after drawing fire from the enemy so that soldiers on the ground could locate them and take that gun “without any complaints” from the enemy.

When I first asked him how he got his Purple Heart, he asked me which one?

“After the first one, it doesn’t make much differ-ence,” Scheffler said.

When Scheffler arrived in Portland as a young man, he went to work with Coldwell Banker at a time when “the town was falling apart at the seams” and “you couldn’t

get Goodwill into down-town.”

The first major deal Scheffler worked on was to keep JC Penney downtown. There were 112 ownerships on a tiny piece of property and the deal took a lot of last-minute finagling to pull off, including a phone call from the governor to com-pany officials in New York.

“It was a really interesting deal,” Scheffler said. “You couldn’t do it today. That turned around the ebb and flow of downtown.”

From there, Scheffler went to work on an even bigger deal with Bruce, Jim and John Nordstrom to build a new downtown store.

“I had just come out of the military and hadn’t developed the lacquer or veneer that you need,” Scheffler remembers. “We were talking about the existing store and I said to Bruce — a great man, I’ll never forget him — I said, ‘This place is dog meat’ and the three brothers kind of looked at each other and

I said, ‘you really need a new store’ and Bruce said, “You’re right, we do. Put one together.”

Scheffler asked where they wanted the new store to be and Bruce Nordstrom got up and pointed to a block right across the street. Scheffler got to work. There were six buildings on the property with 334 leases and 20 separate ownerships.

Scheffler optioned the whole block, negotiated all the leases and had an archi-tect put together a model of the new store and met with the Nordstroms just 40 days later. He showed the Nordstroms what he had done and they excused themselves from the room, came back a few minutes later and agreed to the $8 million deal on the same night that they got the franchise agreement for the newly minted Seattle Seahawks.

“There was no money, no federal money, no other crap involved,” Scheffler said. “It was just going out and getting it done. But you

By KEVAN MOORE

Vietnam veteran finds success as an entrepreneur



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Learning that his entire brigade was headed for an Iraq deployment while watching the news at home with his family was a shock for Sgt. Mark S. Traylor.

“A great big shock,” he said.

Within several weeks, the entire 81st Brigade of the Washington Army National Guard had orders to report to Ft. Lewis before leaving for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Traylor was placed in the old World War II barracks on the North Fort, the same location where his grandfa-ther stayed prior to heading off to battle in the now long ago war.

A seasoned military man by the time he was sent to Iraq, Traylor had joined the Army in 1986, enlisting at the age of 17 with a signed release from his parents. Traylor had dropped out of school in Florida when he

was 16 and was the last 3B non-grad to join.

Traylor described basic and advanced training as a whole new world.

“Coming from small town life I ran into people of all nationalities and from all walks of life,” he said.

He quickly learned to adhere to protocol delivered by instructors with gusto rather than take a ride against a wall locker.

“Being young and dumb

By JESSICA GINET

Port Orchard veteran learned of his deployment on the news


the momentum of our out-reach to make sure we get the maximum of 54,000 Veterans retrained in fiscal year 2013.”

At a recent Kitsap County Veterans Stand down held in Bremerton, Olympic College Veteran Center volunteer Larry Cleman explained that the glitch in VRAP’s disper-sal plan has surfaced locally. Some homeless and poor veterans seeking to take advantage of the program at O.C. cannot do so because they don’t have the money to pay tuition up front. Most will need $1,500 up front to pay for the 12 credit hours in approved curricula required by the program, he said.

The program allows qual-ifying veterans to receive up to 12 months of education assistance equal to the cur-rent full-time Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty rate of $1,546 per month. When that money actually gets to the veteran depends on the school. Olympic College only certifies student enroll-ment after 30 days in class.

Olympic College Dean of Enrollment Services Dianna Larson said that the VRAP

program began with one component missing that would have addressed the specific issue faced by other-wise qualified homeless and poor veterans seeking access to their benefits. Originally the VRAP required the VA to have a plan for advance pay, she said.

“The colleges are trying to fill in the gaps right now,” Larson said, “until the plan is established.”

Matt McAlvanah, a spokesperson for Sen. Patty Murray, said that the sena-tor recently intervened at Pierce Community College in Tacoma when the admin-istration misread federal guidelines for veterans try-ing to enroll through VRAP. Murray, who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, is consid-ered to be the primary force behind the overall legisla-tion to improve employment prospects for veterans.

McAlvanah Tuesday said the senator reached out to the VA on the matter and the VA assured her office that advance pay for the VRAP was now available.

A spokesperson in the VA Seattle office was unable to say if advance pay was avail-able this quarter.

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likely make it through he year.

“There will be a small balance left,” he said.

Even with this year’s reductions to the amount a veteran can access each year, the amount is still $100 more than was allowed in 2006 when the cap was set at $800.

The money in the fund is available to qual-ifying veterans in need of help paying, among other things, housing, utilities, transportation and medicine. The aid is intended to act like gap insurance and cover a bad short-term situation faced by a veteran such as car repair so that a veteran can get to work or the doctor or cover a rent shortage.

Raised by taxing county property at 1 and 1/8 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, Bentsen said the veteran tax levy brought in a little more than $300,000 annually. Most of the money raised goes directly to needy veter-ans, the core service, but some does get spent on

staff and supporting the VAB, he said.

The BOCC balanced the county’s general budget by taking more than $300,000 in “surplus” from the fund, which was allowable under state law. During the 2012 Legislative session, the Legislature killed a bill that would have removed the Veterans Assistance Funds from access by the county general fund and given counties the ability to move the levy up and down, within a range of about 27 cents, to cover needs of veterans.

As of September the Veterans Assistance Fund served 249 veterans out of 350 accepted applications so far in 2012. Of those, 151 veterans were new to the program. Assistance with rent and electricity bills in September were the largest needs, which took more than $9,000 of the $12,492 given out to the 24 veterans whose applica-tions were accepted. Two applications were denied because the veterans were above the income level. The VAB said that no vet-eran was denied without referrals to additional resources. In keeping with the monthly statistics, rent and electric payments com-prise the largest payouts

from the fund over the last nine months taking up $108,780 of the $162,358 paid out.

By working with social service partners at Kitsap Community Resources the money levied gains added value. In September veter-ans received an additional 25 percent above the coun-ty’s $12,000. According to the Veterans Advisory Board, the dollar value of KCR referrals through September is $63,601. The value added amount gained from referrals outside KCR to date is an additional $58,000. Combined with KCR, the referral aid is more that $122,000 nearly doubling the tax payer con-tribution.


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I learned not to smart back to the drill sergeant and I learned real quick about wall-to-wall counseling,” he said.

Traylor kept re-enlisting until 1996 when he left the service. The lure of the military called him back, however, and he re-enlisted in the Navy Reserve in 1998. Traylor served with the Seabees for several years until relocating to Washington State, where he joined the Washington Army National Guard as a tanker with Bravo Company. 1-303rd Armor. Traylor worked his way up the pro-verbial ladder, starting out as a loader and eventually becoming a gunner.

“As an armored crewman on the Abrams M1A1 tank you become a close fam-ily, part of an elite group and esprit de corps among the other tankers and the mechanics,” Traylor said.

In 2003 the entire 81st Brigade was informed that they would be acti-vated for duty and deploy to the Middle East for an indeterminate length of time. According to the Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant

Secretary of Defense, between September 2001 and November 30, 2007, a total of 202,113 National Guard Reserves were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Traylor was one of 3,600 members of the 81st sent over to the war. At the time, the U.S. Army had 15 National Guard enhanced readiness brigades or “E-brigades.” Federalized in November 2003 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, the troops deployed to the Middle East for a year from March 2004 to March 2005 – the first time the 81st Brigade served in active combat since World War II.

“So we trained and trained. All the train-ing consisted of infantry maneuvers and mock cities with insurgents,” he said. “We learned everything you could cram down our throats about the culture, doing vehicle searches, forced marches, weapons training for the desert - all in the middle of winter, pretty funny if you think about it.”

Just before leaving for the Middle East, Traylor and his fellow Guardsmen were granted several days to relax. Many contacted loved ones.

“Once we got in country we were placed in a blackout period for security reasons,” Traylor said.

Once in Kuwait Traylor and several others from the platoon were selected to run a convoy into Baghdad. “Everyone thought we would be in tanks but I told them and the guys in my fire team that we are doing infantry work now and to just get used to doing it. They all said, ‘No, we’re tankers and we follow our motto – Death Before Dismount.’ Well, there went their motto.”

Once in Baghdad the brigade was scattered to different areas. Traylor’s company was attached to the 1st Calvary in replacement of the 82nd Airborne where mortar attacks and sporadic gunfire made for a long deployment.

“I can say this much, our area of operations and where we lived was the safest placed to be,”Traylor said. “It may not have been the most extravagant place to stay, and with three compa-nies living in it – all men – it smelled.”

A safe place because according to Traylor it sur-vived a 500 pound bomb.RetRaining

Under “one of the great-est platoon sergeants in the world” came a creative retraining of the tankers into infantrymen as the 81st rotated for an infantry com-pany when conducting mis-

sions and patrols in the area.“Being a fire team leader

has a great responsibility and places a big burden on your shoulders,” Traylor said. “You want to take care of your guys. You want them to come home and when you hear of someone you know being KIA it takes a little part from you every time you hear it.”

Traylor recalls several close calls but one in par-ticular stands out. Traylor and a fellow soldier were pulling tower duty at night when his partner had to go and take a “class one download” and left Traylor to man the tower. Then a couple of RPG’s were fired at the tower.

“The first one came right at the tower and I decided it was time to jump 25 feet out of it because I thought a broken leg over being blown up was a better way to go,” Traylor said.

Traylor broke his ankle and compacted discs in his lower back and neck when he landed from the jump.

The first RPG bounced off the top of the tower and a second one hit the side of the tower and blew up about a hundred yards away.

“The funny part about this is that Cook came out of the crapper pulling his pants up, yelling, ‘Incoming,’” Traylor said.

Along with his injuries from the jump, Traylor also wound up a casualty to kid-ney stones.

“I ended up in a mor-phine state of mind and I can say that was one of the nicest stays I have ever had in a medical facility, even though I have no idea what happened over those three days.”

When his wife found out he was in the hospital, she nearly had a nervous break-down.

Traylor is proud of his service to the United States. As an eyewitness to military and world history unfolding under his boots. There he saw the first vote of a new nation. Back home

Traylor returned to the states in early 2005. He still misses the camaraderie of his unit so he looked around for the same.

“I tried to fill the void with joining a motorcycle club but it was too much politics and not enough brotherhood,” he said.

In 2011 Traylor and his wife went to the VFW 2669 in Port Orchard. There he started to come out of his shell and find a purpose in new life, his niche as a volunteer. Since join-ing the post, Traylor has helped to build the Veteran’s

Recognition Wall in Port Orchard and assists other veterans in wading through the red tape to access their VA benefits.

Today, Traylor stresses that the younger generation of veterans need to under-stand that the VFW is not an old man’s club.

“There are younger com-bat vets in the VFW and when you start helping out other vets it is satisfying to the soul,” he said.

Family support has played a big role in Traylor’s transi-tion from combat zone to civilian life. “My wife is proud of my service and I am proud of hers because she served as an Army wife and I thank God every day for her.”

Traylor, who currently works as a deputy in law enforcement for Pierce County, is in the process of changing careers by pursu-ing a degree in environmen-tal studies.

“I do miss my military life and I much prefer being in the service,” he said. “But we must all understand at some time in life we have to give it up and let the young men and women take over.”

He encourages others to keep an open mind and offers a parting piece of advice.

“Always thank a vet.”

state were in Kirkland and Richland. Until his retirement, Mikelsen was the only administrator District 2 ever had.

Years after stepping down, he still volunteers with Little League.

“I’m just there if some-one needs me,” he said. “It keeps me active and knowledgeable about what’s going on. I miss the job, but I know that I’m old enough that I got out at the right time.”

District 2 consists of several chapters — Bainbridge Island, East Jefferson, Gig Harbor American, Gig Harbor National, North Mason, Port Townsend, Sequim, South Jefferson, South Kitsap Eastern, South Kitsap Southern, South Kitsap Western and West Central.

Before Mikelsen’s retire-ment, SK Western presi-dent Bob Showers lauded Mikelsen’s commitment to maintain a successful district.

“I think he’s really

molded District 2 into one of the best districts in the state,” Showers said. “He follows the rules, he expects everyone to do the rules and he tells you upfront what he expects out of you. He makes us stick to the rules and I think that’s what makes District 2 so successful.”

It still is no comparison to the early years of Little League when he said the Cascade Mountains divid-ed the state’s two districts, which left him in control of Western Washington.

“As a district adminis-trator, I had to come home from work and hit the highway down to Chehalis or Vancouver and speak to those people,” he said. “Then I would come home and go to work the next day.”

The time commitment left him with one regret.

“The whole program all these years has been hard-est on my family because you have to give up a heck of a lot,” said Mikelsen, who has three children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“A lot of times family

would have gatherings and you couldn’t be there, so it’s been harder on my wife and the family.”

Mikelsen’s service extends beyond Little League. He also was a Port Orchard city councilman after completing his duty. Mikelsen said his greatest achievement in that role — or perhaps any — was getting water fluorinated.

“We got together with all of the dentists in the community and they were very supportive. The opponents brought in people saying if we drank the water, we would all die. I would consider that my greatest accomplish-ment in doing well for the community. There’s a lot of kids that have pretty good teeth as long as they went to the dentist and did their jobs.”

That is just one example of why Mikelsen is pas-sionate about being involved in the commu-nity.

“If people weren’t there to volunteer, we wouldn’t have anything,” he said. “Somebody has to do it.”

As an example,

LITTLE LEAGUECONTINUED FROM A6

couldn’t do that today. You couldn’t get that done that way.”

Even then, the odds against Scheffler were pretty steep.

“I was a New York kid working for a California firm in Portland, Ore.,” he said. “You talk about having three strikes against you — don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

From there, Scheffler struck out on his own and built an industrial park in Tigard, Ore., and did a regional shopping center in Dover, Del., as a freelancer. It was around that time, Scheffler says, that he “got interested in solutions.”

“The best way to make a small fortune in solutions is to start out with a large one and work your way from there,” Scheffler said.

While working on the project to expand an indus-trial park with 56,000 square feet under roof, ecology officials tested some nearby soil next to a Burlington Northern rail line that was full of diesel

contamination.“This ecology guy came

out, a real nice guy, and he said, ‘Look, scoop this down to about 10 feet, take it to the landfill and put engineered fill in. I looked at him, and I can remember because it really got to me, and I said, ‘Isn’t that like putting a turd into a safe deposit box and telling your kids to take care of it in the next generation?’ “

As would happen again and again, Scheffler found a new interest.

“So, I got interested in cleanup,” he said. “Thats what started the whole bioremediation (phase of my career). I went to the federal library and the only book I could find didn’t even spell it right.”

Scheffler found a man in California who was going bankrupt but was work-ing on soil cleanup using Icelandic kelp.

“We treated the land and 45 days later the ecology people came out and said we must have made a mistake because you have no con-tamination,” Scheffler said.

Scheffler then hooked up with a Washington compa-

ny developing oil spill reme-diation and then worked on air quality and finding solu-tions for dealing with vola-tile organic compounds.

“You have to understand, I’m totally unqualified in just about everything I’ve ever done,” Scheffler said. “I don’t say that offhandedly because it’s the truth.”

Scheffler’s latest work is centered on cyber tech-nology. He’s working with economic develop-ers in Georgia and here in Washington trying to find jobs for local veterans. He’s also involved in a solar technology company that can make solar power avail-able, efficient and competi-tive. His passion these days is making sure that today’s veterans have a shot once they return home.

“The treatment of vet-erans after Vietnam was a national disgrace — every-thing from Agent Orange on down to the processing of Veterans Affairs dis-abilities,” he said. “I look at what these guys are going through today, men and women coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, and we can’t treat them that way.

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c O N T I N u E d O N p A g E 1 1c O N T I N u E d O N p A g E 1 1

We’ve got to get out ahead of it. One of the things we’ve got to do is give them jobs and give them opportunity. And I don’t mean govern-ment jobs I’m talking about jobs in the private sector that they can build on. Just like guys that came back from World War II got com-ing out.”

Scheffler grew up in New York and attended Catholic parochial schools before heading to the Pennsylvania Military College, the old-est of its kind in the United States, which is now known as Widener University and described by Scheffler as a casualty of the Vietnam War. His father was orphaned at 13 and never finished high school, but went on to earn an engi-neering degree and became very successful.

“My dad told me, ‘Freddy, I couldn’t do it anywhere else. This country, our country, is special. What you got, you didn’t earn. I

gave it to you and you’re on your own now and gotta go earn it yourself,” Scheffler said.

Scheffler got his first job at 11 and worked as a paper delivery boy on a bicycle. He’s dug sewers, worked on road construction crews and all sorts of other jobs since then.

“We’ve got a country that has so much potential,” Scheffler said.

Scheffler’s mother came from a long line of New York City policemen. Her dad served on the NYPD for more than 40 years and dozens of his uncles and cousins were also NYPD cops. But Scheffler wasn’t interested in staying close to home. He joined the special forces and was sent to Korea and served in the DMZ “when Vietnam broke” and his orders changed.

Once in country, he and only a handful of other

Americans recruited, trained and deployed irreg-ulars in the Mekong Delta.

“We ran seven-man teams in ambush operations beefing up the spirits of the local villagers because they were getting hammered by the VC,” Scheffler said

“We created some havoc for the tax collectors and made life very unpleasant for them.”

After Scheffler’s “leg got screwed up” he came back stateside and eventu-ally fibbed his way through flight school because at 6’6” he was too tall and heavy to be a pilot. A colonel at his final physical exam asked him how he had made it that far in flight school and Scheffler told him that he “slouched.” The colonel was impressed and gave him a permanent height waiver and let the weight issue slide.

Back in Vietnam,

Scheffler flew with the Air Cavalry.

“The purpose of the Air Cavalry was to make sure those kids on the ground didn’t step into something,” he said. “It was a lot easier to put a bird in the air to draw fire so those kids didn’t walk into it.”

Scheffler said that crashes like his, where he flew under the tree canopy before getting “shellacked” and pulling up into a tree before crashing back onto the ground, were commonplace, everyday events. Scheffler eventually made his way back home and left the Army.

“I got out of the military on a Friday and started with Coldwell Banker on a Monday,” he said.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Mikelsen reflected on his childhood teams that played on South Kitsap’s dilapidated fields.

“I was the only boy in the family in Banner,” he said. “I used to play out in the cow pastures. Whenever I was going to get a baseball, I would either sew the baseball or tape it up. Same thing when you had a broken bat.”

From cow pastures to groomed ballparks, his total involvement in youth sports led to much more for the league. The first of his many acco-lades came in 1978 when

Port Orchard named a field in his honor.

“That was pretty nice,” said Mikelsen, who also has thrown out the first pitch for the Seattle Mariners, including the team’s home opener in 2003 to honor his mili-tary and Little League service.

“I always said, ‘By golly, you’ve got a field named after you before you died. Usually, it’s a memorial. ‘”

When Mikelsen ref lects on his life — whether it derives from a ping or a violent explo-sion — he said he hopes people remember him for one thing.

“I probably did what I promised to do during the war,” he said.

LITTLE LEAGUECONTINUED FROM A10

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Announcements

_ ADOPT _ co l lege sweethearts, successful bus iness owners, a t - home-paren ts , home cooking, unconditional LOVE awaits baby. Ex- penses paid. 1-800-616- 8424

ADOPTION: Local, hap- pi ly-marr ied, & stable couple, eager for baby (0-2yrs). Loving home f i l l ed w i th a f fec t i on , strong family values & financial security for your baby. Joshua & Vanessa 4 2 5 - 7 8 0 - 7 5 2 6 http://bit. ly/joshandva- nessaBLACKBEARD’S BILGE Haunted House, Friday & Sa tu rday, Oc tober 1 9 t h - 2 0 t h , 2 6 t h - 2 7 t h . $5/person + food dona- tion for Helpline House. Battle Point Park Trans- mitter Building, 11299 Arrow Point Drive, Bain- br idge Is land. PG-13 (This is a Scary Place!). BIPARKS.ORGKITSAP HAUNTED Fair- grounds. Come to the Casting Call for Lester & Ot is ’ Mov ie ! October 12th, 13th, 19th, 20th, 26th, 27th and 31st from 5-11pm. “Fr ights Out” November 2nd & 3rd from 6pm-11pm. Kitsap Coun ty Fa i rg rounds, 1200 Fairgrounds Road, Bremerton.www.KitsapHauntedFair- grounds.comS O N S O F N O RWAY Annual Lutefisk Dinner. Sunday, November 4th, 11:30am-4:00pm. 1018 18th Street, Bremerton. All You Can Eat - Lute- fisk and Meatball Dinner, $22 (with Lefse, Side Dishes and Dessert). No reser vat ions needed. 360-377-7356

jobsEmployment

General

CarriersThe North Kitsap Herald has openings for Carrier Routes. No collecting, no selling. Friday morn- ings. If interested call Christy 360-779-4464

Find what you need 24 hours a day.

EmploymentGeneral

ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER

The Port Orchard Inde- pendent is looking for an Advertising Sales Man- ager. Candidates must have strong leadership and people management skills. This is a working sales position; you will build and maintain local accounts. You should have a good unde r - standing of all facets of newspaper operations with emphasis on sales and mar ke t ing . You should also have strong Internet and social media skills and be well- suited to working with government, community groups and cl ients in creating effective advertising. If you are crea- t ive, customer-dr iven, success-or iented, we want to hear from you. Compensation includes salary plus commission and expense reimburse- ment. We offer excellent health and dental benefits, life insurance, paid vacation and holidays and a 401k with company match. We are part o f Sound Publ ish ing; Washington’s largest private, independent newspaper company. EOE Please submit your resume and cover letter with salary requirements [email protected] or mail to

HR/ASMPOI, Sound Publishing, Inc., 19351 8th Ave NE, Suite 106, Poulsbo, WA 98370

CIRCULATIONMANAGER

This full-time position is located in Si lverdale, WA. Must be a reliable self-starter with excellent customer service skills. Responsibilities include sales, service and field supervision. Posit ion a lso contracts, t ra ins and superv ises adul t motor route drivers and carriers. Must be well organized, detail orient- ed, dependable and able to work independently. Reliable automobile required plus proof of insurance and good driving record. Supervisory experience helpful. This fu l l - t ime pos i t ion in - cludes excellent benefits: medical, dental, life insurance, 401k, paid vacation, sick and holidays. EOE. Please send resume with cover letter to [email protected]

or mail to:

HR/CMCKRSound Publishing, Inc.

19351 8th Ave. NE, Suite 106

Poulsbo, WA 98370

INCOME OPPORTUNITY!

The Bainbridge Island R e v i e w n e w s p a p e r seeking qual i ty motor route carriers. Thursday night delivery. No collec- tions. Must be at least 18 years of age. Reliable people with reliable vehicle please call Brian.

206-842-6613

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EmploymentGeneral

MARKETING ASSISTANT

Bainbridge IslandAre you good a t o r - ganization and customer service? Do you enjoy working wi th people? We a r e l o o k i n g fo r someone with a dynamic personality to be part of our team. Must be able to work independently yet be par t of a team. Computer skills word & excel. Hours are negotiable. Please send resume to

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EmploymentMarketing

MARKETINGREPRESENTATIVE

Kitsap CountyAre you good a t o r - ganization and customer service? Do you enjoy working wi th people? This posit ion requires both telephone and in person sales. I f you have a dynamic personality and enjoy working with people then this is the pe r fec t pos i t i on . Salary plus commission. Please send resume to

[email protected] mail to:

HR/MRNK,Sound Publishing, Inc.,

19351 8th Ave NE,Suite 106,

Poulsbo, WA 98370

EmploymentMedia

REPORTER The Sequim Gazette, a w e e k l y c o m m u n i t y newspaper located on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, is accepting applications for a full-time general assignment reporter. The ideal candidate will have solid repor t ing and wr i t ing skills, have up-to-date knowledge of the AP Stylebook, be able to shoot photos, be able to use InDesign and con- tribute to staff blogs and Web updates. We offer vacation and sick leave, and paid holidays. If you have a passion for community news repor ting and a desire to work in an ambitious, dynamic newsroom, we want to hear from you. E.O.E. Email your resume, cover letter and up to 5 non- returnable writing and photo samples to

[email protected] mail to

SQMREP/HR Dept.Sound Publishing19351 8th Ave. NE,

Suite 106, Poulsbo, WA 98370

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EmploymentMedia

REPORTERReporter sought for staff opening with the Penin- sula Daily News, a six- d a y n e w s p a p e r o n Washington’s beautiful North Olympic Peninsula that includes the cities of Por t Angeles, Sequim, Po r t To w n s e n d a n d Forks (yes, the “Twilight” Forks, but no vampires or werewolves). Br ing your experience from a weekly or small daily -- from the first day, you’ll be able to show off the writing and photography skills you’ve already ac- quired while sharpening your talent with the help o f veteran newsroom leaders. This is a general assignment reporting position in our Port An- geles office in which being a self-starter must be demonstrated through professional experience. Port Angeles-based Pe- ninsula Daily News, circulation 16,000 daily and 15,000 Sunday (plus a websi te gett ing up to o n e m i l l i o n h i t s a month), publishes separate editions for Clallam and Jefferson counties. Check out the PDN at www.pen insu lada i l y - news.com and the beauty and recreational op- p o r t u n i t i e s a t http://www.peninsuladai- l y n e w s . c o m / s e c - tion/pdntabs#vizguide. In-person visit and tryout are required, so Wash- ington/Northwest appli- cants given preference. Send cover letter, resume and five best writing and photography c l ips to Leah Leach, managing editor/news, P.O. Box 1330, 305 W. First St., Port Angeles, WA 98362 , o r ema i l leah.leach@peninsula- dailynews.com.

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stuffAntiques &Collectibles

ANTIQUE bedroom set. Beautiful Lion’s Head, from the 1800s. Double bed and two dressers. $2500. Call (206)408- 7427, Vashon.

Appliances

MATCHING Washer and Dryer set, $355. Guaran- teed! 360-405-1925

flea marketHome Furnishings

ANTIQUE WARDROBE Beautiful crown molding! 2 Pine front doors and Walnut sides! Two large storage drawers. 80” tall, and 45” wide. 20” deep w h i c h i s p e r fe c t fo r hanging clothes. Excel- lent cond! Loving trans- por ted from Minesota. $900. Bainbridge Island. Call Donna for an ap- pointment to see this func t iona l , go rgeous piece!! 206-780-1144.

Must Sell! New NASA Memory foam matt. set. Full $375, Qn $400, King $500. New. 20 yr warr. Del. avail. 253-539-1600---------------------------------Brand New Orthopedic matt. & box spring. Still in plastic. With warranty! Twin $175, Full $200, Queen $230, King $350. Call 253-537-3056---------------------------------Factory Closeout BR se t . Inc l : bed, n ight - stand, dresser, mirror. Full/ Queen, $395. King, $495. 253-539-1600---------------------------------NEW Microfiber Sec- tional. Scotch Guarded, pet & kid friendly. Only $499. 253-537-3056---------------------------------New Adjustable Bed w/ memory foam mattress. List: $2800. Sacr if ice, $950. 253-537-3056

Jewelry & Fur

Must sell Beautiful Ladies size 7 wedding ring.

White gold band. Nice 1/2 karat

surrounded by (4) 1/8karat Diamonds. Total

weight little over 1 karat.

Paid $4,000 asking $2,000 OBO. Call

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Miscellaneous

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Miscellaneous

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Musical Instruments

HAYNES FLUTE, solid silver, $1500 OBO.ROY SEAMAN wood piccolo with ster l ing key s , $ 1 8 0 0 O B O. Both instruments professional quality. Ex- cellent condition. Lo- c a t e d i n Po u l s b o . (360)394-1818

pets/animals

Dogs

AKC GERMAN Shepherd puppies, bred for sound temperament and train a b i l i t y. A l l G e r m a n bloodlines. Parents on- site and family raised. $900. 360-456-0362AKC REGISTERED Lab Puppies. Over 30+ titled dogs in the last 5 gen- erations. Sire is a Master Hunter and Cer t i f ied Pointing Lab. OFA Hip and Elbows, Dews Re- moved, First Shots, De- wor ming. 6 Males (1 Black, 5 Yellow), 6 Fe- m a l e s ( 2 Ye l l o w, 4 Black). $750 each. Call Mike, 360-547-9393GREAT DANE

A K C G R E AT D A N E puppies! Health guaran- tee! Very sweet, lovable, intelligent, gentle giants. Males and females. Now offering Full-Euro’s, Half- Euro’s & Standard Great Danes. Dreyersdanes is Oregon state’s largest breeder of Great Danes and licensed since 2002. $500 & up (every color but Fawn). Also; selling Standard Poodles. Call 5 0 3 - 5 5 6 - 4 1 9 0 . www.dreyersdanes.comMINIATURE PINSCHER Puppies For Sale. I have 5 adorable puppies waiting to come home with you. 3 Boys and 2 Girls. Tails cropped and Dew Claws removed. Born 07/30/12. Boys: $300, Girls: $400. Please call Amber Today at 360- 682-5030 or 775-455- 5979

Use our handy online ad 24 hours a day form by clicking the “Place an ad” link at www.nw-ads.com to put an ad in theClassifieds online and in your local paper.

1 4 | V E T E R A N S L I F E | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 2

Dogs

LABRADOR

ADORABLE Chocolate Lab pups! Ready 10/20 for new homes! Great with young kids & other dogs, wel l social ized. Perfect for family pet, b reed ing o r hun t ing . AKC reg is tered, dew claws removed & f irst shots. Loveable, loyal temperment! 4 females $ 5 5 0 / e a . 2 m a l e s $500/ea. Clinton, Whid- bey Island. Chris or Mar- cie 360-341-2136.

garage sales - WA

Bazaars/Craft Fairs

HOLIDAY BAZAAR. Oc- tober 26th-27th, 10am- 6 p m . O c t o b e r 2 8 t h , 10am-4pm. Parkwood Community Club, 3045 SE Madrona, Por t Or- c h a r d . A d m i s s i o n : FREE! (accepting non- pe r i shable i t ems fo r South Kitsap Helpline). Gifts for all occasions!

Bazaars/Craft Fairs

Port Orchard

COLBY UMC BAZAAR! Kitsap’s Destination Ba- zaar! November 2nd and 3rd. Fr iday, 9:30am - 4pm; Saturday, 9:30am - 2 p m . C o l b y U n i t e d Methodist Church, cor- ner of Southworth Drive and Harvey Street . A ver i table bout ique of handmade items by our Wo m e n s G r o u p. N o Vendors. Kitchen Items, Baske ts , Bake Sa le , N e e d l ew o r k , D e c o r, Cards, Gifts. Hot Lunch Served Both Days from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Pro- ceeds Benefit Missions. 360-871-3365.

SONS OF NORWAY La- dies Club Scandinavian Bazaar & Bake Sale. Sunday, November 4th, 11:30am-4:00pm. 1018 18th Street, Bremerton. Cookies, Needlepoint, Holiday Breads, Rose- maling. Questions? Call 360 -373 -1503 , Mon - Thurs 10am-3pm.

SUQUAMISH Church Christmas Bazaar & Si- lent Auction. November 30th and December 1st, 9am-4pm. 18732 Divi- sion Ave, Suquamish. Handmade & Recycled Treasures, Swags, Soup & Pie, Too!

Bazaars/Craft Fairs

THE HANSVILLE Ar ts and Crafts Guild invites you to our Fall & Holiday Art & Crafts Tour. Friday & Sa tu rday, Oc tober 26th-27th, 10am-4pm. Maps available at the Hansville Store and from any Ar t Guild member and Tour participants.

Estate Sales

POULSBO

OCT. 26th-27th ENTIRE Household Sel ls ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Furniture, tools, garden equipment, small appliances & more! No cloth- ing. Friday & Saturday f rom 9am to 4pm a t 26535 Sanderling Place. Follow signs from HWY 3, North of Poulsbo.

wheelsMarinePower

17’ Glass Steury 1979. Solid boat! Comes with Tra i l e r, S t rong 85hp Johnson engine, brand new 9.8 Tohatsu motor, new f i sh f inder, new electric down rigger, new electric wench, all new seats, and many extras. O a k H a r b o r. $ 2 5 0 0 . (360)675-1662

MarineSail

12’3”x6’ GLEN EL De- s ign Bobcat sai lboat . Marconi sail, and electric o u t b o a r d i n c l u d e d . Handcrafted wood boat i n g o o d c o n d i t i o n ! $2,500 obo. Call 360- 678-6684.

AutomobilesClassics & Collectibles

1969 VW BEETLE. Pale Blue and is a Beauty. Original paint, 4 speed. Over $3,000 in reciepts. Fun to drive. Perfect for teenager looking for first car or VW Buff. Asking $8,000 OBO. 253-217- 1986 or 253-857-6162 after 5pm. Olalla/ Kitsap County area. Can email photos.

AutomobilesFord

2003 FORD Taurus SE. Beautiful condition. Un- der 97,000 mi les. Al l power, air conditioning. All the amenities of the SE mode l ! Cha rcoa l Grey Metal l ic . Near ly new Goodyear Radials. Babied with Mobile One. $5995 Firm. She’s Worth It! Compare with local dea le rs a t $6600 to $7995. Whidbey Island. 360-279-1753

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AutomobilesSubaru

2003 SUBARU Outback station wagon LTD, 6cyl automatic, 76,000 miles, new brakes and t ires, regu la r ma in tenance w i th rece ip ts , fo res t g r e e n . R u n s l i k e a dream. $12,000. Locat- ed on San Juan Island. ( 3 6 0 ) 3 7 8 - 1 8 8 8 , (619)203-4313

Sport Utility VehiclesJeep

MOVING AND MUST s e l l o u r 2 0 0 8 J e e p Wrangler! Black, 4 door, 4WD, power locks / win- dows, AC, locking gas cap, 3.8 V-6, 3 piece hard top, seat covers, alarm, mud flaps, sirus radio, sub woofer, bra / hood cover, step rails, tow package, EBS anti skid, beefy tires, chrome wheels, 49,000 miles. Ver y good condi t ion! $22,500. Kitsap County. Cathy 360-981-3752 or [email protected]

Sell your stuff free in the Super Flea! Your items totalling $150 or less will run for free one week in your local community paper and online.Call today to place your ad 866-825-9001

Sport Utility VehiclesOldsmobile

2 0 0 2 O L D S M O B I L E Bravada Spor ts Util i ty 4WD, AT, 4 door. Crusie in style with this ful ly loaded equipment package! Sleek silver exterior with beige leather interi- or. Your saftey is complete with On Star op- t ion! Runs wel l ! Only 122,000 miles. $3,500. Vashon Island. Call Bob 206-619-1453.

Motorhomes

31’ FLEETWOOD Storm Fully Furnished in well cared for cond! Fully self conta ined! Extremely c lean inside and out! Sleeps up to 4. Easy d r iv ing w i th back up camera. 2 TV’s (including King Dome satellite system), DVD player, radio & CD player. 2 tip outs. New engine 2010 with only 2,000 miles. $3,200 OBO. Oak Har- bor, Whidbey Is land. 360-675-1172.

Tents & Travel Trailers

1 9 9 3 D O D G E W I T H Cummins Diesel Engine. Tra i ler package, c lub c a b , c a m p e r s h e l l , 112,000 miles. Second g a s t a n k . 1 9 9 9 3 4 ’ Kountry Star Trailer with slide, lots of storage, oak cabinets, corian kitchen counter, central heat and air, power ceiling vent with rain sensor, sleeps 4. Everything in good condition! $18,000 obo. Oak Harbor. 360-279- 1678.

Tents & Travel Trailers

2004 KOMFORT 25TBS in excellent condition! $12,950. Garaged or covered when not in use with low miles (4 tr ips per Summer). Length: 2 6 ’ x 8 ’ 0 ” . A x l e s : 2 . Weight: 6018 lbs. Slides: 1. Queen and 3 bunk beds. Sleeps 9. New tires with spare tire and carrier. Weight equaliz- ing hitch with sway control bar. Power Tonque Jack. Four manual stabi- lizer jacks. Large awn- ing, luggage rack and bike rack attachment. Air conditioner, furnace and l o t s o f a c c e s s o r i e s . Great deal! Call 425- 445-0631 or email j f i- [email protected] for more info. Currently located in Fall City, WA.29’ ALPEN LITE travel t ra i l e r. So l i d , c l ean ! C o m f o r t a b l e w a l k - around queen size bed, k i t chen and d ine t te , bathroom with shower, good storage areas, pro- pane tank, some appli- a n c e s w i l l n e e d r e - placed. Good condition! $3,500 / offer. 360-376- 9020. Orcas Island.

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associated degrees from VRAP was ruled last June to be in violation of the “spirit” of the legislation creating the program.

Tonie Jeffrey is one such veteran whose seen the VRAP money delay issue firsthand. An Army veteran with two bachelors degrees from the University of Washington, she was one of the first to enroll in VRAP at O.C. last spring and plans

to use the program to get an associate’s degree in “infor-mation systems” to better her chances of reentering the workforce.

Jeffery said that some-times getting reimbursed can take two months.

“It’s tough with the money,” she said.

Other issues Jeffery has seen in the program are the way education payments are prorated and tied to a “day rate” that can negatively affect a student when the quarter only goes to Dec. 7. The rest of that month isn’t covered she said.

Randall Burgess, an Army veteran working in the Vet Corps program, said that some schools in the state certify enrollment on day one of classes, which gets the VRAP money moving faster. That difference is a big help to cash-strapped veterans the programs seeks to help, he said.

“There is no holdup,” Burgess said.

This fall, Olympic College’s student veterans enrolled under VRAP that faced that $1,500 financial hurdle, saw their financial aid “fast tracked” so that

Pell Grants would be avail-able to cover tuition and books on day one of class this fall, Larson said.

Larson said there were various ways for the up-front money required to enter O.C. to be taken care of, including special 10 percent and 15 percent tuition waiv-ers for veterans that served in combat and for those who served supporting those in combat. Another solution is making three monthly $500 payments, she said.

Cleman said that after the upfront tuition problem first surfaced, Larson “went to

bat” for the veterans at O.C. in order to find a solution for the VA gap.

While it’s hard to say how many VRAP eligible unemployed veterans live in Kitsap County, nearly 1,200 sought the services of the county’s WorkSource office between Jan. 1 and the end of August. Margret Hess, director of WorkSource Kitsap County, said the numbers of veterans seeking direct help with their job hunts varies between 195 and 300 each month.

“That’s not counting those who come in and use only

the resource center,” Hess said.

An estimated 34,000 vet-erans of the eligible age live in Kitsap County. However, most pre-9/11 veterans have a higher employment rate than non-veterans of the same age.

Larson said that between eight and 10 students are enrolled at O.C. this fall under VRAP, but that the program is catching on and expects that more will take advantage of the new pro-gram as they become aware.

RETRAININGCONTINUED FROM A9

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 2 | V E T E R A N S L I F E | 1 5

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As skilled workers retire…The aerospace industry needs you!

Build your skills today!

The Air Washington Project is 100% funded (in the amount of $20 million) by a grant awarded under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College

and Career Training Grants Program, as implemented by the US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. Olympic College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual

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I have seldom written about my hitch in the Navy and never in any detail since I was honorably discharged

on June 30, 1976. I remember the date I

left very well and the day I entered, June 29, 1972.

I have often been asked how I ended up in the Navy. I usually respond by saying, “It’s the only lottery I have ever won,” which is true in a twisted way.

I was drafted in 1971 dur-ing the final years of the Vietnam War. At that time the lottery system was used for the draft or conscription.

If I remember correctly, 1971 was the last time men were actually drafted, although the lottery contin-ued until about 1973.

For anyone around my age, we all have a clear memory of waiting for the number assigned to your 18th birthday to find out if who would be the winners.

My number was of course,

one. It is the only lottery I have ever won or entered. I guess I learned my lesson on lotteries.

As I remember, the lot-tery was in August. I was enrolled in my first year at the University of Washington and college deferments had been ended.

I was living in an apart-ment on University Avenue next to the post office. I remember watching this massive group of students coming down the streets protesting the war. It was an

interesting time.The way I ended up in the

Navy was through the cache program. For a drafted guy like me who was in college, the cache program allowed us to finish the first year of col-lege then choose the service to enter.

The hitches were longer. As I remember, three years for the Army and four for the Navy, Air Force and Marines.

I picked the Navy. I thought carriers were cool and hard to sink. Of course I didn’t know at that time I would get sea-sick in a bathtub. Some things end up weird.

Seasickness was not to be a problem because after basic (July and August in San Diego - that was a treat) the Navy decided I should become a psychiatric corpsman. I apparently told someone I

was majoring in psychology at the U.

I ended up serving as a psych corpsman at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital until 1976.

It was a fascinating hitch. I had a very interesting job and the good fortune of finding out I did not want to enter that field after I was out of the service.

I experienced my first real big city and saw the Broad Street bullies win the Stanley Cup. I still love hockey and cover it whenever I get the opportunity.

There are many of those boys (today I know they were boys) who came through those T-11, T-16, T-14 wards I will never forget. I was fortu-nate to be in a hospital doing some groundbreaking work treating bipolar depression.

I met a lot of very smart and interesting people. A few of us from Philly have contacted each other as we’ve gotten older. I am probably easiest to find because I have been writing for decades and worked in the film business before getting into newspa-pers.

I have thought about writ-ing a book about the time. Maybe.

I will say that during that four-year hitch, what I learned I have used nearly every day of my life since.

I was not thrilled about winning the lottery at 18, but I can’t imagine what or where I would be today if I hadn’t won.

Reach Dennis Box at [email protected]

By Dennis Box

An activity or event regarded as having an outcome depending on fate

lot·ter·yThe Bond

veterans life

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