{"id":16807,"date":"2023-06-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=16807"},"modified":"2023-06-28T06:42:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T06:42:15","slug":"chicago-white-sox-honors-two-local-service-servicemembers-on-pride-night-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=16807","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox honors two local service servicemembers on Pride night game"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Lt. Col. Brian Dunn, G1, Assistant Chief of Staff, 85th U.S. Army Reserve Support Command, receives a crowd recognition from Chicago White Sox fans after delivering the game ball to the pitcher\u2019s mound on the White Sox Pride night game, June 21, 2023. Dunn has more than 20 years of service with the U.S. Army Reserve and works as an Airline Pilot for Southwest Airlines. He also served as an Assistant Professor of Military Science for 4\/413th Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps Battalion at Fort Knox, Kentucky and 4\/414th SROTC Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McCord, Washington.<\/p>\n

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\n Lt. Col. Brian Dunn, G1, Assistant Chief of Staff, 85th U.S. Army Reserve Support Command, appears on the jumbotron for a military recognition during the Chicago White Sox Pride night game, June 21, 2023. Dunn delivered the game ball to the pitcher\u2019s mound before the start of the White Sox versus Texas Rangers game. Throughout the month of June, the Army joins the nation in paying tribute to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer\/questioning community.<\/p>\n

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\n Lt. Col. Brian Dunn, G1, Assistant Chief of Staff, 85th U.S. Army Reserve Support Command, watches the Chicago White Sox Pride night game with his husband, Mike Graves, who served as a Torpedoman\u2019s Mate on a U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarine. Dunn attended the game as part of a military recognition there.<\/p>\n

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\n U.S. Navy Veteran, Monica Urbieta, of Chicago is greeted by a Chicago White Sox player during the \u2018Hero of the Game\u2019 salute on the Sox\u2019 Pride night game, June 21, 2023. Urbieta served as a plane captain for 11 jets on squadron VFA-136 aboard the U.S.S. George Washington in the Persian Gulf. The plane captain is responsible for the final examination of the aircraft as its guided to a catapult for launch.<\/p>\n

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CHICAGO \u2013 The rock group Boson has a phrase \u2018It\u2019s been such a long time\u2019 in their 1976 song titled Long Time. And it could not be truer for a man who began his military career as a student at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.<\/p>\n

On June 21, 2023, 19,000 baseball fans cheered for U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Brian Dunn, at the Chicago White Sox stadium, on a night that recognized Dunn, along with U.S. Navy Veteran Monica Urbieta who was honored as the \u201cHero of the Game\u2019 for her service on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George Washington in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that was pretty impactful,\u201d said a clearly elated Dunn. \u201c(What an honor) by the White Sox organization, with my family here on Pride night with my husband, Mike. And to have someone that I served with come up and say hi filled me with a lot of gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before walking to the mound, Dunn exchanged greetings with fellow Army officer, retired Maj. Kelvin Pickens, whom he worked with at Fort Sheridan. Pickens currently works instant replay for the Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I joined the Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Corps. in 1993 there was an outright ban on service members that identified as (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer\/questioning),\u201d said Dunn. \u201cNow 30 years later, the military has full support of our LGBTQ service members. The military\u2019s view of our LGBTQ service members has come a long way. I\u2019m very proud to wear my uniform and to be honored here for my military service on Pride night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunn\u2019s husband, Mike Graves, was equally proud watching from his seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a surprise but it\u2019s a great thing. He really deserves it,\u201d said Graves, a Navy veteran who served four years as a Torpedoman\u2019s Mate on a ballistic missile submarine. \u201cHe\u2019s a great representative for the Army. He is providing a service above and beyond and he does it happily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ron Skarbek of Wilmette, Illinois, and a White Sox fan, said \u201cIt brought chills to me,\u201d as he watched Dunn being applauded by the fans.<\/p>\n

Like Dunn, Skarbek started out in ROTC at college and served as an Army officer from 1972 to 1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a military police officer. Most of my time was stateside at Fort Gordon, Fort Benning and the Presidio,\u201d said Skarbek.<\/p>\n

Throughout history, LGBTQ Soldiers and civilians have bravely served and defended the country, often despite personal challenges and barriers to service.<\/p>\n

Before he was assassinated, President John F. Kennedy spoke about diversity during a commencement speech at American University on June 10th, 1963.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children\u2019s future. And we are all mortal,\u201d he said.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Lt. Col. Brian Dunn, G1, Assistant Chief of Staff, 85th U.S. Army Reserve Support Command, receives a crowd recognition from Chicago White Sox fans after delivering the game ball to the pitcher\u2019s mound on the White Sox Pride night game, June 21, 2023. Dunn has more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16809,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16807"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16814,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807\/revisions\/16814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}