{"id":315416,"date":"2024-10-30T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=315416"},"modified":"2024-11-01T02:05:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T02:05:55","slug":"soldiers-for-life-fort-cavazos-hosts-49th-retiree-appreciation-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=315416","title":{"rendered":"Soldiers for life: Fort Cavazos hosts 49th Retiree Appreciation Days"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Retired Master Sgt. Lori Spencer, veterans outreach program specialist at the Killeen Heights Vet Center at Killeen, Texas, receives a certificate of appreciation and plaque after being named the Fort Cavazos Retiree of the Year, and poses for a picture with Killeen and local retiree leadership during the opening ceremony for the 49th Annual Retiree Appreciations Days Oct. 26, 2024, at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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\n Retired Master Sgt. Lori Spencer, left, veterans outreach program specialist at the Killeen Heights Vet Center at Killeen, Texas, and Fort Cavazos Retiree of the Year; retired Sgt. 1st Class Virginia Calderon; and retired Sgt. 1st Class Roberta Clark pose for a picture during the Friday Night Bingo Social at the 49th Annual Retiree Appreciations Days Oct. 25, 2024, at the Phantom Warrior Center at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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FORT CAVAZOS, Texas \u2014<\/strong>\tFort Cavazos held its 49th annual Retiree Appreciation Days Oct. 25-26, providing retirees with socials, resources and services.<\/p>\n

The Retirement Services Office worked with the Command Sgt. Maj. Elijah King, Jr. Retiree Council and other organizations on post to host the two-day event, which featured a golf scramble, evening social, county fair, 1st Cavalry Division Horse Cavalry Detachment demonstration, and health, legal and ID card services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to stand here today,\u201d said Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, commanding general of III Armored Corps and Fort Cavazos, at the opening ceremony at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center. \u201cI want to extend my gratitude for your brave service. You defended freedom and carried forth the values of loyalty, duty and selfless service. The dedication that shaped your lives is also the strength of our Army today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Army would not be what it is today without those of you who served first, who paved the way for us to better serve and protect our nation,\u201d he added.\u00a0\u201cTherefore, it is the least we can do to provide these events and resources to assist you all in your lives and honor you for your service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retirees from not only the Army, but other branches of the military were in attendance, as well as Col. Lakicia Stokes, U.S. Army Garrison-Fort Cavazos commander; Maria Bentinck, director of Army Retirement Services; city of Killeen Mayor Debbie Nash-King; and the Command Sgt. Maj. Elijah King, Jr. Retiree Council.<\/p>\n

During the ceremony, retired Master Sgt. Lori Spencer was recognized as the Fort Cavazos Retiree of the Year, while the retiree council\u2019s previous chairman, retired Brig. Gen. Oscar R. Anderson, and vice chairman, retired Sgt. Maj. Jerry Hernandez, who is also a transition services specialist for the Fort Cavazos Transition Assistance Program, were recognized for their contributions.<\/p>\n

The ceremony was followed by the County Fair at CRDAMC, which featured resources for veterans.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the ID Card Facility and Legal Assistance Office opened their facilities solely to retirees and their family members Friday and Saturday. For the Legal Assistance Office, retirees could create estate-planning documents for themselves and receive legal advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re drafting wills for retirees, along with medical powers of attorney, advanced directives and statutory durable powers of attorney, as well as agent of disposition of remains,\u201d said Capt. Kiara Martinez, chief of client services, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, III Armored Corps.<\/p>\n

While they are still continuing to count the total, Martinez said the office drafted over 700 legal documents on Oct. 25 alone, as of Oct. 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut in the civilian sector, documents like this that we draft can cost north of $1,000, right?\u201d she explained. \u201cAnd we\u2019re doing it for them for free. It\u2019s 20 attorneys at a minimum and 20 paralegals at a minimum that volunteer their time Friday and Saturday. And I can tell, just Friday alone, this entire building was just about at complete capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the wait was long for some people, all of the retirees seeking assistance were grateful they had time to speak with an attorney, Martinez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving that dedicated time where they can just walk in with no appointment, and they\u2019re going to speak to someone live, I think, is very imperative,\u201d she expressed, \u201cand it\u2019s important to give back to that particular community.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy office and I look forward to this weekend, especially myself,\u201d she added. \u201cI was raised in Killeen \u2026 and this is my only year that I will be in this role, so I was very excited, personally, to put on a good event for the retirees as best as we could.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Attendees play bingo during the Friday Night Bingo Social at the 49th Annual Retiree Appreciations Days Oct. 25, 2024, at the Phantom Warrior Center at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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\n Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, commanding general of III Armored Corps and Fort Cavazos, gives remarks at the opening ceremony for the 49th Annual Retiree Appreciations Days Oct. 26, 2024, at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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While there were medical and administrative resources for the retirees to use, there were also social events, like the Friday evening social to provide retirees an opportunity to interact with others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some people who many not actually live right here at Fort Cavazos, and if they come here, they get to meet friends of theirs that they\u2019ve been around before,\u201d said retired Brig. Gen. Michael A. Ryan, chairman of the Command Sgt. Maj. Elijah King, Jr. Retiree Council. \u201cThat\u2019s why we restarted this bingo evening, and the dinner and everything else is for old friends to get together, meet new ones that, maybe, they haven\u2019t seen since the last time that they were here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Paul Homes agreed, having driven almost three hours with his wife Gina to attend the festivities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like coming here because there\u2019s people just like us,\u201d he expressed. \u201cMilitary retirees \u2014 it doesn\u2019t make a difference what service, but we all did the same stuff. So it\u2019s just an enjoyable time \u2026 It gets us back in familiar spaces. Even though we weren\u2019t Army, a base is a base is a base.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Friday evening social featured food, door prizes, raffle prizes and bingo for those who came out.<\/p>\n

For Soldiers who volunteered for the weekend to help facilitate the event, like Pfc. Naomi Itinga, 104th Engineer Construction Company, 62nd Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, interacting with the retirees affirmed their choice to serve.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to ask veterans questions about their experience, whether it\u2019s the Army or Air Force or whatever branch they were able to serve in,\u201d Itinga said,\u201d and it gives you a sense of purpose to know that you\u2019re fighting the same fight they were fighting, and the only difference is that it\u2019s different times, different experience, but we all have the same purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itinga noted she had never seen so many women veterans before and it was inspiring since many had held senior leadership roles.<\/p>\n

\u201c(These were) roles that people might think because they\u2019re a woman that they might not be able to reach,\u201d she said, \u201cbut it\u2019s very inspiring to see that there are\u00a0people who\u2019ve done the same thing before me and any other females, and they\u2019ve also shared, \u2018Hey, you can do it. If we did it, you can do it, too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Ron Cowan, vice chairman of the retiree council, said this was his first time at the Retiree Appreciation Days and thought it was a great opportunity, speaking of the community in and around the installation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an awesome community,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m part of the Veteran\u2019s Association, too. I chair the 82nd Airborne Association that\u2019s here and getting to know the circle of friends \u2014 no matter where they were stationed at, they all come together here. It\u2019s just amazing the camaraderie that I\u2019ve seen. We don\u2019t really have to ask for help in the committee. I think (the Retiree Appreciation Days) are awesome for the state of Texas and Fort Cavazos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Retired Master Sgt. Lori Spencer, veterans outreach program specialist at the Killeen Heights Vet Center at Killeen, Texas, receives a certificate of appreciation and plaque after being named the Fort Cavazos Retiree of the Year, and poses for a picture with Killeen and local retiree leadership […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315418,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315416","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\/315416","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=315416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315423,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315416\/revisions\/315423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/315418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=315416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=315416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=315416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}