Veterans Advisory Commission - Regular Meeting

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everybody.

Alright. Would you please call the roll? Sure. Mister Mikkelsen? Here. Mister Des Sedanski, I'm sorry.

Here. Mister Safakul?

Here.

Mister Hughes?

Here.

And mister Burgess?

Here. Alright. First off, did everybody get a chance to look over the minutes from last month's meeting?

Mhmm. Are there

any changes that need to be made?

No. No. I don't think so.

Alright. We have a motion to approve the minutes from last month.

So moved. Second? Second. Motion

passes. Alright. Clearly have no citizen's comments tonight, so we can roll right into discussing Memorial Day. Mike, do you have an update on if they can the National Guard unit can support with

the vehicle? So I spoke with them two days ago, and as of right now, they're gonna hand receipt the vehicle out to us. Okay. We may need a passenger to go with us to pick it up. We have to have a driver in the right seater.

That's

fine. And from there, we'll be good.

Okay. Let me know when you wanna pick it up. I'll roll over with you, and we'll do it that way. Sounds good. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. I was just gonna say

I'm happy.

I was just gonna say I tried for the convertible from one of the clubs, and I I tried three different clubs, and I didn't get any really excited responses Okay. Even though they're aware of it. So I since you have that, that'll work. Yes.

Perfect. And then I will be over to see Mike that week to pick up the flags for us to hand out. So we'll get that all taken care of. Perfect. Let's see.

We got room in there for you for the five of us?

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. We we should be fine

there. I

asked for a troop carrier, we'll have to bench this down the back. Okay. So we should be more than plenty.

Perfect. That'll be good. And then we can kinda take turns hopping out along the the route to hand out

some flags and And the other thing I thought with that too with the flags is if any of us have kids or grandkids that would like to partake, we can have the kids hand out the flags behind us. So my

son actually might be home on leave that weekend. I'm sure he would love to join in on that with

us. Worked out for me.

K. And then everybody get a chance to look over the the sign that they are getting made for us for the side of the vehicle?

Oh, that's cool. Yeah.

Yeah. They emailed that out to Christine and I a few days, a couple weeks ago. So now they're getting two of those made. Correct?

Yeah. They are made, and they're in the office.

Oh, nice. Oh, nice. Good. Yeah. I think that'll that'll be nice. We'll definitely get good use out of those.

How do they mount? Are they magnetic or something?

Magnetic. Yeah.

On hopefully, a ferrous material?

That's up to depends what kind of vehicle you got there.

With the Humvee, we may end up having to tie it. Mhmm. But we'll make it work. Okay.

Okay.

I would say if worse comes to worse, I'm sure we can figure figure out something for having it attached. Yeah. Get a hold

of some five fifty cord or something like that. Just

Five fifty cord and 100 mile an hour table. Yes. Take care of anything.

Correct. That'll work. Sounds like sounds like duct tape.

Alright. And as far as meeting for the parade goes, Mike, we just meet over at the high school morning of? Right. You'll meet yeah.

You'll meet at the high school morning of. Matt Crest should be sending you all an email in terms of, you know, directions, the route. I'm not sure how they're going to do the lineup with the construction that's taking place. Okay. I'm assuming Bulldog Boulevard is gonna remain open from Steese to Butler Road. So look for an e mail from Matt Cress on all of that.

Perfect. Appreciate it. So the e mail that you're sending out will have a time when we should be there?

Yes. Yeah. It will have a time for you to arrive. It'll also have your vehicle or your parade lineup number, which we've already talked about that. It'll be in the front of the parade. It'll be behind the colors, however. So yeah, that e mail will have all those instructions for you.

Alright. Perfect.

Are we gonna have our shirts by then or no?

I'm still waiting on the file, the vector file to get those made. Okay.

If not, we'll we'll coordinate something, figure out how we wanna dress for it.

Yeah. Worst comes to worst, can just have a generic shirt made for now that just says Veterans Advisory Commission. I can get that probably done this week without the if we don't have a vector file. If we can get the vector file, absolutely. I can get those made. Okay.

All right.

One point. Let me go back to the parade lineup. Yep. The parade typically steps off at 10:00. You want to get there, I would say, no later than 08:30, 09:00 at the very latest. I would recommend parking across the street. We typically allow those in the parade to park over at the old FedEx building and and cross Betler Road. So if you try to come in from the back of the parade prior to the like, a half an hour prior, it's gonna be a nightmare getting through.

Okay. Not a problem.

All right.

Anything else on the parade that we need to discuss?

Sorry, quick question. Mr. Elkins, do they have the official lineup yet? So I know it starts with the fire department, honor guard, and then ROTC carrying the service flags. Is that correct?

Yeah, that is correct. And then the Veterans Commission, and then I believe the mayor.

Okay. Perfect. Want to make sure we're keeping ROTC up front with the colors and everything. Even though the service flags are separated, they'll still be right behind. But for cadence purposes, it makes sense. Am I correct to hear that the band is not participating this year?

I don't know.

Okay. Just curious. I'll follow-up Interesting. With It's sad. It's school is out, and I guess there was something, so I don't know what they're doing. Okay.

Disappointing to hear, but okay.

I know. That's sad.

Alright. And then as far as the ceremony goes, I'm say this all seems to line up pretty much with what we discussed last month doing the the welcome, the prayer, posting of colors, Star Spangled Banner. I'm guessing we're gonna have one of the soloists from the high school.

Yeah. So the mayor is currently working on getting a a pastor to come in and do the prayer for the ceremony. Matt Kress, our events coordinator, is working on the Star Spangled Banner Force, and the mayor's also working on a guest speaker.

Okay.

Somebody that does have a that has served

Yep.

In the military. Yes.

Okay.

Mr. Spate, the only question that I have on the agenda, are we doing the flag folding ceremony or the flag passing?

So, I believe I don't know if we had this conversation online last time or not, but, flag folding for Memorial Day and then flag passing for Veterans Day. Yeah. So Say that again. So, ROTC basically does two types of demonstrations, through our honor guard, and one is a flag passing, which Mr. Elkins has a really good script for that, and they pass the flag Yeah. To well, we we decided to do that for Veterans Day.

Oh, okay, yeah.

And then the other one is a flag folding ceremony, which I think would be more suitable for Memorial Day. And in the past, we've always folded the flag and then presented it to a recipient. But this year, I would like to propose that we actually place it up in front of the internal flame if we can get a pedestal of some sort up there or like a podium in position in front of the flame, which I know the wreath will be up there, so it might be a little clustered. But if we can figure out a way to do that. So they'll fold the flag and then just set it to rest in front of the internal flame. Could be pretty cool.

I think that'd be very fitting.

Yeah, I'd like that.

There's a phenomenal script that goes along with it, and Mr. Elkins will bring a tear to everybody's eye with his reading of it. And the cadets have been practicing that folding, they got it down pretty good.

And I don't remember. You guys got the big flag, right?

Yes. Yeah, we used the burial size flag.

Okay.

Perfect. Normally, we always ask the city for it because we give it to somebody, but we can just use one of our training flags since we'll be retrieving it afterwards.

Because I can get one, too. I have one, too.

Okay. Thank you.

Perfect. Do you need us to help with lining up a pedestal or something to place it on?

That would be helpful. Okay. Just one last thing.

I can work something out there. That's not a problem. Thank you.

And but I know the wreath goes up there, so just to make sure it doesn't conflict with where the wreath is, and I think the wreath was placed beforehand. So

What I was thinking is if we could do something that sits a little bit lower, know, maybe just, you know, a foot or two up off the ground that we could put then in front of the wreath after it gets set. Yeah. You could have one of the cadets while they're doing the folding place the pedestal there so that after they're done folding, they can they can place the flag.

Excellent.

Does that work for you?

Absolutely. That sounds good. Okay. And then we will probably do a rehearsal of all of this the week prior. Okay. Get together with the fire department and just run through everything. So we'll make sure we try to iron out those details. And I'll let you guys know when we schedule that if you're able to come just to see it. If you have any tweaks you want to make to it, we'll be happy to fix those then.

Okay. Yeah. And if you let me know when that is, I'll try and have the pedestal ahead of time so that you guys can figure out the logistics for how you want to handle that part, too.

Perfect. Just a suggestion on that. Looking at the rundown of the ceremony, at TAPS, you know, the wreath is placed, TAPS is played. There will be a pause after TAPS. We really haven't done this.

I just feel it's awkward for the mayor and our guests to stand in front of the wreath after taps for Amazing Grace. It's a long time for them to stand there. So I'm recommending that there be a slight pause that allows the mayor and the guests to go back to their seat. And for the pedestal, I think that's a nice opportunity to place the pedestal then in front of the wreath before we do the flag folding ceremony. So it kind of it flows and it's seamless.

That sound that sounds good to me.

Yeah. I agree with that one.

You guys normally announce it's traditional during the playing of taps that those that have served or are serving to salute?

Yeah. I will give those in attendance instructions prior as the mayor and the guests will walk into the wreath, I'll remind those present what the protocol is for those in uniform or serving and then those for civilians, what they're supposed to do.

Yeah. And even us, those we salute also because Correct. Yeah. Because we have served team. Yes. Even though we're not in uniforms. Correct.

Sounds good to me. Let's see here. Anything else on Memorial Day ceremony or parade?

On the ceremony, I just wanted to run by the commission members once again. We're looking at 200 carnations. This is something we talked about, I believe, in April. Yes. As a closing as part of the closing of the ceremony to give attendees an opportunity to place a carnation on the brick of a loved one that has fought and and died or has served and has passed on or would like to take it to an assisted living center, nursing home, or the cemetery to put on a grave. Is 200 enough? I don't know. This is the first time that

we I would would say this done being

the first

time I think 200 is probably a good starting point.

Think so.

Yeah. Can kind of gauge off of this year whether next year we need more or less based off how big the interest is there. And I'd also say, too, you can offer up that they can also lay it at the base of the eternal flame.

Right. Yeah.

I I would suggest that, mister Spate, we would need your assistance here. I'm thinking we do four stations. You have 50 carnations in each station where your cadets might be holding them, which allows the attendees to come and just grab one out of the bucket and then place it wherever they would like to. Need my pen again. I didn't mean to dump all this work on you tonight.

No. This is good. I actually have four riflemen that will be there. So that's perfect.

Yeah. Yeah. The wall, a brick, the flame, or the flags, Right? Aren't they supposed to put the the flags in a each service flag?

Are they putting

Oh, yes. They'll they'll do that. Yeah. Yeah. They'll raise them during the song. This year, our complement of cadets is actually gonna be a little smaller because we're also excuse me. Excuse me. We have a float for the raider run, so we're trying to split cadets into two different areas. Mhmm. It'll still look nice. Like, we'll have good, we're just shaving off a few cadets here and there, which normally we have more than we need because they're chomping at the bit to be a part of this.

Okay, good.

I have just only one other question. Just does I have a Vietnam hat. Can we are we going to wear hats or is that something that

Go for it.

No. I know it. I just want you know, you're wearing one or I'm wearing one or

I usually have to wear one because Oh, I agree. Yeah. Otherwise, my head looks like a spider. I just wanna make

sure that, you know, I was gonna wear it anyway, but I you know, it's safer in numbers. Okay.

Yeah. You you won't be the only one because Alright. Yeah. I get a sunburn on this and I can't shave it for weeks and then I look like I have mange. It's not nice.

It's not pretty. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Before we move on to the Adopt A Site, I just wanted to take a moment to recognize the green schools for being named a Purple Star School with the state of Ohio. I believe, if I read correctly, this was the first time for the middle school or the intermediate school?

I think the middle school.

Yeah. Being named a Purple Star School. You know, and I can say that it definitely means a lot to me to see the support that the school system gives to military families. I'm not sure how familiar you're with rest of the commission is with it, but a couple of years ago, Billy White, one of the senior ROTC cadets this year, his mother was deployed to Djibouti for just over twelve months.

So it was a while.

Yeah. Somewhere around twelve to fourteen months. And the amount of support that he received during that whole time from the school was phenomenal. They did a nice piece on it when she came home. It was it was very touching. So I I think I speak for the whole commission when I say, you know, very well done to the Green Local Schools, and it's it's nice to see this sort of thing.

Amen.

Do they ever typically do any sort of recognition at the school? I know I've seen the sign at the high school show, you know, that it's Purple Star School before, but I wasn't sure if they ever

No. Not that I know of. Okay. No. I would say even the student body probably isn't that aware of it. I know, I think, through social media, they probably promote it, but otherwise, no, it's not very well celebrated within the school. Okay. But you're right, though. The school district does a lot for our military members their families.

Yeah. I think I sent an email out. The second grade, when I was substitute teaching, did did one, and it's the second clear grade class, and they had a a veteran from each of the services up front, and they had the each banners of all the armed services. And then they went through some protocol with it, and it was really, really moving. And they get a lot of people for that. So that was part I think that's what's part of it. Yeah.

Might be nice if maybe next year we figure out something that we can do to kinda thank the schools and recognize them for the Purple Star status. Yep. It's a little late to do it do it with the announcement this year, but maybe we can all spend some time brainstorming over the next year and come up with something that that the commission can put together.

I think that would be a good idea.

Too bad the local stations didn't pick up on it with all the bad news. Too bad that some good news didn't come out of it.

Yeah. That's that's very true.

You

know? Yeah. Maybe we can help with that next year.

Yeah. This might be a good segue for a little plug here, but at Green High School on Monday, we have our military signing ceremony. I believe this is our third year of hosting it at Green High School, and this is to honor any student that in the high school who has enlisted or committed to senior ROTC or a service academy. I don't have the final number from Green High School. My guess is it's probably around 15 plus.

Okay. But they will basically come up on stage in the auditorium, they'll take their oath of enlistment, and then they will go to the Veterans Memorial Courtyard at Green High School, and they'll place a dog tag on an honor tree. So if you're familiar with Veterans Memorial Park, there's the witness tree out there. We sort of borrowed that idea from Warrior's Journey Home. And with PLCC, they created a tree for us that we have on display out in the courtyard. And if you look at it, there's dog tags out there from any high school student who enlisted or committed to senior ROTC before graduating high school, they get to place a tag on that tree, which

is pretty cool.

So my son's got one out there.

Yep. I was to say, my son's got one out there. My daughter's thinking she'll have one out there next year.

Absolutely. So, you know, we recognized if a kid signs up to play golf at a local college, they make a big to do out of it, have a big signing day, and we said, Well, what about these kids that are, you know, signing up to put their lives on the line to serve our country? So it's a cool way to recognize their service. And that will be this Monday at 09:00 in the, auditorium at Green High School. If you do wish to attend, just come through the main office, bring a photo ID so you can get access, and, they'll take you down to the auditorium, you can watch it. It's a pretty cool event, and it's followed by a, reception afterwards.

Now do you guys have, anybody going to any of the service academies, or is that not something that there's been a lot of interest in?

There's been interest in it, but as everybody knows, it's very difficult to get into service academies. So we've had kids apply. We've put some really strong applicants out there. Unfortunately, none of them were selected this time around. However, we have a lot of senior ROTC kids, so a lot of kids that are getting picked up for senior ROTC, whether it's through a scholarship or they're just accepted into the program and, eventually going to get a scholarship. But it's pretty impressive. We have a lot of senior kids going.

Doesn't Doesn't matter which branch, either, does it?

Doesn't matter. We have one, one Air Force ROTC cadet who got a full ride for the Marine Corps, so it's pretty impressive the way that these kids have really been out there pursuing these, scholarships in the academies. It's just

very difficult to Do we have any academy candidates

this Not yet.

That's really tough. You have to have

a senator. Mhmm. Yeah. From

you know, so Mhmm.

Also, know when Emilia Clarke was here for Veterans Day, she and I spoke a little bit after the Veterans Day ceremony, and she said that her office is very interested in any support that they can give to any high school students here in Green are interested in service academies. She said that she is more than excited at the prospect of being able to work with helping helping kids put their academy packets together.

Yes. And we've actually been working with our office to try to get a date at Green High School. Unfortunate well, not unfortunately. Luckily, our school year ends very early this year, so we couldn't get one that fit before school is out. So first thing in the fall, we'll definitely have one, one of those workshops where students can come in and learn the right steps of doing that. And next year, I'm willing to bet we'll have a couple Academy kids next year.

That'd be great.

You you're talking about a million studies. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah. I thought I heard you say Clark.

Did I? I might have.

Yeah, okay.

It's it's been a long couple of weeks for me with work. My brain is

Alright.

Trying its best, but it is the little engine that can't some days. Alright. And then I'm assuming the Adopt A Site that is all you, Justin?

Well, me me and mister Elkins. So in the past, Green High School, ROTC, the students have, planted the flowers at Veterans Memorial Park in the shape of a flag. This is actually mister Elkins' brainchild. He came up with this idea. I thought he was crazy, but we pulled it off, and it's absolutely beautiful once it's in bloom. The city provides the flowers, the location. We just provide the manpower to put them in the ground. And this year, we know I know I have an email.

I'm looking at you for the date because I was looking for the email, and and and you said, I'll get back to you.

It's to be determined. But sometime here soon over the next couple of weeks, we'll have cadets out there planting the flowers and getting that site looking good.

Perfect.

I would say that the flowers are going to be delivered the week of the nineteenth through the twenty third. I will confirm that, but if any of you all want to help the cadets plant, I know they would appreciate the assistance. I usually go out the morning of the planting. I lay it out, So it's pretty easy to do. It's just like pull a steak, plant a posi. Pull a steak, plant a posi. It's that simple. So I will let you all know. I'll confirm the date. What time were your cadets' I

have to check with the, odd schedule this year. If that's exam week, I have to see what time they get out. But, honestly, that nineteenth would probably be the best day because the twentieth is graduation, and anything after that doesn't give us much time. So, if we can shoot for after school on the nineteenth, I'll just let you know what time that is.

Okay. Perfect.

Let's tentatively plan on the nineteenth then.

Okay. Okay.

Now we're looking at sometime early afternoon ish?

Probably, sir. Okay. Yep. It just depends on the exam schedule is what it boils down to.

Perfect.

And we may actually turn that into a, Memorial Day rehearsal at the same time if while we're there.

I was gonna say you're gonna have everybody you have a lot of people there. Perfect time to do it.

Exactly. While we have them there, we'll make them plant flowers.

I like it. All right. I know Memorial Day prep has kind of been our big thing leading up to this. Is there any other new business that we need to discuss? You got something?

I'd like to say Mr. Mike Hughes just retired from the Air Force Reserve. Congratulations, sir. Thank you. How many years of service?

Just under twenty

two. Nicely done. Congratulations.

You. Yeah, congratulations. You salty dude. That's a Navy term, by the way.

All right. Any other new business? No? Do I hear a motion to close the meeting?

So moved.

Do I have a second? Second. All right. All those opposed? All those in favor? Sorry. Did that backwards. Aye. Passes. Thank you, everybody. We will see you all again on Memorial Day.

You guys have

to be

with Posies.