Veterans Salute Magazine - 2022

CONTENTS ‘22

On the cover: Col. Buddy Winn, left, retired Lt. Col. John Dorin, Brig. Gen. Lowell Kruse, Brig. Gen. Charles Kemper and retired Col. Chad Sackett unveiled the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division monument outside Camp Ripley Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery - Little Falls. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

Tim Speier, Brainerd Dispatch Growing up just south of Lincoln on a farm next to what is now Highway 10, 95-year-old Joe Dubbels’ journey to the Pacific theater was one he still vividly recalls.

Photo illustration by Andy Goble

THE STAR

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O say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

BY TIM SPEIER Brainerd Dispatch

A journey worth remembering

Growing up just south of Lincoln on a farm next to what is now Highway 10, 95-year-old Joe Dubbels’ journey to the Pacific theater was one he still vividly recalls.

Sitting in the living room with his 1976 record-setting Minnesota buck looking on, 95-year-old Joe Dubbels recalled his time growing up a few hundred yards from where he now lives and not wanting to be the only one of his friends who didn’t pass the medical exam to join the military during World War II.

Growing up just south of Lincoln on a purebred Holstein farm next to what is now Highway 10 in Morrison County, Dubbels said he was preparing to graduate high school in May of 1945 when he was drafted on April 12.

Wanting to name the service and job, he enlisted in the Army

Tim

and signed up for the tank corps. This also allowed him to stay for graduation and give the speech as the valedictorian of his class.

Shortly after graduating, Dubbels went in for his physical at Fort Snelling, where they asked him if he would like to be disqualified, as he is missing parts of three fingers from a childhood accident.

When Dubbels was about 3 years old, he was playing with a dynamite

blasting cap when it went off in his hand, he said as he showed off the missing parts of his thumb, forefinger and middle finger on his left hand. Interestingly enough, while in school, Dubbels met another boy who had lost the same fingers, on the same hand, for the same reason.

During his physical examination at Fort Snelling, Dubbels said he had a checkmark next to his eyes and his left hand. Understanding why there was a mark next to his hand, he said

the doctor called him “eagle eyes” as they asked if he would like to be disqualified from service due to his injury.

“The doctor then said, ‘Well you can go or you can stay,’” Dubbels said. “Well all the other guys that I came down with, all my friends, they all passed, far as I know. So I didn’t see any reason why I should stay.”

From there, Dubbels went to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for boot camp and training. After basic training, Dubbels was sent to California in August of 1945 as part of the 24th Corps where he was loaded onto a troop carrier. Dubbels said there were about 500 nurses and a few thousand troops who loaded onto the troop carrier bound for Pearl Harbor, where they would refuel before heading into the Pacific theater.

As they sailed out of San Francisco, Dubbels said they started to notice some of the plates on the ship would shift with each swell the ship encountered. At the break of dawn after refueling in Pearl Harbor, they left port. As the sun set that night, the alarms started blaring.

“And that’s as far as we went,” Dubbels said.

The ship’s crew told him they hit a floating mine, but Dubbels said a merchant mariner on the vessel told him water was in the boiler room.

“They even told us to abandon ship,” Dubbels said. “But the next morning the ship was still there.”

Given the order to load back up on the ship, Joe said a Norwegian freighter picked up the nurses, but all the GIs got back on and were towed back to Oakland, California, where they were unloaded into a big gymnasium.

Unbeknownst to Dubbels at the time, the war in the Pacific was in its final month.

During the nearly three weeks spent in Oakland, he said he was told to do twice daily head counts of 637 men — a task which someone with rank should do, Dubbels said, “not a

Joe Dubbels talks about enlisting in the Army during World War II at his home

Sept.

2022. Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch

HONORING ALL WHO SERVED THIS

THANK YOU

buck private.”

After a few weeks of the thickest fog Dubbels had ever seen in the Bay Area, he was picked up by another ship, saying he woke one day and found himself off the coast of Okinawa, Japan.

“We weren’t that far away and you could see the trees didn’t have any tops on them,” Dubbels said. “There were some really badly hammered buildings. Well, that turned out to be the capital city of Okinawa. We were off the point of Naha, Okinawa.”

The second time he got the dirty end of the stick, Dubbels was sent out on Okinawa to lead a group of 120 soldiers who were sweeping

the island for mines. Every day they covered a different chunk, Dubbels said, and “they warned you to go slow, take your time, watch every step you take.”

They didn’t have any problem with the big mines, Dubbels said, but they had to watch out for the little ones made up of wood and glass with no metal components to elude the metal detectors.

“I usually found some stump or rock or something, that’s where mine stayed all day and I just walked around looking dumb,” Dubbels said. “Just had to keep track of all these guys and recorded everything they found, and they did good. Yeah, only lost two guys that stepped on Bouncing Betties.”

Bouncing Betties were mines that launched about 3 feet into the air

when triggered, releasing a spray of deadly shrapnel.

On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan surrendered and that fall, Dubbels was in Korea. Finding himself in a unit of engineers with a new job title of “demolition expert,” he said he was in Korea for about 15 months helping to build up the Kimpo Air Base in Seoul, South Korea.

“We started out in the rice paddy area between Yeongdeungpo and the ocean,” Dubbels said, “in the rice paddies alongside the Han River and we started building this airstrip.”

After arriving in Korea, he got his first mail call since deploying and finally had the opportunity to get paid. That’s when he found out he had been promoted to corporal, on payday. That good news was short-lived as he opened his mail and found a letter that started “Dear Joe…” His girlfriend had found someone else who was coming home from the war.

During his time in Korea, Dubbels was made a foreman of the repair shop on base. One day while working in the shop, Dubbels was run over by a truck after its brakes failed, destroying both of his knees. A sore subject even to this day.

After recovering from his injuries, Dubbels was discharged from the service in the fall of 1947 and returned to the family farm south of Lincoln, where he got married in 1949 and had two daughters. His wife of 43 years died in 1987.

Now, 77 years after his service took him across the world during the war, Dubbels continues to live in his home, a few hundred yards from where he grew up.

TIM SPEIER may be reached at tim.speier@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5859

BY TIM SPEIER Brainerd Dispatch

With overcast skies and a cool breeze still moist from the previous night’s rain — what some would call a beautiful infantryman’s morning — a few dozen guests of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division gathered outside Camp Ripley Sunday, Oct. 2, in the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery - Little Falls.

A little over a year ago, some retired members of the 34th Infantry Division, known as the “old soldiers club” were at Fort Snelling National Cemetery when they noticed something was missing, said retired Col. Chad Sackett, president of the Commander’s Own Chapter.

“We had some former members realize that, when they went down to the Fort Snelling National Cemetery, there was no 34th division monument. … and they decided to help rectify that,” Sackett said.

The guests of honor for the dedication were Brig. Gen. Lowell Kruse, the Minnesota National Guard’s assistant adjutant general and Camp Ripley’s senior commander; retired Lt. Col. John Dorin, senior administrative officer

Red Bull Infantry Division monument was dedicated Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery-Little Falls. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs; and Brig. Gen. Charles Kemper, commanding general of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division.

Opening and closing prayers were led by Col. Buddy Winn, Minnesota National Guard chaplain.

The fundraiser that was set up on GoFundMe was for a single monument. But as the donations kept coming, they ended up getting more support than the group had planned, gaining about $17,000.

With all the donations they received, the group put out a message to its donors informing them they would update the fundraiser, allowing them to use the funds for two monuments — Fort Snelling National Cemetery and Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery-Little Falls.

Sackett said during the fundraising, he would constantly see contributions from names he recognized from his time in the Army along with comments talking about how members of their families were “Red Bulls.”

retired Lt. Col. John Dorin, Brig. Gen. Lowell Kruse,

Col. Chad Sackett stand outside Camp Ripley Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery-Little Falls during the dedication. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

“Those comments kept coming in,” Sackett said. “People recognize the Red Bull. They recognize the patch. With the deployment cycle that we’ve been under for the last 20 years, it’s known across the world. It’s been all over the world.”

One of the things that make the division special is a “common spirit of excellence in service,” Kemper said as he thanked all those involved for their continued service to the members of the 34th Infantry Division.

“This memorial recognizes our legacy, a legacy of service and sacrifice, endowed by brave soldiers who have come before us,” Kemper said.

The Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery-Little Falls received the Operational Excellence Award from the National Cemetery Association in March in recognition of their efforts to achieve excellence, Dorin said.

The Little Falls State Veterans Cemetery is the only state veterans cemetery in the country to receive this recognition for the federal fiscal year 2021. The Little Falls location

is one of the three state veterans cemeteries currently operating in Minnesota.

“This cemetery is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in their inventory,” Kruse said. “And I can tell you the staff that works here, they do a tremendous job honoring the veterans that they interred here. It’s very fitting that the No. 1 division in our state, the storied Red Bulls, reveal a monument on this beautiful

pathway — what they call their monument row.”

be

TIM SPEIER

outside

Minnesota

Red Bull Infantry Division dedication. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

Pequot Lakes Air National

BY NANCY VOGT Echo Journal

nearly

“I would absolutely tell kids to look at their options,” said Blomer, a Pequot Lakes resident who works as a same-day surgery registered nurse at Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby.

Those options include talking to recruiters from all branches — whether it be active duty service, the National Guard or the Reserves.

“And talk to people in the career field they’re interested in to see if that fits with their educational goals,” she said.

Blomer, who serves as the command post superintendent in the 133rd Airlift Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard in Minneapolis-St. Paul, speaks from experience.

She decided in high school she wanted an aviation career and knew it would be expensive, so she considered military service to help pay for college.

“The thought of $100,000 in student debt made me ill,” she said.

“When I was in high school, I was always meeting with the recruiters. At the time, I was thinking active duty with the Navy or Air Force,” she said.

Senior Master Sgt. Theresa Blomer

Then Blomer received sage advice to get more information before making a decision. She did her homework, and during her senior year of high school in 1998 at age 18, she joined what was then the Air National Guard 119th Fighter Wing in command and control in North Dakota.

After a year at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, she decided an aviation career wasn’t for her after all, so she quit school.

But her military career endured.

Blomer stayed with the Air National Guard in North Dakota until 2012, when she transferred as a command post superintendent to the 133rd Airlift Wing in Minnesota. She was living in Pequot Lakes by then with her husband Tom and their two children, and she’d gone back to school.

“The Air National Guard was always a constant for me, something steady, stable,” Blomer said, adding

she’s always worked with great people.

One person in particular served as her mentor. She considered him a father figure, and she was the daughter he never had.

“He was always there to give advice,” Blomer said, adding that even when she didn’t care for the advice, she later realized he was right.

During this time, Blomer’s desire to one day obtain a four-year college degree also endured.

She received a two-year nursing degree at Central Lakes College in Staples in 2013, and a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Bemidji State University in 2019. She has worked at CRMC since 2014.

Blomer encourages people of any age to pursue their education.

“I would tell anybody that just because you’re not a traditional student out of high school, don’t give

continued on page 18

A highlight of Theresa Blomer’s military career was an incentive ride in an F16. Contributed photo

up on a career. It’s not too late,” she said, even if married with kids. “It can be done. It’s more challenging, but it can be done.”

Blomer considered leaving the Air National Guard several times, but consistently re-enlisted every three years.

“Year 9, I wanted out,” she said, but in the end, her family needed that consistency so she re-enlisted.

By the time she’d earned her nursing degree, she had served over 10 years with the military, meaning she was halfway to 20 years and to retirement. So again she continued to re-enlist.

“I really like the people I work with,” Blomer said, and she wants to make sure the younger generations are set up for success when the longtimers retire.

As she was promoted in rank, she learned what members of the Guard

do in Minneapolis affects that bigger national picture. Her goal is to show young airmen, noncommissioned officers and mid-level supervisors how they affect that big picture.

“You just want to help motivate them to keep going because that’s our future leadership in the military,” Blomer said. “They’re the future superintendents taking over and you want them to succeed in the big picture and understand it.”

Blomer’s duties include serving one weekend a month with two weeks of annual training. But as a superintendent in charge of command and control of the 133rd and 934th Airlift Wings — a position she’s had since 2019 — there’s more work involved.

Through the years she traveled for short training assignments, saying such travel helps airmen be more well-rounded and experienced. Working one’s way up the ranks does the same.

“You grow and you’re mentored through that process,” she said.

As a result, a person gets leadership experience while taking those baby steps to advance.

Blomer said her first time as a superintendent in 2009, she was too young and without enough leadership experience.

“At the time, I couldn’t ask for help. I thought asking for help was a failure. It’s not. It’s a strength,” she said.

Most recently, Blomer embarked on her first long deployment to Kuwait for six months, from July 2021-January 2022.

Her family — including daughter Lily, 17, and son Tommy, 16 — were nervous and worried. The deployment was harder than they all thought it would be, Blomer said, noting it couldn’t have been done without the support of family, friends and coworkers.

She was the command and control noncommissioned officer in charge of console operations at the command post in Kuwait, which included flight following on inbound and outbound flights at the base and heading the

Tammy Ebertowski July 22 Veterans Tribute Day Volunteer Organizer Chair!

emergency operations center and central operations.

“I learned a lot. I grew a lot,” Blomer said. “I worked with some good people — again, mentors.”

She’s proud of the confidence she’s attained through the Air National Guard and praises her mentors.

“Without the military, I don’t know if I would have confidence to approach surgeons,” she said.

A highlight of her military career — besides taking an incentive ride in an F-16 — is working with so many different people.

“We all bring something to the table, whether we’re an airman fresh out of basic training or whether we’ve been in 20 or 30 years,” Blomer said.

What’s unsettling is when there is a shift in political leadership in the country. That can lead to shifts in the military regarding cutbacks, training and equipment.

Blomer is now 24 years into her Air National Guard career and she does

plan to retire next year. She’ll enjoy less stress and having weekends, “but at the same time you’re saying OK to the airmen and NCOs — ‘Time to fly, you’ve got this!’” she said of her airmen.

“I’ve had a good career,” Blomer said.

NANCY VOGT

may be reached at nancy.vogt@pinelandlakes.com or 218-855-5877. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Nancy.

Honoring all veterans & families

Theresa Blomer worked outside during special assignments.

Contributed photo

SALUTE SALUTE OUR OUR VETERANS VETERANS

DearVeterans, Thanksfordecoratingour worldwith honor& fightingforourfreedom!

Danae Blanck Anderson www.idyourworldmn.com

DearVeterans, Thanksfordecoratingour worldwith honor& fightingforourfreedom! 218.330.2338

HARLEY

BARNEY

ROBERT SQUIRES

ARTHUR BROOKS HOSKINS

BYRON HARRY SQUIRES

JOHN MUHAR

VERNON FARGO

ARMY 1943-1946 DECEASED 1/5/2019

ARMY 1973-1976

DON RASMUSSEN ARMY 1966-1969

AVERY DERKSEN ARMY WWII, KOREA DECEASED 4/14/2020

ARMY 1917-1919; WWI DECEASED 8/2/90

ARNOLD DERKSEN ARMY CAVALRY WWI DECEASED 1965

BRUCE LAPKA NAVY 1968-1972; VIETNAM

RICHARD B. REZANKA AIR FORCE 1943-1945; WWII DECEASED 3/23/1992

ROBERT J. CLARK

AIR FORCE 1943-1945; WWII DECEASED 8/11/2018

JEROME MARSCHKE ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

THOMAS SKALSKY NAVY DECEASED 2008

BART SKALSKY ARMY

RICHARD REZANKA

JEFFREY A. MCCARTHY

DANIEL HOLMES MARINES

ANTHONY JAMES SULLIVAN ARMY AIRBORN INFANTRY

DANIEL

CHARLES

CRAIG

ARMY

JOHN P. MARTIN

ARMY & RESERVES 1946-1948; 1950-1951

EDWARD U. MARTIN ARMY & RESERVES 1946-1947; 1950-1951

NAVY 1967-1971; VIETNAM DECEASED 1/31/2003

DAVID

NAVY 1969-1973; VIETNAM

RICHARD

MARINES 1969-1971

RICHARD

NAVY 1948-1952; KOREAN WAR

ARMY 1964-1968

1975-1995

JOHN WEIDELL

NEUMAN

SMITH

MELVIN A. MARTIN ARMY & RESERVES

PAUL KLEIN

CHARLES J. MARTIN

DOUGLAS STENBERG ARMY

BRUCE NEUMAN

GARY NIEMAND

ARMY 1965-1967; VIETNAM

SANDER GEARHART ERICKSON NAVY 22 YEARS DECEASED 2/6/2020

ROBERT REMINGTON NAVY 1976-1982

KARL REMINGTON AIR FORCE 1974-1978

FRANK REMINGTON ARMY 1951-1953 DECEASED 8/14/2011

ARMY 1942-1944; WWII DECEASED 8/12/1944

KEN MICKO AIR CORP 1942-1945

FRANK H. DELONG JR ARMY 1969-1972; VIETNAM

FRANK H. DELONG ARMY 1942-1945 DECEASED 1994

SUZANNE E. DELONG

NAVY 1971-1973

LUCHKA

CHESTER S. WEGLARZ

NAVY WWII DECEASED 2/8/2008

ROGER ROY MARINES 1959-1966

ROBERT KIND ARMY 1959-1964

ROBERT J. MENTH ARMY & RESERVES 1975-1977; 1977-1982

KEVIN GOEDKER MARINES 1990-1995

AIR FORCE & NAVY 1946-1950; 1952-1956

KENNETH NIEMANN

ARMY 1944-1946

DON WALKER ARMY 1959-1961

WALTER SCHIRMERS

DERALD E. WATSON

BY JOHN MYERS Duluth News Tribune

Getting hometown heroes outdoors

Les Albert talks about the nightmares now mostly in the past tense.

Albert served in the Marines and was stationed overseas for a bit, but didn’t see combat. He says his post-traumatic stress disorder comes from his work as a deputy sheriff in Florida and a firefighter in Illinois.

“There were just some experiences that wouldn’t go away,” he said, describing an “overwhelming sense of anxiety” even after leaving both professions.

“I constantly worry that something tragic may happen to my family if I am not there to look over and protect them. This excessive anxiety often makes me feel on edge and

A group participating in a Hometown Heroes Outdoors ice fishing trip to Lake of the Woods last winter. The nonprofit group offers free trips to veterans, military personnel and law enforcement officers who may be struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder or other issues. Contributed / Hometown Heroes Outdoors continued on page 38

Les Albert, of Gilbert, Minnesota, poses with a trout caught on a recent group fishing trip with Hometown Heroes Outdoors. Albert is now a field staffer with the nonprofit group that aims to get veterans, military personnel and law enforcement officers outdoors. Contributed / Les Albert

Veterans’ mental health issues

• Fewer than 50% of veterans receive the mental health assistance they need.

• An average of 22 veterans die by suicide every day.

• Since 9/11, some 30,177 active duty personnel and veterans who served in the military have died by suicide compared to 7,057 service members killed in combat.

• Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to commit suicide than the general public.

• It’s estimated up to 20% of veterans experience and suffer from PTSD. It’s not that they are less likely to cope with it but that they are more likely to witness events likely to trigger PTSD.

• About 11%-20 % of veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have PTSD in a given year while about 12% of veterans of the Gulf War and an estimated 30% of veterans of the Vietnam War suffer from PTSD at some point.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Army, U.S. Veterans Administration, U.S. Department of Defense, National Center for PTSD.

irritable, causing me to snap at my loved ones without reason,” Albert explained in a recent letter. “It is not uncommon for me to struggle with falling asleep. I fear that if I fall asleep, I will have nightmares or night terrors. My breaking point was when my wife, who is my rock, tried waking me from my nightmares several times. When I woke up, I didn’t even recognize her.”

Albert, who lives in Gilbert, would get out of bed after the nightmares and then spend hours on the internet, hoping it would make him sleepy, usually watching videos about police work or military experiences.

“You get out of the military or law enforcement or the fire service and not only do you have these traumatic experiences you remember, but then you miss the camaraderie. You depend on each other to stay alive and, suddenly, that’s all gone when you get out,” Albert told the News Tribune. “I found I really missed being around other people like me who had the same experiences, good and bad.”

Then one late night, Albert came across a video of a military veteran catching a big sturgeon through the ice. An avid outdoorsman who moved from Illinois to Minnesota to be closer to better fishing and hunting, Albert wanted to know more about this cool fishing trip this veteran was having.

And that’s how he found Hometown Heroes Outdoors. Albert, whose day job is driving trucks for U.S. Steel’s Minntac taconite operations in Mountain Iron, went on his first trip with the group in 2019. Since then, he’s attended several small and large group fishing and hunting trips across the region.

JJ’S PUB: Open at 4pm M-F and Noon on Saturday Open on Sundays for Vikings games Downstairs From Commander 218-562-4600

Thankful for all the Veterans & their families for serving our great country

The North Dakota chapter of Hometown Heroes Outdoors held a snow goose hunting trip. The group serves military veterans, active duty military personnel and law enforcement officers who are looking to get outdoors. Contributed / Hometown Heroes Outdoors

He’s planning a Hometown Heroes Outdoors grouse hunting trip in October to the Gunflint Trail, maybe two.

“It can be one or two of us on a hunting trip … or a big group. We had 100 people on Lake of the Woods ice fishing last winter. We just had a bunch of people on Mille Lacs last weekend fishing,” he said.

Albert, 49, is now one of 20 Minnesota field staff volunteers for Hometown Heroes Outdoors. He’s heading the group’s northern Minnesota operations. That includes planning a major fundraiser Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Sawmill in Virginia, the group’s first in northern Minnesota. Albert also has been trained to deal with crisis calls from veterans who contact the group needing more than a fishing trip.

“Not only do I get to help myself, but I have the honor of helping others that may struggle with similar issues that I have experienced,” Albert noted. “It truly is therapy as soon as a group gets together at one of the events. It’s like being a teacher of a second grade class. You can’t make them be quiet, they never stop talking with each other, and that is a good thing.”

Minnesota-based Hometown Heroes Outdoors sprouted in 2017 in Stillwater, Minnesota, as a 401(c)3 nonprofit after several of its founders walked away from another veterans support

organization that they felt wasn’t fulfilling its mission properly. Since then Hometown Heroes Outdoors has offered nearly 2,200 outdoor excursions — all of them free — to more than 3,000 people in 26 states, including Wisconsin, North Dakota and Iowa.

was walleye fishing off Sturgeon Bay.

It’s not the first effort to get veterans outdoors. Charter captains on Lake Superior and fishing guides on Lake Vermilion have held day events for veterans for years. And there are summer trips to veteranthemed resorts in Minnesota, too. But Hometown Heroes Outdoors wants to be statewide, nationwide and yearlong.

The group depends on donations, fundraisers and in-kind contributions to cover the costs of the trips.

Participants in a Hometown Heroes Outdoors pheasant hunting trip gather for a group photo after the hunt. The Minnesota-based group now has chapters in 26 states offering veterans, active duty military and police officers free trips outdoors. Contributed / Hometown Heroes Outdoors

“We’re going to top 1,200 people on trips this year, probably 1,500,” said Chris Tetrault, a co-founder and vice president of the organization.

In Minnesota, the trips have included horseback riding, ice fishing, summer fishing, bird hunting and more. In North Dakota, the chapter took veterans out goose hunting and fishing for big catfish. The Colorado chapter went kayaking recently on the Colorado River. In Wisconsin, it

“Nobody makes a dime off Hometown Heroes Outdoors. It’s all volunteer work. All the money we raise goes back into trips for veterans,” said Tetrault, who has a full-time job and a family of 9 in addition to his position with Hometown Heroes Outdoors.

Tetrault was born in Texas but has deep roots in Minnesota and North Dakota. At age 16, he became an Eagle Scout and soon after joined the Minnesota Army National Guard. He deployed to Bosnia in 2003 and Iraq in 2005. He’s now a Minnesota conservation officer stationed in Maplewood, just east of St. Paul, along the St. Croix River.

“Personally, I don’t have the serious issues a lot of the people we serve are dealing with. ... But I know enough who do and I felt I needed to get involved to help where I could,” he said.

continued FROM page 39

He noted that active law enforcement officers have some of the same issues as combat veterans.

“We have to go to these tragic scenes and events one minute and then go home to the kid’s birthday party and pretend nothing happened,” he said.

Albert said he hopes the group can expand soon to include firefighters and all first responders with issues.

Getting people outdoors fishing, backpacking, snowmobiling, foraging, riding ATVs, “all of those activities get people out of their house, out of their funk and joined with other veterans suffering similar issues,” Tetrault noted.

of WORKMANSHIP through PRECISIONMANUFACTURING

“Part of it is just getting outdoors,” Tetrault noted. “But they also connect with people who have similar stories, similar issues. You can watch them interact on these trips and see them smile and know it’s doing good.”

For more information on Hometown Heroes Outdoors, go to hometownheroesoutdoors.org.

reports on the outdoors, natural resources and the environment for the Duluth News Tribune. You can reach him at jmyers@duluthnews.com.

Today we pause to honor the brave men and women who have made great sacrifice to protect our families, our country, and our freedom.

JOHN MYERS

Chris Tetrault, a Minnesota conservation officer in his day job, is co-founder of the nonprofit Hometown Heroes Outdoors. Contributed / Chris Tetrault

"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."

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“Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.”

Harry Truman