WAYNE CASEBEER

Original publish date: March-April 2020

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Where is he now?

United States Marine Corps Veteran Wayne Casebeer’s story was recently published in the March/April 2020 issue of The Good Life.

In the past few months, Casebeer has sought to develop a greater leadership role within the community. He was reelected as Junior Officer Surgeon of the West Fargo VFW Post 7564 and officially became active as Color Guard Commander for the organization.

Casebeer has also been heavily involved with The Cooties Pack Rat 8, an association of the WF VFW that raised over $70,000 in 2019 to support cancer research. He was elected as Junior Officer Surgeon for the organization. Additionally, Casebeer was reelected as Senior Vice for Red River Raiders.

His dog, Dan Daly, is now fully grown. Dan can often be seen outside walking with his family and has won the hearts of his neighbors.

WAYNE CASEBEER Leading Quietly, Responsibly, and Sincerely

WRITTEN BY: ALEXIS SWENSON

Thirty-one-year-old Wayne Casebeer first joined the United States Marine Corps in part to honor the family legacy of serving his country and in part due to his competitive nature.

"I come from a Navy family. My sister and I are very competitive. She went into the Army and I wanted to do something a bit more to compete with that, so I went into the Marine Corps. Ultimately, neither of us went into the Navy," said Casebeer.

After graduating from high school in Alexandria, MN, Casebeer enlisted with the US Marine Corps where he completed 5 years of active duty followed by a couple of years in the Marine Forces Reserves. He served in Twentynine Palms, CA, Al Ambar Province Iraq, the reserve station in New Orleans, LA, and the reserve station in Minneapolis, MN. During active duty, Casebeer's role was in Communications and he was attached to an artillery battalion.

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY: WAYNE CASEBEER

"They were using radios to do communications between different units in the Marine Corps which is extremely inefficient. Our goal was to bring the internet to artillery because we needed a way to coordinate fire. My five years were spent modernizing artillery. I went from high school to leading men in combat and that was pretty cool," said Casebeer.

Aside from the sheer excitement of firing guns, Casebeer appreciated the incredible amount of things he learned in a small amount of time. "It wasn't just working on computers. You have to know how to fire machine guns, fire artillery, haul artillery, drive vehicles, how to load things on vehicles, how to eat, how to feed people, and more," said Casebeer.

Above all else, the people were the most memorable for Casebeer. "I made a whole family. There were 15 of us that stuck together the whole time. When my battalion deployed, they split

us into mini 15 man teams and sent us out. We drove around Iraq for 9 months, just 15 of us, it was great. They were from all walks of life and we're still close today," said Casebeer.

Red River Raiders

Roughly three years ago Casebeer helped to establish Red River Raiders, a nonprofit organization and charter for the Marine Corps League, a congressionally recognized organization to serve Marines. In a similar vein, Red River Raiders has a mission of providing assistance to fellow Marines or disabled veterans.

Red River Raiders supports people in a number of ways including fundraising for Toys for Tots, providing a small detachment for a Color Guard hosted by Casebeer, and assisting with fabric and sewing blankets for Project HART. Project HART is a transitional housing program that provides basic needs, case management, and employment services to homeless veterans to assist them in overcoming their barriers to permanent housing so they can live the life that they deserve.

Additionally, Red River Raiders is heavily involved in assisting with the Homeward Vets program. Homeward Vets is primarily administered by the West Fargo VFW while the Marine Corps League provides the manual labor for the program. Typically, the Fargo Veteran Affairs Health Care System identifies a Marine that needs an apartment, provides funding, and sets the individual up with keys for the space. The Red River Raiders' goal is that the day the veteran receives the key, the organization brings a bed, couch, and other furnishings into the apartment.

"Essentially, a person goes from being a disabled homeless veteran to being a veteran with a home that is fully furnished - in the same day. We've been nailing it. We've done very, very well and helped about 60 veterans last year," said Casebeer.

Red River Raiders also hosts the Marine Corps Ball to celebrate their November 10th birthday. "This year we're hosting the event on November 7th in Fargo. It's going to be a formal event so we'll get dressed up in our tuxedos and get the gals nice dresses. It's just going to be really fun," said Casebeer.

PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY: WAYNE CASEBEER

A Homeward Vet move that was done by the Marine Corps League last year in the middle of a blizzard.

For Casebeer, a favorite part of his volunteer work is simply working with other veterans. "It's so easy to work with other veterans. It's not difficult to work with other people, but the difference is a language barrier. So, somebody who might speak broken English - it's not hard to have a conversation with them, but it's not going to be as efficient as having a conversation with somebody you grew up with and that is family. You have your own lingo and your own way of working together. With veterans, it's like working with a family member. You can get mad, you can get upset, but you're going to accomplish whatever you're trying to do," said Casebeer.

West Fargo VFW

Casebeer also is a member of Color Guard for the West Fargo VFW. A sizable group of nearly 40 people are on standby for the group. Casebeer is currently training to take over the position as Color Guard Commander where he will step into greater responsibilities. "It's going to be a lot more work, but I am looking forward to it. It is a commitment with my working multiple jobs, but it should be good," said Casebeer.

Duties of the Commander include coordinating with funeral homes, the National Cemetery, and other veterans organizations depending upon which organization is leading the event. Furthermore, the Commander serves as the point of contact in coordinating for Moorhead, Fargo, and West Fargo ceremonies for various Veterans holidays.

For 2020, Casebeer's goal is to help maintain each organization he's involved with. "It's very hard to recruit folks into nonprofit organizations. I like programs that give you immediate gratification because once folks are in and are able to actually get that gratification it makes all the difference. If they're sitting on their hands, they're not going to want to do it anymore. So, putting veterans to work for veterans is a goal that I want to maintain. If we do and are able to attain new membership, that's what's going to keep them as members. That's my primary goal for all the organizations I'm a part of - motivating people enough to stay," said Casebeer.

Life Lately

Casebeer landed in West Fargo, ND to be close to the USMC Reserve station in Wahpeton, ND after being given a choice of Wisconsin or North Dakota. Since Wisconsin was too close to Minneapolis, Casebeer opted for North Dakota. "North Dakota worked out really well; the people are fantastic. I've kind of decided to settle down here," said Casebeer.

Casebeer currently works full time at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota on a small team in cybersecurity and risk management. "Blue Cross Blue Shield has an excellent volunteer program and the leadership there is fantastic. Without working there, I wouldn't be able to do any of the volunteer work I do. They're awesome. The work is great too. Our primary role is to do risk management for IT systems and security systems overall. It's pretty dynamic and you need to be pretty intelligent to do it," said Casebeer.

Casebeer was selected by Northern Lights Council, Boy Scouts of America in 2019 to receive the Andrew P. Nelson Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service. This award recognizes everyday heroes who quietly make a difference in our community in the way that they work, volunteer, and make life better for others.

Outside of his full-time job at Blue Cross Blue Shield and volunteering with various veterans organizations, Casebeer enjoys spending time with his toddler daughter. "I have a daughter named Kahlan; she's great. She's a little redhead. It's miserable outside now, but in the summer we like to go to parks and hang out and play," said Casebeer.

In any free time he has left Casebeer trains his 40lb dalmatian puppy, Dan Daly, named after an infamous Marine. "I love my dalmatian. He's one of the best animals there is. Dan Daly was a Sergeant Major in the US Marine Corps and was awarded two medals of honor. He fought in three different wars and received medals of honor from two different wars. It's a fantastic name," said Casebeer.

The Good Life

A testament to the type of life Casebeer strives to live can be seen in how he was selected by Northern Lights Council, Boy Scouts of America in 2019 to receive the Andrew P. Nelson Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service. This award recognizes everyday heroes who quietly make a difference in our community in the way that they work, volunteer, and make life better for others.

"The good life is mostly helping other people. That's my driving force for everything. A good life for me is to be a responsible leader and also to have people accept me as a leader. Being a responsible leader is to have a goal, set out to accomplish that goal, accomplish that goal, and then be able to measure it. I can see that in the work that I do - people are waiting on me to tell them what to do, especially for the Homeward Vets program. I've got nine people on standby. We all collaborate and work together; we're all effective leaders," said Casebeer. •