Once An Airman, Always An Airman Some Airmen May Retire but They Find Ways to Serve

Retired Brig. Gen. Keith B. Connolly flew more than 170 combat missions as a Vietnam War-era pilot. He found a different mission after retiring from his 34-year Air Force career--meeting the needs of fellow veterans and their families in the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., retiree community. The general attacks his new mission with the same relish he had as both a pilot and commander.

"The bottom line is I love it for the same reason we get volunteers," he said. "People love the Air Force and they want to give something back. It amazes me, but it's also the reason I'm doing what I'm doing. We've had to move five times before we got our own building, but now we have a place where we can bring people in and tell them this is our home and this is what we can do for you."

Air Force retiree activities offices work as a liaison between the active-duty elements on base and the retiree communities. They provide retirees with information and services, as well as a volunteer resource for the base. During the 20 years General Connolly has directed the Retired Activities Office at the base in Tucson, he's seen the RAO progress from one desk in one room to a building dedicated solely to retiree activities. Before he retired in July 1990, General Connolly was the 5th Air Force vice commander at Yokota Air Base, Japan. He also commanded the 313th Air Division at Kadena Air Base and was the Pacific Air Forces inspector general. After his retirement in 1990, General Connolly began serving the Davis-Monthan retiree community. In 2000, he added Arizona and New Mexico into his service area as the Air Force Retiree Council representative.

Like many other veterans who find ways to give back to their service in retirement, General Connolly has the philosophy of "Once an Airman, Always an Airman." Although RAO also has volunteers who are both Army and Marine Corps veterans, the staff members share the general's philosophy.

One RAO volunteer is likely the first person veterans see when they visit the office or the voice they hear on the telephone. Thirty-four years after he retired as commander of the 355th Wing, retired Col. Bill Hosmer is back at Davis-Monthan as an RAO volunteer. Like the general, Colonel Hosmer finds his new mission as satisfying as his active-duty career.

"When you're a commander, the people are so important, and this is still dealing with people," Colonel Hosmer said. "You have to be able to deal with people who need help and people who can give help and how to get them together and on the right frequency. I'm doing the same thing now, except it's more on an eyeball-to-eyeball level, and not as an authoritative figure.

"Our philosophy is to never say I don't know," Colonel Hosmer said. "I tell them to give me their phone number and I'll get the answer to them before I leave today. My goal is to get them the answer they need."

To demonstrate the reason for the RAO, Connolly tells a story that received considerable negative publicity in the Tucson media. An Air Force widow tried to get information on her entitlements after the death of her husband, but was unable to get any answers or suggestions to point her in the right direction to get the support she needed.

"If you hear just one of these stories, then you know why we're here," Connolly said. "Our retirees deserve more than what we've been giving them. We take care of the retirees and try to make sure they get all of their entitlements. The unfortunate thing is you get nothing if you're not aware of entitlements or don't apply for them. That's a shame because there are a lot of veterans out there who are in need and entitled to a lot of things, but haven't applied for them."

Almost 150 volunteers work out of Davis-Monthan's RAO weekly, with the average volunteer putting in an average of more than 20 hours a week. They work in a variety of places on base, including the hospital, pharmacy and security forces visitor center.

"That's really important on this base because of deployments," General Connolly said. "The (A-10 Thunderbolt II and C-130 Hercules) are gone all of the time, so we really have a fast beat here. There's a real need for volunteers. We've very fortunate here because success tends to breed success. When somebody is happy as a volunteer, they'll get a friend involved and get them to volunteer."

One of the biggest challenges involves placing the right volunteer in the right job. RAO volunteers work in positions ranging from filling prescriptions at the base pharmacy to visitors, passes at the front gate. RAO staff members check backgrounds of volunteers and make sure they're putting them in a position that fits both their own personalities and their responsibilities.

"Not everyone can do each one of the normal jobs the Air Force needs us to do," General Connolly said. "It takes a special person to help people get passes to the base at the front gate. You have to have a special kind of personality to be in that job. We don't just have people answering telephones. We have people working with computers and in technical fields because the Air Force is stretched so thin with the number of deployments we have here. I can't just put someone in a particular job without knowing a little bit about that person. The bottom line is we try to get the right volunteer for the right job."

RAO volunteers inform veterans and families on military benefits, Reservist retirement benefit, retirement pay and Veterans Affairs burial benefits for retirees. The office also has someone to help with tax returns and estate planning.

Skip Barkley retired from the Army and has been the RAO's Voluntary Income Tax Assistance on-site coordinator since 2001. VITA uses retiree volunteers to help elderly, disabled, limited English-speaking and Native American taxpayers, but the RAO can provide tax assistance for all active and retired military members. Almost 30 RAO tax preparers electronically submit 3,000 federal returns and 3,000 state returns through the office's VITA program annually. All volunteers are certified and tested annually by the IRS, Barkley said.

Barkley explained VITA began with a retiree who convinced the SJA Agency that he could start a program using strictly retirees and would serve not only retirees, but also the military community.

"The two things that make us unique are we are all retirees, therefore we have a high level of expertise because we have continuity," Barkley said. "Secondly, we're capable of preparing returns for all states in the union that tax military or civilian taxpayers. There's probably no better reward than sitting back and looking at a young lady or young man and realizing that they can have confidence in these people to file a competent return and get the best value in their return. We get them the maximum amount of money back."

Controlling rumors and getting facts to retirees is another aspect of the RAO mission. The most persistent rumors recently concerned the health care bill, with many questions from veterans worried about losing their medical benefits.

"I insist that we get them the factual word and not the rumor because there are already too many rumors out there and they really impact some of our senior citizens," General Connolly said. "You can't imagine what it's like for a widow living on the margin, with just Social Security and maybe a small retirement. She's already having to make choices between paying for her medication or her rent, and then she hears something might be taken from her. Even if it's just a threat, it's not a pleasant thing to go through. It's really an unfortunate set of circumstances because our people deserve better. They've given more, so they deserve more, and hopefully, that's what our office is all about."

When Derick Rogers retired as a master sergeant from the Army after more than 21 years on active duty, he found completing VA claims forms difficult. His job now as a benefits counselor for the state of Arizona is to help fellow veterans with the process of making their own claims and understanding their federal and state benefits. He spent much of his Army career as a communications engineer, but is proud of his new mission as a retiree, especially in serving the veteran as an advocate with the VA.

"Coming from dealing with antennas and radios in the field to sitting down on the counseling side of the house was really different," Rogers said. "But it's a great feeling because, as veterans, we've made a lot of sacrifices and the military is a serious wear and tear on your body. So when a veteran comes in here and I can help him or her receive educational, medical or financial benefits, it's a good feeling because I know I didn't have anyone there to help me. They know I can empathize with them. One of the first things I tell them is I'm a military veteran as well as a retiree, so I've gone through all of these processes you guys are going through. I have a little bit more insight and personal interest, as opposed to someone who's never been in the military."

Unlike Army retiree activities staff members, the Air Force program is completely unpaid.

"The good news is you get all of the overtime you want," General Connolly said. "That's what's kept me in it for so many years."

Whether the volunteer greets people at the door or helps retirees complete tax returns, the philosophy is the same--to answer questions and help veterans and their families receive what they're entitled. They often share a bond with the people they're helping because they served in the same military and have already been through the process of retirement.

"The biggest thing to me is we add the personal touch to it," Rogers said. "We build a rapport with everyone we deal with. Even though I have hundreds and hundreds of clients, as soon as they walk out that door, I remember the face and I remember their story. I'm able to help them even more because we have a personal relationship."