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“We need oatmeal – and boxed cereal,” shouted Inkyung Walker, of Lacey, to a man heading to the back room.
After 14 years in the Marines, Walker isn’t a stranger to giving orders. Then again, neither was the majority of the volunteers at the Thurston County Food Bank on Wednesday.
Most were members of the Veterans Corps, a branch of AmeriCorps, working alongside students from The Evergreen State College. Their mission: fill bags of food for the hundreds of children in need throughout the county.
It was the college’s Center for Community-Based Learning’s first push at celebrating Veterans Day with a day of service “instead of just another day off,” said program director Ellen Shortt Sanchez.
The group of about 20 volunteers lined either side of a long table, adding macaroni and cheese, oatmeal, cereal and other supplies to bags. It wasn’t hard to pick out which volunteers had a military background.
“We need a restock on snacks!” shouted Veterans Corps volunteer Rafael Rodriguez. “And crackers!”
Active-duty military and veterans make up 8 percent of the food bank’s clientele. A handful of volunteers stocked donated goods, knowing that the next can or box of food could end up in the pantry of a fellow veteran.
VETERANS HELPING VETERANS
The Veterans Corps began nearly four years ago, one of five corps created under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.
Washington was the first state to start a Veterans Corps group that focuses on helping veterans make the transition to civilian life. Corps members serve two-year stints, receiving an annual $12,100 stipend in addition to a $5,500 education award after serving 1,700 hours. The education award can be put toward tuition or student-loan debt.
Volunteers participate in community activities such as the volunteer day at the Thurston County Food Bank. But the biggest priority is veteran transition.
“The main focus is peer-to-peer mentoring,” said Mark Fisher, outgoing Veteran Corps manager. “That is the big ticket item for us.”
Last year’s 100 Vets Corps members helped 7,100 active-duty service members with the transition throughout Washington, Fisher said.
Fisher started the program but is about to turn the reins over to a veteran who was, in a sense, saved by the program.
COPING WITH COMING HOME
In his mind, Jason Alves was not a veteran.
The Tri-Cities native spent four years deployed in Yokosuka, Japan, aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, where he spent six months out of the year at sea working as an aviation electrician on fighter jets.
A fresh-faced high school graduate, Alves joined the military because “it was the right thing to do.”
The Air Force was his first choice, but the recruiting office was closed during his scheduled appointment. On his way back to his car, Alves bumped into a Navy recruiter taking a smoke break. The two spoke, and Alves ended up enlisting a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.
During his time in Japan, he and his fellow shipmates supported U.S. efforts in the Iraq War by going from port to port throughout Southeast Asia.
Alves has never seen the front lines.
“I am not a combat veteran and never served boots on the ground, so I was of the thought when I got back, I was not a veteran,” Alves said.
That way of thinking made it difficult for Alves to be proud of his service.
At times, he wouldn’t even acknowledge it.
Alves believed his best option was to go back to the Tri-Cities, pursue a college degree and get back to his normal life, the one he lived before he deployed.
“I was no longer in the Navy, and didn’t consider myself a vet. I just wanted to be ‘Jason’ again,” Alves said.
Alves soon realized life didn’t halt in his absence.
“The Tri-Cities changed; it changed in different ways,” Alves said. “It changed without me.”
MEETING OTHER VETS
He began to isolate himself from his family and chose to leave town. His initial plan was to drive to California, but that plan changed – much like his recruitment into the military – and Alves instead decided to attend Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Alves felt like his life was out of his control.
“When I was in (the Navy), I was the king of the hill – I was in charge of this many people, this rank and stuff like that,” Alves said. “I came back and now I’m just some other boob on the street.”
But his decision to go to school changed his life. He ran into a group of veterans at Oregon State who taught him something he was unable to learn on his own.
After speaking with a variety of veterans, including those who had served in combat, he realized they all had similar difficulties with the transition home.
“The common experience broke down that first barrier, which was my biggest barrier,” Alves said. “I didn’t think I was a vet, and I didn’t think I deserved those services – that whatever I needed to work out, I needed to work out on my own and figure out on my own because it wasn’t vet stuff.”
The newfound acceptance inspired Alves to join Vets Corps. He served two years back in his home town.
He also got noticed by Fisher, who selected Alves to replace him as coordinator of the program. The two will work side by side over the next few months.
Alves has jumped in with both feet and often finds himself in the middle of numerous projects, including the volunteer work at the food bank Wednesday.
He spends much of his time traveling around the state, visiting colleges and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, checking in on vets and other Vets Corps members, such as Walker.
‘YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN’
Walker, a 34-year-old Lacey resident, recently was discharged from the Marines after a 14-year career. The decision to separate was unplanned and out of her control.
Walker loved being a Marine. She was inspired to join by her father, a Vietnam War vet who served in the Army and Navy. When it came to enlisting, it was the Marine dress blues and the challenge that persuaded her to sign up.
Though most of her service was in the United States, she also spent time in Korea as a translator.
“It wasn’t easy,” Walker said. “As a female, we do the same training as males do. There were multiple times I wanted to quit, but I had this desire to keep going.”
Her love for the military extended to her husband, Alexander, an Army soldier currently deployed in Afghanistan. The couple have three children ages 13, 6 and 2.
She was pregnant with her youngest son when she was discharged. After getting passed over for a promotion, Walker became depressed.
“It was a bad predicament, but I got myself out of it with counseling,” Walker said.
She joined the Vet Corps, and now works with veterans at Lewis-McChord.
“I let them know counseling is not a bad thing,” Walker said. “I want them to know they are not forgotten, that I have been there.”
Chelsea Krotzer: 360-754-5476
ckrotzer@theolympian.com
theolympian.com/thisjustin
@chelseakrotzer
