by Fred Hernandez, Reporter

He hails from Bellingham, Washington, where he was born forty seven years ago. Right after high school John Carroll joined the Marine Corp. (Infantry) and served from 1994 to 1998 in his first go around. Following a short stint in private life he decided to re-enlist in the Army as a result of September 11, the modern version of “a day of infamy” to quote the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On this second round he served from 2001 to 2016 retiring as an E-7 Sergeant First Class after two tours in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan. Once out of the service he and his wife of seventeen years, Rae, decided they would do some travelling. They sold everything, bought a trailer and happily took to the open highway. After some time on the road, they decided they needed to have a “home base”. At the invitation of a good friend, a realtor living in Colorado Springs, they decided to visit. Although they had passed through many times while stationed in Oklahoma, they had not really known the area well enough. Once in the Springs, they would go on sorties to various rural areas just “looking around”, until that is, they found Custer County “by accident”. In Custer they met a gentleman by the name of Gil Costello who immediately, upon learning John was a veteran, suggested he join the Legion Post # 170 of which Gil was a bona fide member. John and Gil hit it off and became good friends. One thing led to another and when John and Rae decided they wanted to settle in Custer County they bought property from Gil to build their home. With that decision made, John joined the Legion. Talk about being in the right place at the right time, not long after he joined, there was to be a change in the Legions Command and with no one else stepping up. John did so and was appointed Commander of Legion Post #170. That was nine months ago. In the meantime, the former VSO officer Tim Swartz left his post for medical reasons and was relieved by Mr. Roger Watkins from the VSO in Walsenberg, who served as interim VSO officer. Roger was one of the three members of a search team, along with Commissioner Tom Flower and Ms. Dawna Hobby, seeking to identify a permanent Chief for the VSO. Once again, John’s name came up. Qualified, with youthful energy and a deep love for veterans, John made it and is now concurrently the top man in both the VSO and the Legion Post #170. John brings to his new responsibilities an attitude that is plainly positive. His vision is to unite all veterans services, activities and entities in one main center that provides cohesive, complete and top of the line services for all veterans affairs. According to John, “I’ve never been more involved in a community before.” It promises to be a busy summer as John prepares to take over. As Roger reminded him on his first day last week, there is the Annual Conference of VSOs in Denver for his accreditation in the Colorado Division of Veterans Affairs. He also will be attending the Annual Conference of the National Association of County Veterans Offices for accreditation in that organization. He is encouraged, as well, to work towards becoming a registered agent with the Veterans Administration to be in the best position to assist veterans in their appeals process. Not the type to waste any time, John has already started a service for disabled and senior veterans who during the winter months are unable to plow snow from their driveways. Identifying the dire need John immediately organized a GoFundMe page on the internet and in short order accumulated the amount needed to buy the plow. In the meantime, his wife Rae, also service oriented, is the Chief Cook and coordinator at the Senior Center where meals are served and where Meals on Wheels are prepared for distribution to the community. It was a blessed day indeed when the Carroll’s found Custer “by accident”. Welcome to Custer County and God bless you for all you do.

The VSO has a new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Custer-County-Colorado-Veterans-Page-306754003348387/about/