FORT SILL, Okla.-- Fort Sill welcomed over 500 military retirees and their families for the annual Retiree Appreciation Days (RAD), a three-day event that began Sept. 18.
Activities kicked off with an open house, which welcomed visitors from across the region, some as far away as Little Rock, Ark., and southern Texas.
Coordinated by the Fort Sill Retirement Services Office, retired Lt. Col. Allen Shell, Fort Sill Retiree Council co-chair, said the event is recognized as "the biggest retiree appreciation event in the entire Army."
With approximately 29,000 retired military members in the Oklahoma-Arkansas area, RAD was a chance for many to return to a familiar place and find old friends.
One such couple, Mary Patchell and Leonard Cane, has attended the event for the 12 years they have been together. Local to the community, they said retiree days give them the chance to stay updated on their retiree benefits, learn new information concerning those benefits, and also to meet up with old friends.
Cane said, the biggest benefits of the open house are to, "keep my medical shots up to date, and when we need to talk to legal."
For Patchell, a widowed spouse of a retired veteran, the event helps her get new information that she wouldn't otherwise have access to.
Vendors from the Lawton-Fort Sill community catered to the retirees by offering information across a wide range of topics.
Mark Winburn, Fort Sill Retirement Services officer, said the vendors who come to the RAD open house are all about giving retirees access to services and programs they might typically not have access to.
"It could be anything from nutrition, medical issues, canes (for walking assistance), TRICARE, dental and flu shots. Retirees get so much information here, that when they leave here today they could sit down and read for days," said Winburn.
One vendor, Veterans of Foreign Wars Chapter 5263, helps connect retirees to VFW chapters worldwide in their home areas. Representative Don Fenter spoke briefly on the mission of the VFW at the RAD open house.
"We are providing information to the military active or retired and their families, about veterans benefits they need to know about. We talk about the importance of veterans organizations and ... why people should be a part of veterans organizations," said Fenter.
With over 1,000 active members of the Fort Sill chapter, the goal of VFW Chapter 5263 is to let veterans and their families know about the VFW. That goal also seeks to tell who they are, what they do and ways they can help retirees.
Medical benefits and screenings also provide a large benefit to the retiree community. Services provided by Reynolds Army Community Hospital during the open house included eye exams, flu shots and dental screenings. Spc. Reva Marie Wong and Staff Sgt. Julissa Torres, from Dental Activity, were on hand to offer oral cancer screenings as well as to help many newly retired military members with the transition process to their dental benefit status.
While at the open house, retirees could sign up for next-day activities.
Two tours were offered: one to the Fort Sill Museum and the Old Post Quadrangle and the other to the Holy City in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. After the tours, retirees could dine at the Staff Sgt. Juan Garcia Dining Facility.
"They will unload the busses and offer them the chance to go to lunch with active-duty Soldiers, because (the retirees) love talking to them," said Winburn.
The day ended with the retiree appreciation banquet at the Patriot Club where retirees were treated to a special performance by the 77th Army Band Bagpipers, "Costello's Own," and guest speaker Maj. Gen. John Rossi, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill commanding general.
"We couldn't do this without the support of the Fort Sill command team and the Lawton community," said Shell.
Rossi added a few touches of his own for the event that Shell and Winburn said made all the difference for the attendees. The location change to Rinehart Fitness Center offered ample space for better ease of access, free shuttle cart service assisted many to the location from far parking lots, and the tour busses were handicap accessible.
Going a step further, Winburn said, "this year, this is the first time we've ever done it, General Rossi is going to have a Combat Life Saver Soldier, who is a medic, ride in each of the busses in case there's any kind of problems with the retirees, then we've got an active-duty Soldier on board."
These small details, he said, help make the experience more enjoyable for those who attended.
To end the three days of activities, many retirees attended the Buffalo Burger Cookout, Sept. 20, hosted by Lawton Co-op and Fort Sill Morale, Welfare, and Recreation. Due to weather concerns, the cookout happened at Honeycutt Fitness Center.
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