Retired volunteers supply support to base organizations

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Matthew Hubby
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  There is an office on Dover Air Force Base that does quite a lot of work for the local community and base; they provide guidance and answer questions that retirees have, and assist in the daily work of many other base programs and organizations. This office is the Retirees Affairs office, located in Building 520.

This office is run by volunteers who dedicate their time to taking care of those who have retired from the military. They answer questions, and coordinate with retirees to get them the answers to questions that they might not know off-hand. They take care of all the retirees in the Dover area and a few outside of it as well.

What drives these volunteers to assist the retirees? Most of them are retirees themselves, and for some, it is a matter of pride and giving something back to their service.

"I had a good career in the Air Force and liked what I did," said Lt. Col. (ret.) Chris Crooker, Retiree Volunteer information coordinator. "When I retired, I wanted to pay back the branch of the service that did well by me, I was committed to helping other retirees out, I think for most, if not all of us, that's the reason we volunteer."

The Retiree Affairs Office provides one service which is quite valuable, it is a repository of every possible office that a retiree might need to speak to, and all of that information is in the Retiree Affairs Information book, which the volunteers use to help direct retirees to where they might need to go, should they not know the answer to their question.

There are 147 volunteers at the RAO, and they volunteer at the United Service Organization, Air Mobility Command Museum, the 436th Medical Group pharmacy, the 436th MG lab, the base legal office and Fitness Center. These volunteers do so much work, but they are still in need of help.

"We could always use more volunteers," said Master Sgt. (ret.) William Oldham, Retiree Activity director. "Especially at the USO and the museum, we would love to see more retirees or their dependants come and work with us and help out Dover to be a better base."

In order to become a retiree volunteer, a member must first be a retiree or the dependant of one. Then they must go to Building 520, room 105, and speak with the Retiree Activity Office, there they fill out a form and are then introduced to where they will be volunteering, where they will have to fulfill any additional training they might need.

"We only ask for four hours a week of our volunteer's time," said Mr. Oldham. "Every year, we have a Retiree Appreciation Day, usually at the end of March or beginning of April, and about 30 different services and organizations come and chat with the retirees about what they can offer them. We also print out a yearly newsletter around that time. We also hold monthly meetings for our retirees to talk about what's going on around base."