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By John Higgins, PEO IEW&S Public Affairs
Every year the Army Celebrates its Birthday. With every generation, the Army is reborn. New Soldiers join, old Soldiers retire. This year, members of Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEW&S) decided to take their festivities off their home base of Aberdeen Proving Ground and celebrate with Veterans at the Perry Point Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Maj. Gen. Kirk F. Vollmecke, the Program Executive Officer for IEW&S, always tries to shake as many hands as he can at any given event, but especially around those veterans whose service preceded his.
As part of the celebration, Paul Williams, a 93-year-old Army veteran or “the oldest” joined Capt. Drew S. Hines, “the youngest” at 32, combined their grip to cut a cake with a saber in honor of the Army’s birthday. This symbolizes bringing generations together for a common purpose.
Vollmecke quoted George Washington, saying “the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.”
“I can truly say that being in this room today surrounded by the hero veterans, those that care for them and of course our team from PEO IEW&S you have set the bar upon which our young men and women continue to strive to achieve as they continue to volunteer to join our ranks every day.” Vollmecke said.
To that end, Vollmecke and over 20 volunteers, walked across the Medical Campus and brought the veterans to the gym where PEO IEW&S personnel setup static displays of some equipment and demonstrations of others, and even had a Husky Mounted Detection System in the parking lot. The event served as an opportunity for veterans to gain an insight into the high-tech systems currently being used by Soldiers.
Members of the PEO distributed cake and ice cream to almost 100 veterans who had gathered in the gym as a small gesture to their service.
Later that same day, Col. Edward Swanson, the Chief of Staff for PEO IEW&S and Col. Robert Collins, Project Manager for Distributed Common Ground System – Army (DCGS-A) visited with veterans who couldn’t attend to the cake cutting event. The colonels distributed hats to the veterans that were provided by the Department of Veterans Administrator.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]