Chief petty officers and chief selectees from Information Warfare Training Command (IWTC) San Diego visited veterans and aided the staff of the Veterans Home of California — Chula Vista, Aug 17. 

The community relations event offered an opportunity for the chiefs and chief selectees to thank the veterans for their service, while also providing an opportunity for experienced chiefs to impart a sense of duty and selflessness to each chief selectee.

"We respect and revere our veterans and enjoy taking advantage of the opportunity to serve them and learn from them about history and life through their experiences both on and off of active duty,” shared Senior Chief Intelligence Specialist Keith Wold, senior enlisted leader at IWTC San Diego.

While there, the chiefs and chief selectees cleaned debris out of flower beds, sorted through and organized various materials at the facility, and exchanged sea stories and laughs with the veterans.

“We were amazed at hearing the residents’ stories and felt a powerful connection to a shared sense of heritage,” said Chief Cryptologic Technician (Collection) Zachary Schulz.

The military service of the residents the chiefs and chief selectees interacted with ranges chronologically from World War II to Desert Storm.  Several residents shared they enjoyed simply having new people to talk to, since some do not receive many visitors.  Albert, a 99-year-old World War II veteran who was in boot camp when Pearl Harbor was attacked, shared his experience of being deployed to the Pacific theater two weeks after the attack. 

The Veterans Home of California — Chula Vista is the only veterans’ home located in coastal, urban Southern California.  It is a 400-bed continuing care retirement community that offers independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing care.

"I am extremely proud of the IWTC San Diego Chiefs Mess and chief selectees for getting out in the community and serving those who have gone before us,” said Cmdr. Errol Laumann, commanding officer of IWTC San Diego.

IWTC San Diego, as part of the Center for Information Warfare Training, provides a continuum of training to Navy and joint service personnel that prepares them to conduct information warfare across the full spectrum of military operations.

For more on IWTC San Diego, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ciwt/IWTCsandiego/, or find them on Facebook.

For more news from Center for Information Warfare Training organization, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/cid/, http://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ciwt/, http://www.facebook.com/NavyCIWT, or http://www.twitter.com/NavyCIWT.

Get more information about the Navy from US Navy Facebook or Twitter.

For more news from Center for Information Warfare Training, visit www.navy.mil/.