Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Sgt. Peter Tuinei-Flora, an automations noncommissioned officer with 69th Air Defense...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas – When Sgt. Peter Tuinei-Flora, an automations noncommissioned officer with 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, volunteered to coach his son’s flag football team last October, he realized he would need some help.
He reached out to fellow Soldiers in Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 69th ADA Bde., and received several volunteers.
Since the Soldiers volunteered and dedicated over 500 hours of volunteer work combined over the season, Tuinei-Flora submitted the Soldiers in the group for the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (MOVSM).
Tuinei-Flora and the volunteers received the Military Outstanding Volunteer Medal June 8, here, for their outstanding volunteer community service.
Staff Sgt. Rondell Taiste, the 69th ADA Bde. legal noncommissioned officer in charge, was one of the volunteers. After being diagnosed with cancer at 17, Taiste said he spent a lot of time around children in the hospital. Once he went into remission, he spoke to children with cancer and that made him want to continue to help kids in any way that he could, he said.
“We’ve got to start from the bottom, so we can have successful, productive human beings when they get older,” Taiste said. “You can just watch the news and see that kids need positive role models in their lives.”
Tuinei-Flora said he originally volunteered because he wanted to make sure the children on the team had structure to learn how to play the game, but he got more than he expected.
“It’s a huge challenge because you don’t know how every child is and you don’t know every parenting style of every parent,” Tuinei-Flora explained.
Coaching and mentoring the community team required similar skills as being a leader in the military, he said.
“You have to adjust yourself to the level that they’re at and you have to adjust your training to their level,” said Tuinei-Flora.
Taiste said the volunteer activity gave him the opportunity not just to serve as a role model for the children on the team and for other Soldiers, but to build a connection with the surrounding community.
“If they see Soldiers out there, knowing that they’re coming off work … (and coming) to practice to help the kids, the people in the community see that too,” Taiste explained, adding that sometimes he would show up to practices in uniform because he went straight from work to the field.
During the season, the Soldiers held meetings to discuss plays, schedules, and training plans. They spent time coaching and teaching the children and forming a bond with them.
“I believe that there were plenty of kids and parents who were moved by it (and) they felt the genuine feeling we all had behind it,” Tuinei-Flora explained.
One of the things that Taiste took away from his volunteer time was a deeper appreciation for his own son’s childhood, he said.
Though his son, Elijah, is only 1-year-old, Taiste said he sees the value in letting him participate in community sports when he is older.
“I’d want (my son) to participate because it’s good for team-building and to get you to interact with other people your age,” Taiste explained.
While none of the Soldiers volunteered to help the team with the intention of receiving an award, that is exactly why Tuinei-Flora chose to submit the volunteers for it, he said.
“They went above and beyond what I even asked them for,” he said.
Tuinei-Flora said now the Soldiers have an award to recognize the work they did and when they wear the award on their uniforms, they can remember the teamwork and good memories behind it.
| Date Taken: | 06.08.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.14.2015 12:17 |
| Story ID: | 169978 |
| Location: | KILLEEN, TX, US |
| Hometown: | AIEA, HI, US |
| Hometown: | MIAMI, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 82 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 69th ADA Soldiers earn volunteer medal, by Kimberly Hackbarth, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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