President John called the membership to order a few minutes past noon. In recognition of the upcoming 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11th, Army Junior ROTC cadets presented the colors followed by the invocation by Dr Dave Hartman. Stacie Cook then led us in the pledge and singing of “America” (also known as “My Country, 'Tis of Thee”).
Afterward we greeted our fellow members in our usual fashion and introduced the visiting guests for the week. Dave Hartman introduced Wichita Falls Chief of Police, Manuel Borrego, as his guest and Norris Martin introduced Wichita Falls ISD Superintendent, Dr Donny Lee.
We had no birthdays for the week and for the Sunshine Report President John reflected on the Georgia school shooting earlier in the week and asked the membership to keep those affected families in their thoughts and prayers.
For announcements, John reminded us that the club will be putting out flags next Wednesday in remembrance of 9/11. He also announced that next week we will have an In-Service Meeting instead of our usual luncheon meeting. The club will meet at the Wichita Falls Humane Society at 4360 Old Iowa Park Road to help with the shelter animals. Members were also reminded that if they wanted to bring donations of food for the animals that the shelter uses the Pedigree brand of pet food. Finally, John announced the Military Affairs Committee would have a short meeting following today’s membership meeting.
Stacie then came around with the Brag Bucket and garnered several boasts from the members. Will reminded everyone that today is Texoma Give’s Day and announced that Habitat For Humanity had received the Saddle-Up Prize for the most donors during a single hour, Carla highlighted nephew, David’s dog who she loves to spoil, and Lisa then bragged on Bryson Whitaker’s son, Cody, who won the “Mutton Busting Contest” during the city’s recent rodeo events. Then before retiring the brag bucket for the day, Stacie highlighted the continued improvement her son, Andrew, has made in his Cross-Country events.
President John then had Noros Martin come forward with his guest Dr Donny Lee, to induct him as a new member into the club. Welcome Donny!
Josh Phillips then to the podium to present a donation to Jon Dearolf for the YMCA Miracle League. Jon thanked the club for the donation and indicated it will continue to help fund programs such as “I Can Bike”.
Will Goodner then had Josh stay at the podium as todays Member Spotlight. Josh was brought into the club by David Kelley in 2021 and within a few weeks had caught COVID and was hospitalized for 2 months. He reflected on his recovery and credits much of it to the nurses who cared for him while in the hospital at a time where so many did not recover. He also warned us that while he may not do it now, he used to do a mean “worm” across the dance floor in his earlier days.
Josh then asked Jon Dearolf to return to the podium to present todays program, “War on Terror”. Jon served in the Marines as a non-commissioned officer and later as an officer in the Army National Guard. He started his presentation timeline on 12 Oct 2000 with the attack on the USS Cole. At that time he was in the Marines and serving in an Air/Naval Gunfire Liaison Company. Marines assigned to these units coordinate and call in air strikes, artillery fires and naval gunfire for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. He deployed in the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) during this time and as OIF ramped up he related a quote by then-Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, “ You go to war with the army you have—not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
While in the Army Guard he participated in Operation Freedom Sentinel in 2016 which was the name given the mission that succeeded Operation Enduring Freedom in continuation of the war in Afghanistan.
His last deployment was as part of CJTF-HOA (Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa) where he served at Camp Lemonnier, Republic of Djibouti. The mission of the CJTF-HOA is to conduct operations in the Combined Joint Operations Area to enhance partner nation capacity, promote regional security and stability, dissuade conflict, and protect U.S. and coalition interests. While there he worked with the French and Uganda militaries.
Jon’s presentation included numerous photographs of his overseas service but his final photograph was that of the American Flag with three simple words, “Remember the Fallen”. It was a touching conclusion to the presentation in honor of those who’ve paid for the freedoms we often take for granted.
President John thanked Jon for his presentation and told him our usual speaker’s gift of a donation to the Wichita Falls ISD Foundation would be made in his name. Stacie then reminded the membership that Rotary Club is one of the organizations in the Texoma Gives campaign today and encouraged members to make donations to help Rotary Park. We then closed the meeting with the Four-Way Test.