‘Ordinary people who make extraordinary sacrifices’![\"First](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/924450b83284ecd399f70b4af2c1a896.jpeg\"\/)
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First Sergeant (retired) Shirley Combass<\/p>\n
Shirley Combass is a reservist who served from 1986 to 2013 and retired with 27 years under her belt. She also worked for the Florida Department of Financial Services during part of that time and still does. She serves in volunteer roles for the American Legion and the Women Veterans Unite organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in the reserves taught me how to give back not only to the military but also to the communities,\u201d Combass says. \u201cReservists live two lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Service members come from every background, she says, but share \u201ca deep and abiding sense of duty. The public should know that service members are ordinary people who make extraordinary sacrifices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Combass should know, too. When she was ordered to do more pushups, she didn\u2019t mind because she knew it would make her stronger. She praises the mentors who pushed her, she says, because they wanted her to succeed.<\/p>\n
Combass says Veterans Day is a day of reflection and gratitude, the day she thinks of the soldiers she\u2019s led, the ones she\u2019s served with and the ones the country has lost.<\/p>\n
From a brush with Agent Orange to savoring freedom in all its forms<\/p>\n
Navy veteran John Folsom of Tallahassee completed the Navy\u2019s training requirements for positions as a company clerk, master-at-arms and\u00a0gunner\u2019s mate. He served on the USS Galveston off the coast of Vietnam.<\/p>\n
He was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam and is 60 percent disabled, using a cane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not too many days away from having to use a walker,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
![\"Chaplain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/d60383b33596c0c34ca82bb45220002e.jpeg\"\/)
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Chaplain John Folsom<\/p>\n
As a young man, he says, he was \u201ca rebellious kid,\u201d but the Navy helped straighten him out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe service in a way took the place of a parent,\u201d he says. \u201cThen I started to learn more respect for the people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Folsom worked as a postal worker in the city of Quincy for 30 years, and he\u2019s served in many roles as a veteran, including commander of Sauls-Bridges Post 13. Currently, he\u2019s the chaplain.<\/p>\n
He knows the American Legion Hall is sometimes rented to people who are, as Folsom puts it \u201con the opposite end of the spectrum\u201d politically from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a free country,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019ve got the right to say what they want to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
COMMANDER<\/p>\n
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Post Commander Dennis Hall<\/p>\n
Dennis Hall, who hails from Lake City, describes his hometown as \u201call red, white and blue\u2026 When our men and women went off to the service and came back, we had parties for \u2018em.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wanting to continue his college education, he joined the National Guard in 1966. He served in a unit of engineers, then transferred to an infantry unit in 1968.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoyed the camaraderie, so I re-enlisted,\u201d he says, and ended up staying more than 20 years. \u201cYou did things as a team\u2026 You felt you could count on one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall points proudly to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Navy veteran, and to Florida\u2019s many legislators who are veterans. He says the state\u2019s military strength brings considerable revenue into Florida.<\/p>\n
He says people are very proud of the military today.<\/p>\n
According to the Florida Department of Veteran\u2019s Affairs, \u201cFlorida is home to nearly 1.4 million veterans, and is proud to be the most military- and veteran-friendly state in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Operation Thank You’<\/p>\n
Veterans say the way to keep alive those who gave their all for their country is to remember them in ceremonies like Tuesday\u2019s \u2013 and to do more.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the American Legion provides legal services to veterans. Hall says volunteer attorneys help vets with matters such as making out a will or filing disability claims.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why local elected officials will dish out the eggs at the Veterans Day community breakfast on Tuesday morning in the American Legion Hall at Lake Ella.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the community breakfast, Operation Thank You, is free and open to the public from 6:30 to 9 a.m.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the Highway 59 Band played at the American Legion on Friday, Nov. 7, to raise funds for the Tallahassee Veterans Village, which provides transitional housing and support services to unhoused veterans to stabilize and prepare them for a life of independence.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Leon County maintains a Division of Veteran Services, which helps the county\u2019s veterans and their dependents secure all the benefits earned through their honorable military service. During Fiscal Year 2025, the division helped Leon veterans receive more than $40 million in benefits, and helped 20 vets receive emergency financial assistance.<\/p>\n
The breakfast, a joint event by the post and the Leon County Government, expects between 400 to 500 people to attend.<\/p>\n