2009 Retiree Appreciation Day on Post
2009-10-30 / Spectrum
Photos by Bonnie Heater ( Above) Members of Company B, 551st Signal Battalion, led by Staff Sgt. Darron Doren, perform precision drills in the rain during the opening ceremony for the 2009 Fort Gordon Military Retiree Appreciation Day held Oct. 24 in Darling Hall. ( Right) Retired Sgt. Maj. Richard Downs, co-chairperson, ( left) and retired Col. Everett Green, head of the Fort Gordon Retiree Council, show respect for the American flag during the playing of the national anthem at the opening ceremony. ( Below) John Curry, the deputy to the garrison commander, reads a proclamation from Augusta’s Mayor Deke Copenhaver, proclaiming Oct. 24 Military Retiree Appreciation Day in Augusta. 
( Above) Fort Gordon’s Soldiers, (from left to right) 2nd Lts. Alexander Diaz- Martinez, Matthew Kennedy and Kenneth Taylor, registered military retirees and distributed information packages with sequence of events and locations of various seminars at Darling Hall. ( Right) Erin Beach gives a military retiree a chair massage. Beach is a student at the Augusta School of Massage. 
( Above) Kathy Tuckey, the Alzheimer Association’s regional program and services director, talks about the 10 warning signs of the possible onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. This was one of 12 different information seminars held in Darling Hall. ( Below) Verizon Wireless of Augusta, one of the sponsors of the event, paid for the retirees’ luncheon at the Gordon Club. Door prizes were given away throughout the luncheon. 
( Above) Retirees visit booths at the Information Fair in Darling Hall to get the latest information on health and benefits. Medical staff from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center also provided free flu shots, blood pressure and blood sugar tests. 
( Below) Maj. Sean Javaheri, chief, Department of Cardiology at the Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center, ( center) answers Sam Cunningham’s questions after attending the seminar, “Ask the Expert, Your Heart Health.” Cunningham is the spouse of retired Col. Virginia Cunningham, ( pictured on the right). 
Soldiers from the Regimental Noncommissioned Officer Academy and the Fort Gordon Sergeant Audie Murphy Club transported retirees to and from their cars in golf carts during the event. 
The U.S. Army Signal Corps Band’s Jazz Combo performed at the retiree appreciation luncheon. An overview of progress on the post and DDEAMC was also given. 
