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| LIFE IN SOLERA | OCTOBER 2022 | 23 It has been some time since I have written about the actual units of service men and women we are supporting. The number of groups can vary from 10 to 20 at any time. Often we will reach out to a new unit, but if they don't reply, we will move on to another outfit. Every so often, when a unit is ready to return stateside, they will introduce me to their replacements. If we hit it off with the replacements, we will continue the support. One such group was some Navy Seabees, in Niger, Africa, that we supported on three of their tours, before an Army construction unit took their place. We have been supporting each replacement construction unit for at least five of their tours. Our current group of Army Reservists are out of Missoula, Montana. Half of their detachment is working out of Niger and the other half are in Djibouti, Africa. We are supporting both groups. We have supported four replacement units in Mali, Africa, also. Our first contact person in Mali, from back in 2020, is now serving in Kuwait. When he sent a message of his new tour, we started supporting him and his team again. An Army Tank Brigade recently went to Poland. We have reached out to several groups in that Brigade. We have already heard from one of those units. Besides the three locations in Africa, Poland, and multiple units in Kuwait, we are sending to Qatar, and a ship at sea. We have recently reached out to other locations, such as South Korea, Honduras, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Okinawa and Guam. I have always enjoyed supporting our Coast Guard that are stationed in Bahrain. They are one of the branches that are doing one year tours, instead of the more common nine month tours. Besides the shore based units, they have had six cutters, birthed in Bahrain and sailing in the Persian Gulf. We had supported all six of these 30+ year old cutters at one time or the other. Over the past two years, they have been replacing the older ships, two at a time, with new, larger, faster, longer range cutters. We have been supporting three of the last four ships. The last two cutters have arrived in September. We have just reached out to them. ~ Jesse Donardt SUPPORT OUR TROOPS VETERAN ASSISTANCE Billy (Mitch) Mitchell is a resident and Veteran who has voluntarily worked with individuals and the Veterans Administration to assist Veterans in obtaining benefits. If you are a Veteran and want to know which benefits you may be eligible for, contact Mitch at (951) 797-0800. The flags were raised in September for Labor Day, Patriots Day, and POW/MIA Day. There are no occasions in October to raise the flags. Thank you to those few dedicated resident volunteers who are up "at the crack of dawn" on these special days to put up and take down our flags. Contact for the Flag Brigade is Nick Gercis. Email him at nick.gercis@gmail.com. The Flag Brigade is currently looking for a few volunteers that would be interested in helping to raise and lower the flags. For more information, contact Nick Gercis at the email address above. Jesse Donardt is a resident of Solera and someone who cares for our troops overseas. Jesse collects things that our troops need and enhances the morale and well-being of these troops worldwide by shipping care boxes containing items specifically requested by them. Please support Jesse and the Support Our Troops program. Jesse can be reached at (951) 845-9028. To all Veterans, thank you for your service! Billy (Mitch) Mitchell is a resident and veteran who has voluntarily worked with individuals and the Veterans Administration (VA) in order to assist veterans in obtaining veteran benefits. If you are a veteran and interested in finding out which benefits you may be eligible to obtain, contact Mitch at (951) 797-0800. FLAG BRIGADE