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Las Vegas, New Mexico, Chapter 1063
PROUD AND SEEN

BY PETER GARDUNO

Since receiving its VVA charter in May 2012, Las Vegas, New Mexico, Chapter 1063 has adhered to Chapter President Arsenio Garduno’s admonition to be “proud and seen in the community.”

Most visible, perhaps, is the Chapter 1063 Color Guard, led by Jose Pablo Salas. The other members are Roberto Ortiz, Napoleon “Nappy” Quintana, Fares Martinez, Lawrence Valerio, and Peter Garduno. In 2013 the color guard—dressed in tiger-stripe fatigues, jungle boots, ascots, and black berets with the VVA logo—participated in eight parades and fourteen flag presentations. There also were joint presentations with other VVA chapters, and the color guard participated in the funerals of many veterans in the Las Vegas-Santa Fe area.

“The Chapter 1063 Color Guard is honored and duty-bound to attend these ceremonies,” Arsenio Garduno said.

On November 1 the color and honor guards of Chapters 1063 and Santa Fe Chapter 996 participated in a collaborative funeral service for fourteen veterans whose remains had been unclaimed. In an emotional ceremony at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez delivered the eulogy and accepted an American flag, as no family members were present. Despite the bitterly cold weather, many veterans and guests attended. (See footage of the ceremony here.)

The Chapter 1063 Vietnam Veteran Scholarship annually awards $500 to a qualifying child or grandchild of a local Vietnam veteran. Students compete by completing an application and questionnaire and by writing on essay on the Vietnam era. The chapter’s Scholarship Committee, chaired by Clara Lopez, most recently honored Francisco Garduno, who attends West Las Vegas High School.

Color guard members collaborated with Ride to Pride, a non-profit that uses horse therapy, to structure an approach for active duty military and veterans. Working with trained equine personnel and horses, veterans learn to better manage anger, stress, and PTSD, as well as decrease alcohol and drug abuse. In working with horses, veterans can also address communication, domestic violence, and adjustment issues.
Three Chapter 1063 members—Jose Pablo Salas, Roberto Ortiz, and Nappy Quintana—developed a program that dealt with a water shortage in the Magdalena, New Mexico, community. They devised a straightforward system to collect and distribute more than two thousand gallons of water by using radio, newspaper, and word of mouth. Roberto Ortiz twice traveled seven hundred miles at his own expense to deliver water. This emergency relief effort sustained the community until the state of New Mexico took over.

Perhaps the chapter’s most ambitious project has been its recent stand-down for Las Vegas area homeless veterans. In collaboration with Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Farmington, the Las Vegas chapter and community held the stand-down at the City of Las Vegas Recreation Center. Some 120 veterans were grateful for the services that were provided.