Jamestown man's military experience provides ways to help veterans

Nov. 11—JAMESTOWN — A Jamestown man's military experience has provided him with other ways to help veterans and their families.

Rod Olin helped families of the North Dakota National Guard's 817th Engineer Co. from Jamestown after members were deployed to Iraq. He is also a member of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 31 in Jamestown, American Legion and VFW Color Guard, organizations that support veterans and their families along with other causes.

Olin, who is originally from Center, North Dakota, said he served in the military because of his family's history of service.

Olin joined the U.S. Army Reserve after high school in 1966. He said a minister who was also a chaplain with the Army Reserve asked Olin to go with him and join.

He said he made the decision to join because his father and many uncles were World War II veterans.

"There was a lot of military heritage in my family," he said.

He said his father owned a construction business and employed an Army veteran who was about 10 years older than Rod Olin.

"We talked about it a lot when I was growing up," he said.

Olin said he was a medic in the Army Reserve for about six years. He said he did about seven months of active duty while he was in the Army Reserve before he came back to North Dakota where he trained in Bismarck and Fargo one weekend a month.

When he was done serving in the Army Reserve in 1972, he said he would never do anything in the military again. But he joined the North Dakota National Guard in 1980 and eventually became a full-time recruiter for the military unit from 1984 to 1994. He later became a sergeant major in recruiting and retention before retiring in 2006.

"In my 10 years of recruiting, I was able to enlist like 380 people in the state," Olin said.

Two of those people he enlisted were his daughters, who both served over 10 years in the National Guard.

"I'm pretty proud of that," he said.

Before he retired, he also was a casualty assistance officer for four soldiers, including Phil Brown, of Jamestown, and Lance Koenig, of Carrington, in 2004. He said he was asked to be a body escort where he accompanied the fallen soldiers back home.

"That kind of turned me into looking to retirement after doing two of those, and then two casualty assistance for two other soldiers that I didn't know that had gotten killed," Olin said. "I had to be with the families for two or three months afterwards to make sure they got everything taken care of so I did those four cases and that was enough."

In 2007, the North Dakota National Guard's 817th Engineer Co. from Jamestown was deployed to Iraq, and Olin was asked to be a family assistance coordinator. He said he served all the families of the 817th Engineer Co. and helped them take care of any problems such as with insurance and pay.

Olin eventually became a member of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 31 in Jamestown, where he is currently the adjutant treasurer and is a past commander.

The Disabled American Veterans help take care of veterans and make sure they get the care that is needed. He said the Disabled American Veterans have national service officers who help ensure veterans get everything they deserve after they are done serving in the military.

"It is just veterans taking care of veterans," he said.

He said he's proud of the Disabled American Veterans flag program where members place about 90 flags in front of businesses around the community for $25 each. The Disabled American Veterans Chapter 31 provides the service on Memorial Day, Flag Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Patriot Day on Sept. 11.

"It's just the thing that the veterans enjoy doing," Olin said. "They enjoy the patriotism of it and making the city look good with all the flags."

He said the flags aren't placed on Veterans Day because many times the weather isn't very good.

Olin said he helps veterans and their families because veterans try to take care of each other. He said he's also a member of the American Legion and VFW Color Guard where members provide military honors at veteran funerals.

"When they say 'why do you do this,' I say, 'Well, we got to honor the veterans that we lose,'" he said. "I say, 'I want you guys to be taking care of me when I'm dead.'"

During Veterans Day, Olin said it's important to recognize veterans who have fought and currently fight for the freedoms that exist today.

"I'm proud to be a veteran," he said.

Olin was never in combat and can't relate to any veterans who were, but he said everybody in the military has a role.

"I regret that I wasn't able to serve like in Iraq or anything but people say, 'No, you were back home here taking care of what we needed to get taken care of,'" he said. "Everybody has a piece of the puzzle."