Home Depot is one of the largest home improvement centers in the United States.
With just over 2,200 stores nationwide and 400,000 employees (including 35,000 veterans), it is undoubtedly a fixture of American society.
Like the 1,000’s of other brands in the US, Home Depot also offers a military discount to both active duty and retired military.
Unfortunately, they don’t do a very good job of explaining the exact terms and conditions of the military discount anywhere on their website.
I spoke with a representative from Home Depot, and the following is a summary of our conversation.
Thanks to frequent contributor Gordon Lau for send this article to Retiree News.
Look for the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to be 1.6% for 2020, estimates The Kiplinger Letter, down from the 2.8% COLA increase retirees and other beneficiaries received at the start of 2019. For 2021, The Kiplinger Letter is forecasting a COLA increase of around 2.0%.
From the National Guard magazine website
Nicknames are popular in many endeavors, but nowhere are they more part of the culture than among fighter pilots.
A pilot best known as Gump made a little history April 6 as four Vermont Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcons took to the sky from Burlington International Airport.
He led “Viper Out,” the emotional departure ceremony for the 158th Fighter Wing’s last F-16s. After 33 years of operating the longtime workhorse fighter, the wing will soon become the first in the Air Guard to receive the F-35 Lightning II.
That Lt. Col. Daniel Finnegan and the three other pilots are better known by call signs than family names was one of the few routine occurrences on this day. Every fighter pilot in the U.S. military, it seems, has a call sign. It’s part of the culture.
In the Hawaii Air National Guard, members of the 199th Fighter Squadron have all “earned” a call sign. Some are takeoffs of your name, but others are a result of a embarrassing incident very early in your flying career.
BTW: your call sign can change if there is another incident in your career.
Some call signs of HIANG aircrew past and present include:
Primo Joe, Bones, Odie, FANG, Thunder, Pirate, Con, Rainbow, Moon, Bat, Doodles, Spike, TRIFOX, Narco, Sky, Higgy, Mynah, Saigon, Humphrey, Kudzu, Kippety Klopp, Butcher, Crash, OZ, Ossum, Pork, Bizzare, Shaka, Rocket, Moke, Dugie and Spreadmo.
There are stories behind all of these call signs, but it would take a couple of beers to get those stories.
There are some members of the 203d Air Refueling Squadron and the 204th Airlift Squadron with call signs – some from flying fighters earlier in their career or from an incident.
From the U.S. News & World Report website
My wife and I downsized twice in the past few years. First we sold our four-bedroom suburban home and moved into a one-bedroom condo. In order to accomplish this move we disposed of about one-third of our possessions, including old sports equipment, musical gear, stuffed animals and old books belonging to our kids. We then divided the rest of our stuff in two, half going into our condo and half into storage.
A year later we moved from our condo to a small three-bedroom house in another town. A lot of our old furniture and other paraphernalia did not fit into this new house. So we trashed, gave away or sold another round of our belongings, replacing some of them with new pieces.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution website
An arm of the Veterans Affairs Department in Atlanta eliminated 208,272 applications from across the country for health care early this year amid efforts to shrink a massive backlog of requests, saying they were missing signatures or information about military service and income, according to records reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Veterans groups say the VA should have done more to communicate with the veterans before closing their applications, some of which date back to 1998. Troops face additional challenges in applying for VA health care, they said, as they grapple with reentry into civilian life, change addresses following overseas deployments and suffer from combat stress.
Michael Yamamoto passed away at the age of 81 on June 16, 2019, surrounded by his loving ‘ohana. Mike is survived by his wife of 56 years, Cynthia; son Trevor; daughter/ granddaughter Krystal; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. Deceased family members are his daughter Jill; parents Isami and Takeno Yamamoto; sister Jennie Nakasone (George); and brother, Dr. Harry Y. Yamamoto (Millie).
Mike had a varied career, beginning with his service in the Hawaii Air National Guard. After his military service, Mike moved to Southern California and worked as an aerospace engineer for McDonnell Douglas, Northrop, and Stresskin. Returning with his family to Hawai’i, Mike purchased a restaurant in Liliha and ran it successfully for several years. Mike then embarked on a 35 year career with McDonalds of Hawai’i, starting as their first Regional Facilities Manager and retiring as Regional Construction Manager for Hawai’i, Guam, and Saipan. During his time with McDonalds, Mike received the prestigious President’s Award which recognized the “outstanding achievements of the top 1% of McDonald’s corporate employees globally.”
After his retirement. Mike served on the Board of Directors of The Arc in Hawai’i, and enjoyed volunteering with Special Olympics. Mike was known as a master chef, and his ‘ohana looked forward to his cooking and the parties he hosted at his home. Mike loved to travel with his family, and journeyed all over the world with them. He was also an avid wine enthusiast, fisherman, gardener; and above all, a wonderfully devoted and loving husband, father, and grandfather.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 3, 2019 at Nu’uanu Memorial Park & Mortuary, East Chapel. Visitation at 10 a.m. and Service at 11 a.m. Casual attire. Arrangements Provided By: Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary LLC
Buzz Aldrin and the flag of the United States of America on the surface of The Moon, 21 July 1969. (Neil Armstong/NASA)
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02:56:15 UTC; Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later. They spent about two and a quarter hours together outside the spacecraft, and collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth. Command module pilot Michael Collins flew the command module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while they were on the Moon’s surface. Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21.5 hours on the lunar surface at a site they named Tranquility Base before rejoining Columbia in lunar orbit.
A law signed by President Donald Trump on June 25 to provide compensation to ill veterans who served on Navy ships in Vietnam also made several changes to Department of Veterans Affairs-backed home loans for all eligible veterans.
Starting January 1, any veteran who wants to take advantage of the VA’s “zero-down payment” loan program will be able to do so, even in areas with high housing costs where veterans have historically been required to make a 25% down payment.
From the Everyday Health website
Regular teeth brushing is a crucial part of good oral health, as well as your appearance. But is an electric toothbrush really superior to a manual toothbrush when it comes to cleaning those pearly whites?
According to an analysis of 56 studies completed in 2014, international research organization Cochrane found that electric models may be slightly better than their manual counterparts at removing plaque and improving gum health. The analysis found that electric toothbrushes removed 21 percent more dental plaque and reduced gingivitis by 11 percent after three months of use, compared to manual toothbrushes.
Hawaii Army National Guard Photograph
Soldiers of 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Multinational Battle Group-East (MNBG-E), KFOR 25, are awarded end of tour awards July 9, 2019, at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo.
Soldiers received various service awards to include the Non-Article 5 NATO Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Meritorious Service Medal. The awards symbolize the achievements and dedication of Soldiers to the KFOR mission.
See more photographs by Sgt. Tinisha Mellein-Fortson
From the Military Times website
Lawmakers also expressed concern about 14 top Pentagon jobs that are still without a confirmed official, including currently the secretary and deputy secretaries of defense.
For the second week in a row, a lifetime public servant tapped for one of the Pentagon’s top jobs declared he would sooner resign from the job than follow an order he finds “illegal, immoral or unethical,” at a time when lawmakers are concerned that President Trump’s foreign policy moves are a threat to national security.
In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., asked Army Secretary Mark Esper: Should he be confirmed as the next secretary of defense, would he align his foreign policy views more closely with former Defense Secretary James Mattis or President Trump ― as a rift between the two ultimately led to Mattis’s resignation late last year.
“I don’t know where to pick between the two,” Esper said. “But clearly, I share Secretary Mattis’s views, and I’ve expressed that publicly.”
From the This Day in Aviation website
Iowa Department of Public Safety Photograph
19 July 1989: United Airlines Flight 232 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10, registration N1819U, enroute from Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado to O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois. There were 296 persons aboard the airliner: 285 passengers and 11 crew members. The flight crew consisted of Captain Alfred C. Haynes, First Officer William Record, and Second Officer Dudley Dvorak. Also aboard, riding in the passenger cabin, was an off-duty United Airlines DC-10 Check Airman, Captain Dennis E. Fitch.
U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War have been asked to return memorabilia they brought home to aid in the effort to account for North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong missing-in-action troops they fought against.
The request came from Veterans of Foreign Wars ahead of the 120-year-old organization’s annual convention, which starts in Orlando, Florida, this weekend.
In a news release Monday, the VFW asked Vietnam veterans to go through their closets, attics and footlockers to dig out mementos from a war half-a century ago to aid Vietnam’s effort to account for its own estimated 300,000 missing. However, the group noted, “no weapons please.”
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