Gardnerville man won't need camouflage this time

Gardnerville resident Ron Garside is one of 10 veterans going on an all-expense paid trip to Vietnam sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Garside was a U.S. Army Ranger who served two tours in Vietnam, first with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st Recon Ranger Division and then with the 1/501st Airborne Division

He received the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with gold palm, two Army Air Medals, two Bronze Stars, five Purple Hearts, the last one in 1998 after he checked back with the military about it.

Ron has lived in Gardnerville since 1985 when he retired as a police sergeant.

He said the 10-day trip to Vietnam is one of the largest awards a veteran can receive.

"There's only 10 of us picked out of the whole United States," he said. "That's a pretty good deal out of more than a million and a half veterans."

Ron said he's received the tickets from the Veterans of Foreign Wars headquarters in Kansas City.

He's being supported on his trip by the Gardnerville VFW Post 8583 and the First Baptist Church of Minden. Ron and his wife Pamela are approaching their 40th wedding anniversary. They were married in 1968 between Ron's tours in Vietnam.

His oldest, Russell, son played for the San Diego Padres for five years in the early '90s.

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Douglas High School graduate and former Civil Air Patrol cadet Sean M. Thaler is heading to flight school after his graduation magna cum laude in December from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz., in December.

Sean was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He received the distinguished graduate award for the department. He reports to Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix this month and then is off to Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Okla., in November for pilot training.

"I have always wanted to fly since I was little," he said in the graduation program. "Without my family this wouldn't have been possible. It will be an honor serving in the armed forces to protect my family and country."

Sean was a member of the Fighting Tigers Marching Band and the National Honor Society while at Douglas High. He graduated in 2003. he was also a cadet in the Douglas County Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol

He is the son of Gardnerville resident Ellen Rosenberg and Steve and JoAnn Thaler of Minden.

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Whittell High School graduate and former Kingsbury Grade resident Patrick Rafferty received his surface warfare supervisor pin last week. Patrick joined the Navy after his graduation in 2006. A fire control technician onboard what passes for a tin can these days, Patrick has made E-5 in his first two years of enlistment.

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Jacks Valley Elementary School fifth-graders Tesla Neumann and her friend Allison Gaskill are attending the People to People Academic Program over spring break next week.

The girls are headed off to Washington D.C. for the World Leadership Program, where they will be able to earn high school credit while studying leadership.

n Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215.