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Calpine Salutes Our Military Veterans

Our veterans served our country to protect and preserve our freedoms.  Veterans Day gives us an opportunity to express our gratitude for their service.  It also is a day to reflect on the duty we owe to veterans to value the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, said Executive Chairman and Chief Legal Officer Thad Miller during a Veterans Day panel discussion in Houston.

 

Thad, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, shared quotes about military service including this one from President John F. Kennedy: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.”  Thad then noted that at Calpine, we show our gratitude through action, employing more than 300 veterans who represent about 15 percent of our workforce.



Veterans in Houston gathered for breakfast before the panel discussion.


Discussing the Calpine Veterans Employee Resource Group (VERG) initiatives were the group’s Diversity & Inclusion Counsel advisor Chris Jones, Regional Managing Counsel and a U.S. Army veteran, and its chair, Woo Han, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a Sales Representative with Calpine Energy Solutions.  Upcoming VERG initiatives include providing more information to Calpine veterans about benefits available to them, from veteran’s ID cards to medical care. 

 

Woo explained the history of challenge coins in the military tradition and led a moment of silence for “those who have fallen and those who have taken their own lives after their service.”  This year’s Calpine challenge coin was designed by Champion Energy Systems Administrator Larry Williams.  Larry designed the coin in honor of his uncle, Larry Kurt Kaiser, a U.S. Army staff sergeant who was killed in Vietnam on April 30, 1970.




All Calpine Veterans Honored

All employees at Calpine who have voluntarily identified themselves as military veterans received the challenge coins designed by Larry.  Below are photos received from Veterans Day presentations around the country.



Celebrating at Freestone Energy Center are (L-R) Operator Technician IIIs Larry Grissett and Mike Fox, Maintenance Planner/Scheduler Matthew Smith, Maintenance Technician III Terence Tisdale and Maintenance Manager Robert DeWitt.


(L-R) Operator Technician IIIs Bobby Pruiett and Kenny Baugh were honored at Pine Bluff Energy Center, and Assistant Watch Engineer Bob S. Dorsainvil receives his challenge coin from Kennedy International Airport Power Plant General Manager Michael O’Brien.

 


Among veterans speaking in Houston was Bob Nichol, who discussed the Quilts of Valor Foundation while Jack Brown helped display the quilt Bob received from the organization.