Carson City veteran named Nevada Veteran of the Month

A retired United States Marine gunnery sergeant has been named Nevada Veteran of the Month by the Nevada Office of Veterans Services (NOVS).

Frank Reynolds of Carson City was selected by nomination for his work serving fellow veterans both in the community and statewide.

He was honored publicly Tuesday morning in a ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval presented Reynolds with the Nevada Veteran of the Month Award. He also presented an award to the Northern Nevada Veterans Coalition of Fernley, selected as this month's Veteran Supporter of the Month.

The Veteran of the Month Award, introduced by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval in 2011, recognizes the contributions of Nevada military veterans, whose efforts support fellow veterans, active duty military and their families, as well as their communities, the NOVS web site said.

Reynolds served more than 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), enlisting at age 17.

He served multiple combat tours in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait before retiring from the Corps.

His service in Southeast Asia is notable for being part of a counter-guerrilla unit organized to combat the hit-and-run tactics of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong.

“I was in a unit called the CUPP unit, which stood for Combined Unification Pacification Program,” he said. “We worked with a squad of South Vietnamese fighting guerrilla warfare. We were small, but we were like the Apaches fighting the Army.”

Reynolds said CUPP units were formed in response to the effectiveness with which the NVA and Viet Cong were hitting American forces through guerrilla warfare.

“When the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong took on a Marine company head-to-head they couldn’t win, so they started the guerrilla warfare and were very successful,” he said. “They were very good at it.”

Reynolds said his CUPP unit was green at first, and it showed through the number of casualties it sustained over the first few months.

“Our first several months we weren’t very good because we didn’t know what to do,” he said. “A lot of guys got wounded or killed. It was a tough time for us.”

As time went on, though, the CUPP unit got better with experience and through some hard knocks, Reynolds said.

“After a while we got pretty good at what we did,” he said. “The core of what was left of us, we got to the point where we could smell an ambush, and we got good at it.”

Memories of buddies lost, though, make Reynolds pause as he recalled his extensive combat experience.

“It’s tough remembering that,” he said.

After the service, Reynolds worked in both the public and private sectors, building Navy ships, working for a steamboat company along the Mississippi River, and then serving as logistics manager for Xerox before starting his own business salvaging and rebuilding used office machines.

Upon moving to Nevada, Reynolds worked briefly for a year in behavioral health as a group leader at Rite of Passage Silver State Academy in Yerington.

Then he suffered a heart attack, attributed to Agent Orange exposure while in Vietnam. At that point, Reynolds decided to retire for good.

But full retirement has been anything but sedentary for Reynolds, who describes himself as a proactive go-getter.

“I’ve never been a person to sit back and wait,” he said. “A good Marine gunnery sergeant doesn’t wait. All of us grunt guys are proactive, take care of our people and get things done. That’s what I’ve done my whole career.”

Reynolds is an active member of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Chapter 388 in Carson City, having served as its president as recent as this year.

He also took the initiative and started the Carson City Veterans Community Council (CCVCC), a coalition of veterans and community stakeholders who organized in February 2016, joining the state of Nevada’s Green Zone Initiative community.

“The one thing that was frustrating was knowing that different organizations were doing the same things,” Reynolds recalled of the days before the CCVCC was formed. “When we finally got the veterans council together, we started combining what we had. So now, not only are we helping vets quickly, but instead of it taking three to five days to get something done, we’re doing it in a day.”

Reynolds said the whole purpose of the CCVCC is to eliminate redundancy and duplicity while increasing efficiency of getting services to military veterans in need.

“We’re not wasting resources and reinventing the wheel every time,” he said. “Now it’s (the CCVCC) running itself. We’re helping veterans now in a matter of hours, not days.”

The retired USMC gunnery sergeant also helped organize the first Vietnam Veterans Honor Flight Nevada, giving Silver State vets the chance to travel to the nation’s capital and see the monuments dedicated to their service.

“I’ve been to the Wall before, but didn’t touch it,” he said. “I stayed on the grass.”

But on the Vietnam Veteran Honor Flight Nevada tour, Reynolds said he decided it was time to deal with that part of his past.

“This time I finally touched the wall, and got rid of some issues I needed to,” he said. “It was very emotional for me, and for others with me as well.”

These days, besides serving as chair of the CCVCC, Reynolds is an on-call volunteer for local mental health services, having recently completed ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) training through local behavioral health services.

The training allows Reynolds to work one-on-one with veterans in crisis, those who are contemplating suicide.

“It’s like first aid for suicide prevention,” he said.

Mostly, he is tasked with listening to a frustrated vet vent about whatever it is that is causing him to feel suicide is the answer.

Reynolds said just having another veteran to talk to in a time of crisis may be all that’s needed, because so often troubled veterans don’t feel heard or listened to.

“When a veteran is having trouble and is considering suicide, he doesn’t want to talk to a professional,” he said. “A veteran wants to talk to a veteran, unless somebody can vouch for that professional.”

Not only can Reynolds relate to fellow veterans because of his service, but he has been in their shoes in more ways than one.

After his first wife died of cancer in the 1990s, Reynolds said he had reached a point where he didn’t want to live without his partner of more than 19 years.

“I was going to kill myself and didn’t want to live or go on,” he said. “I had even set everything up so I knew who was going to take care of my kids.”

But the father of five sons didn’t follow through with his plans, and now he is helping fellow veterans in crisis recognize the finality of that choice.

Reynolds said he and fellow Vietnam veteran Tom Spencer, current president of the VVA Chapter 388, were the only two non-professionals in the ASIST training.

“The classes were tough,” he said. “There were psychiatrists, nurses and social workers, but we were the only ones outside of the norm. If I can vouch for somebody, maybe I can get the guy to walk through that door.”

Reynolds said the next big project on his radar screen is to lead efforts to establish a state veterans museum in Carson City.

He said he needs to find a willing sponsor for a bill he’s drafted. He hopes Gov. Brian Sandoval will be sympathetic to the need for a state veterans museum.

“I’ve drafted a bill, it’s all written up,” Reynolds said. “I’m going to slip it to him when I’m up there.”

His vision for a state veterans museum is modeled after veterans museums in other states: Not just a collection of artifacts, but a place that truly honors the service of veterans to the Silver State.

“There’s a lot of great veteran history here,” Reynolds noted, with service going back to the Civil War when Nevada was still a territory. “In my research, I’m finding Nevada veterans in almost every conflict there ever was.”

There were even Nevadans who served during the The Philippines War of 1903 and the Banana Wars in Central America during the early 20th Century, to name a few, he said.

“That history needs to come out and be shown all of the time,” Reynolds said.

With all of the veterans and families of veterans in the Silver State, he said, obtaining a collection of artifacts won’t be difficult.

He said he talks with vets frequently who are finding mementos and artifacts not only among their own collections, but also in junk piles, landfills and garage sales.

These items, he said, should be preserved and displayed, not thrown away.

“The museum is just so important to me right now,” he said. “I really want to get that done. That’s my last great project.”

Reynolds, who has been married to his current wife Sharon for 16 years, said he isn’t the type of person that takes retirement lying down.

Being active in veterans affairs and in his community just seemed to flow with his modus operandi.

“I’m not going to lay back and do nothing,” he said. “I’ve done it all. When the (Nevada National) Guard was coming back from its tours, I’d go out there and cheer them on when they arrived home. I meet every Honor Flight coming back.”

But Reynolds shakes his head at the notion that doing all of this is what got him nominated for Nevada Veteran of the Month.

“A lot of what I’ve done, nobody knows about,” he said. “They don’t know behind the scenes what I’m doing, and that’s okay with me.”

Reynolds has his own unique motivations for the service he gives to his community, active duty military personnel, and fellow veterans.

“I’ve got all the ribbons to say I’ve done something,” he said. “I’ve had a good life, and that’s why I don’t mind giving of myself.”

And it’s not the thank-you’s he receives that give Reynolds a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction.

Rather, it’s what is not said at all that does.

“I like the smile I get on another person’s face whenever we get something done for them,” he said. “That’s worth it all. I just will never forget the smiles. That’s what it’s worth to me.”