Serving those who served

Jan. 14—HERMITAGE — Warm thoughts have their place. But on Saturday Daniel Tukalo helped his fellow military veterans feel toasty on the outside.

"I'm glad to be here to help them," said Tukalo, an Army veteran and Sharon resident in his mid-60s.

On Saturday Trail's End Conservancy, a Hermitage non-profit group, helped distribute free winter coats to veterans Saturday. The organization is guided by Jim Gibson and his wife Lisa, at the family's Gibson Farm along North Hermitage Road.

Youngstown Blue Coats, a non-profit group, provided the coats stored aboard a converted school bus.

A 16-year Army veteran, Jim Gibson said a top priority is to keep veterans from taking their own lives.

A 2021 study by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs found 6,261 veterans took their own lives in 2019. In that same year the suicide rate among veterans was 31.6 per 100,000 — almost double the non-veteran 16.8 per 100,000 rate, the study said.

To aid veterans mentally Trail's End offers "Fly High with Horses. " The horsemanship program provides veterans and their immediate family with free horse riding lessons and other equine therapies.

"We want to give back," Gibson said.

A helicopter pilot in Operation Desert Storm, he flew where the Iraqi military torched over 600 oil wells. The fires spewed out rancid smoke that he constantly inhaled.

At the very least Gibson believes it was a contributing factor when later in life a blood vessel burst in his brain resulting in a traumatic brain injury.

"That whole experience changed me," Gibson said.

Tukalo needed a different kind of help. Several years ago the construction worker said he was charged with retail theft.

But he was admitted to the Mercer County Veterans Court, which allows veterans charged with minor crimes to get counseling from fellow veterans, formal therapy and regular court appearances.

"I'm so glad I went through Veterans Court," he said. "There were so many people who helped me."

Greenville resident Jamie Wilson was on hand for a new coat. He served in the Army as a cook — which meant long duty hours.

"We're the first to get up in the morning and the last in bed at night," Wilson said of military cooks.

Matt Brazell drove from his Butler home to help out. He served in the Army from 2002 to 2005 as a mechanic, mostly at Ft. Bragg, N.C. He suffered a brain tumor in February.

The tumor was unrelated to his military service, but it left Brazell with a burning desire to help his fellow vets.

"Every day I wake up I'm happy to be alive," he said.

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