Officers

John "Radar" Meyer is a native of Texas who graduated from high school in Mesa, AZ, enlisting in the U.S. Army through the delayed entry program just three days after graduating from high school. He attended Basic Training at Fort Polk, LA.  Attended Advanced Individual Training (AIT) as 76V10-Materiel Storage And Handling Specialist at Fort Lee, VA.  Assigned 1989-1991, 167th Quartermaster Battalion in Phoenix Arizona.  1991-1992 assigned HHB 1/180th Field Artillery in Mesa, Az as 13E10 Fire Direction Controller.  1993 attended aviation school (93C10 Air Traffic Control)  at Ft. Rucker, Alabama.  1993-2010 assigned to 416th Air Traffic Control Platoon later re-designated F Company, 285th Aviation Bn.  Deployed to Bosnia in 1999 as Tower Chief.  Deployed to Iraq in 2003, as Non-Commission Officer in Charge Al Asad Tower Operations. He retired as an E-7 in 2010 after nearly 22 years of service to his nation.

He has been a member of Post 97 since 2010, held numerous positions to included Sr Vice Commander, Jr Vice Commander & Adjutant.  Chairperson for various Americanism programs to include Boys Scouts, JROTC, and Joe Foss Veterans in the Classroom.

  Dennis Gardner was born at Fort Leonardwood, Missouri, Dennis grew up in Southern California. His first job was at Knott’s Berry Farm, as a train bandit. He entered naval service in August 1977,  volunteered for the Submarine Service during Boot Camp in San Diego. He arrived at the home of the U.S. Submarine fleet, Groton, Connecticut for Underwater Fire Control class “A” school, he chose to train on an aging combat system only on submarines in Hawaii and left for the islands that June. After completing his training, he was assigned to the USS Patrick Henry (Gold) crew. He made five 90 day patrols before again heading back to Groton this time as an instructor. He taught Submarine tactics and weapons employment at the officer submarine school for 18 months before being sent back to the Pacific and two more Submarines, he was then assigned to Submarine Squadron 7 staff as Senior Combat Systems Assistant to the Commodore. Dennis spent three years reasonable for the conventional and nuclear weapons inspection and training of ten submarines. When it came time to once more return to sea he again moved to San Diego and the USS Louisville, which he took to Desert Storm and another Western Pacific deployment. He spent the last four years of his 20-year career in San Diego, assigned to San Diego at the Fleet Technical Support Center, Pacific supervising 33 technicians and responsible for the combat readiness of all submarines in the Pacific fleet. Recently Dennis works at Intel in Chandler in the Defect Metrology department, where he inspected products for defects smaller than the head of a pin. Dennis has been representing the Joe Foss Institute for over three years, where he visits schools to educate the students on civic responsibility and patriotism.