I have to say that of all the places I’ve been priviledged to live, and there have been many, the Oak Harbor area seems to set the standard when it comes to volunteerism and humanitarian outreach.

I think a lot of that comes from the example set daily by the men and women who serve at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and in other branches of our nation’s military.

When I interviewed Alvin Townley, the author of the book “Fly Navy” recently, he told me one of the things he thinks people misunderstand the most is the amount of public service and humanitarian aid in which the military is involved. While there is a combat element inherent to being in the military, Townley said he was struck by how dedicated the sailors he met were to helping other people, citing examples of aid to Haiti and more recently, Japan.

So it’s really no surprise I found example after example of outreach and volunteer efforts in just this week’s Crosswind content.

We have active duty sailors pitching in to clean up the beach. We have members of the Navy League collecting items for care packages to send to our active duty sailors. We have the story of Master Chief Emmanuel Montenegro, who in 2008 spent several months as part of the humanitarian effort Pacific Partnership. Then there’s the NAS Whidbey Search and Rescue team who took the time to share with members of the community about how they help people every day.

With our large active duty and retired population, I guess it’s no surprise these characteristics, gleaned from years of service in action, are evident all over Whidbey Island. If we learn by example, we have plenty of good teachers.

–Kathy Reed, editor