VFW Post 1002 commander Teri Korsmo, right, presides over the 2020 Memorial Day service at The Gardens.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
The commander of Fallon’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1002 knows with hard work comes the rewards of leading a community-based organization.
Teri Korsmo, a U.S. Navy veteran and longtime Fallon resident, is the first female commander of Post 1002, a military organization consisting of members who “fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or airspace.”
“I’m learning the ropes, but I have Dick Hurstak (former commander) as my mentor,” said Korsmo, who’s been in the post for about six years.
As post commander, she ensures the organization meets its obligations to VFW state and continues to be an important member of the Churchill County community. The local VFW post is involved in the annual Voice of Democracy speech and essay contest and the Patriot’s Pen essay contest for middle-school students. Along with other active-duty military, veterans and civilians, Post 1002 assists with the packaging and delivery of meals along with the lead veteran’s group, American Legion Post 16. On Memorial Day, the veterans visit the three local cemeteries and pay their respects to the fallen.
“We get people from the post helping with the Meals on Wheels on Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Korsmo said. “We all work together.”
Korsmo said she loves helping others and being a team player.
In looking back, though, she renders a chuckle. Korsmo said she’s moved from the enlisted ranks to become a commander.
The North Carolina native enlisted in the Navy and spent the next 15 years serving her nation. She worked on the F/A-18F Super Hornet jets, primarily on the navigation, communication and radar weapons systems. Korsmo’s career took her to a number of naval installations in the United States as well as serving on six aircraft carriers. In addition to Naval Air Station Fallon, Korsmo spent time at Mayport (Florida) Naval Station and naval air stations at Virginia Beach, Va., and Lemoore, Calif.
“The aircraft carriers I was on were the John F. Kennedy, the George Washington, the Eisenhower, the Enterprise, the John C. Stennis and the Ronald Reagan,” she said.
Korsmo distinctly remembers the ports of call that included Greece, Spain, Turkey, Bahrain, Singapore, Australia and Japan. While in Italy, Korsmo saw the Vatican, but it was the food Korsmo sampled and enjoyed.
“I’d go and find that mom and pop place for the food,” she said. “Such food was awesome.”
She sampled the local cuisine ranging from Italian food to sushi in Japan. Overall, though, Korsmo said she preferred the Mediterranean cruises over those in the Western Pacific because of the ports of call and food.
Korsmo first came to NAS Fallon in 2001 for training but returned in 2005 for a three-year tour. She left the Navy in 2012 when an Enlisted Retention Board removed 15,000 military personnel from each branch of the service.
“Each military service was required to slash 15,000 people because of the sequestration cuts,” she said.
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