Art Sickler is a Marine who is taking action in Brighton, Colorado. A Veterans for Convention of States volunteer, he has reached out to Rodney Huckleberry, the National Veterans Coalition Director for help on how to reach out to Vets in his community.
He’s learning quickly. He had his first meet and greet over the weekend and met two interested Vets. One served in the Army in the first Gulf War and Roy Blanco graduated from the Air Force Academy and served as an officer. Both are new to Convention of States.
Roy’s reasons for becoming active in Convention of States is a father’s story. Serving in the Colorado National Guard, he and his wife have three young kids, nine, six and 18 months. They want a better future for them, when they join the work force and raise their own families.
“The cancel culture and government overreach are taking away opportunities.” If we don’t advocate for their liberties, the threat of mandates and lockdowns without oversight are foreshadowing a “big storm on the horizon” for the next generation.
Term limits are what brought Roy into Convention of States activism. He knows that Congress will never act to limit itself. “We need to put some bumper rails on the federal government.” That’s a great way to describe the COS Resolution.
Art also received other interested responses from those who couldn’t attend the meet and greet but welcomed future opportunities. It’s always the best case scenario when any interested citizen is open to be a part of Convention of States.
That’s Art’s ultimate goal: to start a growing network of Veterans excited to unite for the people of the United States. He says he’s physically sick about what’s happening with the government. “I hurt for my grandchildren. When they get to 21 years old, they might not have a country like we do now.”
There’s no question that complaining isn’t getting it done. He concedes that before learning the fundamentals of Article V and Convention of States, he felt powerless and complained more. After learning that the People have more authority than we realize, he wants to transform his concern into action.
“Just do it. Get up and physically do something. My something is energizing and getting Vets involved.”
Ultimately, he has bigger goals but can’t reach them by himself. He wants to do Convention of States events for Memorial Day, the VFW, American Legion, and other VSOs. He knows Veterans are a group of people who love their country, they realize that the federal government needs term limits, fiscal restraints and a reining in of its size and authority through constitutional amendments. He hopes that Veterans will “just do it,” as he says, to serve their country.
“I didn’t take my oath back,” he says with pride and resolve. “I still honor that oath that I took and I serve now through Convention of States, and to serve other Vets.” He serves through education and activism, ready to teach the community about their role as citizens to civically engage with their state legislators to pass the application for Convention of States.
Art also wants to eventually start a regular Veterans Zoom meeting in Colorado. He hosted Bible studies in Brighton during Covid and he’s still doing it. He has that Zoom leadership experience and he wants to use it to get Veterans to start networking throughout Colorado and meet on a regular basis to talk shop about event ideas, current events concerning Veterans and their families, struggles, education on how to use Citizen Builder, and other volunteer activities.
He realizes that he’ll start small and very local at first but he also knows that a Vet in Brighton might know a Vet in Castle Rock, Pueblo or Fort Collins and they know Vets elsewhere. This is how networking gets started.
It’s not that they’re small steps, they’re big first steps. “I want to see what the Veterans can bring to the table.”
Art served nine years as a Marine straight out of high school. He served at Camp Pendleton in California, in Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Guam, Mt. Fuji, Japan (where he met his wife of forty years) and Tampa, Florida.
As an I&I in Tampa, Art served after the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 servicemen, including 220 Marines. Seven of the fallen Marines were from Tampa and Art was involved in notifying their families and honoring their burials. He spoke of it as if it just happened. The pain in his voice was clear and sobering. “We were the same age, 19 and 20. Now I’m 62 and they’ll never get to be 62.”
Veterans never stop serving. They love this nation. They love the liberty it stands for. Because they have fought for our country, they respect our sovereignty and the responsibility required of its citizens to keep liberty alive and well in each generation.
I got the opportunity to talk to Kenric Johnson. He’s the Veterans Coalition Director for Colorado. He wears many hats at Convention of States including being the District Captain in his Woodland Park district.
Kenric was born in Sanford, Colorado, which is close to the New Mexico border, but he joined Convention of States in January 2018 when he was living in Tennessee. From there, he moved to Oklahoma for a bit before moving to Woodland Park last November.
He served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War from 1971-1975 and he’s been married for 18 years.
I had questions for Kenric about how Vets identifying with Art, Roy and other COS Veterans can take their first steps to volunteer.
On the Convention of States website, select Take Action from the menu, then select Become a Leader. Then select Veterans Coalition Director.
This is where I needed some answers because that sounds like you’re applying for Kenric’s job (which is also a volunteer position) but really, that’s not the case. Below the job description is the volunteer application. As a Veteran, you can fill this out and be sure to select the ‘I am a U.S. Veteran’ box.
Answer each question in a way that describes what you’re eager to get involved with. Remember, you’re a volunteer so be open about what excites you and what you have time to participate in. I say that so you don’t feel like you’re required to say yes to everything. It’s just that there’s so much you can get involved in, if you can.
As Kenric explained it, this gets your information in the system and the Follow Up Team will contact you.
You have the opportunity to be a Veterans for COS volunteer and there’s opportunities to be a Veterans District Captain team member which allows you to focus on areas that you’re good at and will get excited about. Of course, if you want to take on a leadership position as a district captain, you are needed and necessary at Convention of States!
Kenric explains the great need for activism at the VSOs in Colorado to educate Vets about Article V and our Resolution. As he says, “COS is an organization about self-governance.” We don’t sit passively by and wait for someone else to limit our federal government’s overreach.
We take personal responsibility for our nation.
When you sign up to volunteer and get the call, the email and the text message, answer. Engage and get ready to serve. Your country still needs you.
