“We Honor Those Who Serve”

This is Veteran’s Day week and MilitaryAvenue has been featuring some wonderful recognition programs for veterans leading up to Thursday’s celebration of service! During our hectic visit to New York last week for Stand Up for Heroes, MilitaryAvenue had the opportunity to interview a fellow disabled veteran, Mr. Thomas Aiello who is now the Division Vice President, Public Relations for Sears! Sears has announced some great Veteran’s Day initiatives and other superb programs that highlight their support to the military community! I had my socks blown away by some of the efforts Tom mentioned and that I have read about! By the way, it is hard to blow away one of my socks since it is taped on while I recover from earlier surgery! So way to go Sears!

Did you know that Sears is recognized as one of the Top 25 military employers in the US? They have 20,000 military veterans employed and if you are a reservist/guard person, full time Sears employee and called up to active duty for deployment they have a pay differential program to maintain your pay while deployed! In addition, deployed reservists may continue to participate in life insurance, medical and dental programs! Wow! But back to Tom and our conversation about Veteran’s Day at Sears!

He was excited to tell us about how Sears was continuing to support military families! To show support to veterans Sears is encouraging everyone to wear yellow on Thursday to their stores! But why should veterans come to Sears on Thursday? Ready? Do you like tools? Veteran’s Day is the kickoff for Sears Blue Tool Crew military discount! Bring in your military ID card and you get 10% off all tool purchases at Sears!

No end date, no purchase limit or cap on the number of tools!
As the tool guy in this house I have to admit being impressed with such a great recognition effort from this corporation! I came on active duty during the Vietnam era and served until the beginning of Afghanistan and during that time saw quite a transition in the minds of Americans towards their service men and women. Early in my career, service members were frequently the victims of political disagreement but now across the political spectrum, among businesses (big and small) and in our communities our heroes are now recognized as serving this great nation! As a veteran Tom recognizes the need to continue supporting our veterans and their families and is in a position to help Sears do just that! So beyond this week and the Blue Tool Crew military discount Sears is doing even more!

Continue with the drum roll! I could see and hear how much fun Tom was having telling us about the military programs being engineered at Sears as we sipped at our coffee after a long travel day and before a great evening program at Stand Up For Heroes! He was so excited about it that Sears brought in military bloggers to this absolutely exceptional program for us to enjoy and allow him to tell MilitaryAvenue about the Sears military outreach! Heroes at Home Wish Registry, Heroes at Home, special events for military, Thanksgiving Day meals at some military installations, plus more! So we talked about our service times, shared a couple of veteran stories (mandatory for any group of military folks getting together) and got excited about the program that evening!

He shared more information such as links and what military personnel and families should watch for in the future including this coming weekend! Another great military offer to enjoy a special evening:

It was a great way to get to know someone so interested in helping you! Thank you Sears and Tom! We are impressed and will continue to shop at your military friendly place!

Getting ready for Christmas/Holiday shopping? Look at this special offer for us!
We had a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the evening with the Bob Woodruff Foundation’s Stand Up for Heroes, meet with military friendly corporations and find more ways to help our military community! Have a great Veteran’s Day! For more information about great Veteran’s Day offers go to MilitaryAvenue.com’s List!

Photo Credit: Mr. Thomas L. Aiello, Division Vice President, Public Relations, Sears Holding Corporation

Special Event Information Banners provided by Mr Aiello

As a part of attending the Stand Up For Heroes event, Sears Holdings provided my travel, accommodations and a FlipCam to capture on-site footage.”
byColonel KonMonday, November 08, 2010Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestMilitary Life:Col K,Military Discounts,military family,Stand Up for Heroes