About Us - Board Members

President: Jack Giesen
Vice President: Jason Sample
Secretary: Jeff Davis
Treasurer: Jack Giesen
Board Member: Lyle Wold
Board Member: Daniel Tarbell
Website: Bill Hauser/Jeff Davis

Our mailing address:
Vancouver Barracks Military Assn.
PO Box 820203
Vancouver, WA 98682

Or you can email us at the following:
President@vbma.us
Treasurer@vbma.us
Webmaster@vbma.us

Biographies of VBMA Members

 

Jack Giesen, VBMA President and Treasurer

Biography of Master Sergeant John (Jack)Giesen (Ret.)

Jack Giesen was born in Manitowoc Wisconsin to a family with Army service in WWII. His Father rejoined the Army as Corps of Engineers Officer near the end of the Korean War. Jack grew up as an “Army Brat” living on or near many Army post. His family travels included several East coast Army posts, Fort Ord CA, and two years in Iceland.

After being an Industrial Arts teacher for a year, Jack Giesen enlisted in the Regular U.S. Army in 1970 in order to serve 24 months in Germany and complete his military career. However he found the Army Reserve a good fit and continued for 34 years with out a break in service. The majority of his service was with the 104th Division at Vancouver Barracks, WA. He started out as an instructor in Company A (Rifle Marksmanship) in the Training Group but soon became a Training NCO. Five years later he was selected for Active Guard Reserve full time status in Company D (General Subjects) Training Group. Upon his promotion to Master Sergeant, he was assigned as Operations Sergeant to 2nd Battalion 416th Regiment 104th Division at Spokane Washington. Follow on assignments include instructor for the Battle Staff Course and First Sergeant Course at Ft. McCoy Wisconsin.

Master Sergeant Giesen’s next assignment was as Operations Sergeant for 3d Brigade 104th Division at Vancouver Barracks provided the opportunity to be the unit’s additional duty historian. 3d Brigade was recently activated after several years of inactivation that left no unit history intact. Having always had an interest in military history, Master Sergeant Giesen secured a copy of the unit’s Linage and Honors and discovered the unit had originally been the 329th Engineer Battalion 104th Division during WWII. A unit history was compiled from many sources including WWII veterans. During this time, the Army adopted the black beret which required enlisted soldiers to wear a Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI) upon this headgear. The generic DUI assigned to 3d Brigade did not reflect the linage of his unit, so Jack requested an exception to policy, as provided for in Army regulations, to the Army Institute of Heraldry to retain and reissue the 329th Engineer Bn DUI to 3d Brigade. The inistute of heraldry approved Master Sergeant Giesen’s request. Master Sergeant Giesen retired from the U. S. Army in 2004. He now serves as Treasurer for the Vancouver Barracks Military Association.

Jack Giesen is a graduate of Eastern Washington University with a BA in Industrial Technology. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Sergeants’ Major Academy.

 

Jefferson Davis, VBMA Secretary

Biography of Major Jefferson Davis (Ret.)

Jefferson Davis was born in Vancouver Washington, into a military service family. He joined the U.S. Army Reserves in 1979, at the Vancouver Barracks and served over 30 years of active and reserve military service. Some highlights of his career include serving as an enlisted man in the active army infantry, military intelligence and civil affairs officer, as well as military historian. He has served in Italy, Bosnia, and Southwest Asia, deploying to Bosnia as part of SFOR, and two deployments with Operation Enduring Freedom as a military historian. Major Davis’ final assignment was as the Command Historian for the 104th Division, where he was the defacto army historian of the Vancouver Barracks.

Jeff Davis has also authored or co-authored several books on the odd and unusual. He was principal author for the book Weird Washington and co-author of Weird Oregon. He has also researched and written several books on ghosts and legends of the Pacific Northwest.

On the civilian side, he has a BS in Anthropology from Portland State University and an MA in Archaeology an Prehistory from the University of Sheffield in England. He has worked as an archaeologist for several of the National Forests in the Pacific Northwest and currently teaches at Clark College, in Vancouver, WA.

Jason Sample, Vice President, VBMA

Jason Sample was born in Vancouver Washington , he graduated from Camas High school and became an Eagle Scout in 1991 . Afterward he served in the US Army from 1994 to 1998 as a 19 Kilo tank crewman.  During that time he served on an M1A1 Abrams tank.  He started off as the loader then gunner and worked his way up to gunner . During his four year enlistment, Jason stayed stateside doing maneuvers at Ft Knox ,Ft Irwin and Ft Hood . Jason has been participating in living history events for over 25 years and the sample family has owned many military vehicle  , currently Jason is working on his 1944 Willys MB.

 

 

Lyle Wold Board Member

Biography of Sergeant Major Lyle Wold (Ret.)

LYLE WOLD – Acting Division Command Sergeant Major Jan 09 to Sep 09

Sergeant Major (SGM) Lyle W. Wold’s assignments consisted of both staff and line assignments. As a Combat Engineer in the 162ndEngineer Company, he served as a Squad Leader, Platoon Sergeant, Brigade Engineer, and First Sergeant. At the OregonMilitaryAcademy, SGM Wold was an Instructor and performed as the Director of Instruction. He also served as Operations SGM, for the 82nd Airborne Corps Rear Operations Center I Corps; Base SGM at Camp Virginia, Kuwait and LSA Anaconda, Iraq. He was acting 104thDivision Command Sergeant Major from January 2009 to September 2009. He retired from the Army Reserves in 2012.

His military education includes the Light Air Defense Artillery Crewman, Light Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic, Combat Engineer NCO Course, Infantryman Course, Intelligence Analyst Course, Small Group Instructor Course, Instructor Training Course, Battalion Training Management Course, the Basic, Advanced and Senior NCO Course, First Sergeant Course and Sergeant Major Academy.

He is active in several community activities and serves on the board of directors for three non-profit organizations.