Veterans Committee Chair Donald Nobles (left) and RTC member Fred Kapp attend a committee meet and greet at UFT headquarters in New York in late 2023.
UFT retirees are welcome to join the UFT Veterans Committee.
The committee advocates on behalf of UFT members who serve or have served in the nation’s armed services, provides opportunities for fellow veterans to get to know one another, and shares information on programs and services available to veterans.
“We are trying to help veterans who haven’t been reached yet,” said Donald Nobles, the chair of the committee and a retired high school teacher and U.S. Air Force veteran. “Many are not aware of the benefits they are entitled to.”
The committee meets monthly, usually on Zoom. Guest speaker Brett Cotter joined a recent meeting to speak about his book, “3 Keys to Managing PTSD: The Warrior’s Guide to Overcoming Combat Trauma.” Committee members had their first in-person gathering since the pandemic at UFT headquarters in Manhattan in November.
“There’s a lot of camaraderie,” said retired teacher Fred Kapp, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam. “You can relate to fellow veterans who have been in the armed forces. We have something very much in common.”
To enroll in the UFT Veterans Committee or any other UFT professional committee, log in to the UFT Member Hub and go to the professional committee enrollment page. For more information about the committee, email vets@uft.org.