Hi, I am Philippine Paul! Welcome U.S. Veterans to the Philippines was constructed, primarily due to the numerous messages that I receive almost weekly via Facebook (FB) Messaging from Veterans that were referred to me by another Veteran that I helped in the past. I have been in Customer Service all of my life, starting out with a home business when I was only 14-years old, cutting grass and shoveling snow for customers in Cheektowaga (a suburb of Buffalo), New York. To increase my incoming revenue, I sold Matches (supplied by Superior Match Company) to various fast food eateries and restaurants (which shocked my Dad, as I was only 15-years old at the time). At Age 16, I went onto working at my Parish Catholic Church, (providing security for numerous customer’s vehicles, as they enjoyed themselves playing bingo). At Age 17, I worked for Dairy Queen (as a “Soda Jerk”, accepting customer orders for various types of soft ice cream products). At Age 18, I went off to college and continued worked as a Stock Boy / Bagger for Tops Supermarkets. After my first year of college, I worked for Sears & Roebuck Company (Receipt and Delivery Department). I then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) 6/69, and, was assigned as a 702X0 (Administrative Career Field) with a Special Identifier 314 (Postal and Courier Service), serving all over the globe with 3-tours in Thailand in support of the Vietnam War, 6-years (4-tours) in South Korea and, 1-tour (3-years) in Japan, with temporary deployments to Denmark, Okinawa and, the Philippines (with 5-Stateside Assignments). (NOTE: During my time in the Air Force, I worked part-time as a Sales Clerk in a Liquor Store; once again with Sears & Roebuck (Receipt and Delivery Department) and, The Broadway, in their Men’s Clothing Department.) Upon being Honorably Retired from the USAF, I applied for a Customer Service position working with ASC Pacific (an Australian-American Architectural Roof and Wall Company), as an “Inside Salesman” in Customer Service, quickly realizing that this wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and resigned, providing my supervisor with 30-days notice. He was shocked, telling me that most people up and quit with no notification ever, even going onto say that the “Air Force must have really trained me well”. I then accepted employment to manage the Military Postal Service Facility at McClellan AFB and while employed, took a Federal Service Exam for the U.S. Postal Service and, hired to work as a Mail Carrier. However, after working only 3-months, I developed “Water on the Left Knee” (due to the 40-pound mail bag I carried daily over my left shoulder). The departing remarks from my supervisor was “We normally don’t get people of your age to work as Mail Carriers, as most Veterans serve 4-years and, then go to work for the U.S. Postal Service”. I then took my Civil Service Exams (both for the State of California and, for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD – The Electric Company)), successfully passing both exams. The State of California Employment Office couldn’t promise me, employment for more than a year (due to a downturn in the economy – 1991). Whereas SMUD, was impressed in my USAF background and, immediately hired me, assigning me to Customer Service, (working with customers both in-person and via telephonically). I then made a decision to apply for Energy Services, working directly with customers and on the phone, providing what I personally felt to be, the best customer service experience to all my SMUD Customers. In the process, I received numerous accolades from various sources (to include those whom I worked with at SMUD), right up to my eventual retirement from SMUD.
So, after having a Total Right Knee Replacement (which took several months to heal) and not one to retire so quickly, I then applied for a Customer Service Position with Elk Grove Toyota, working in their Customer Service Department (in the office, on the Service Driveway and, operating a Customer Service Shuttle Van), officially retiring after 3-years and 9-months at Age 63. (NOTE: In May 2014, my Philippine-American Spouse and I permanently moved to the Philippines (Clarin, Misamis Occidental, Mindanao), where we have a 1300-square foot / 120-square meter home and, are happily retired here.)
Thus, my primary interest, has always been trying to provide the ultimate customer service experience for anyone that I come into contact with, continuing to do so right up to today. When considering a permanent move to the Philippines in the Summer of 2012, I served as a Moderator for a Facebook (FB) Veterans Site for 6-years and, after deciding that I didn’t like the direction that this “Site” was heading, I resigned. Within a matter of several hours, (3/7/2019), I was contacted by another U.S. Army Veteran Friend of mine, to see if I was interested in creating a new FB Veteran’s Site, (which was originally titled “American Veterans in the Philippines”) and several years later, we decided to change course with our title name, renaming it “Am-Vets in the Philippines“ (which is what it is today). Over the course of 7-years as a Moderator and 4-years, as an Administrator, I have written numerous Veteran Articles as to what it takes to make a successful move to the Philippines (using myself, my family members and, friends to relate to), providing factual information (which is now mentioned in this Blog Site). During the early months of the Pandemic, I thought that this would be a good time as ever, to create my own personal blogsite titled “Mabuhay US Veterans” (which has now been changed to read as “Welcome U.S. Veterans to the Philippines“), providing the same information that I have been doing to date on other FB Veteran Sites. As with any website, I continue to provide up-to-date information from various Veteran Sources for ALL Veterans to be aware of, with numerous articles pertaining to Banking, Construction, Filing VA Disability Claims, Healthcare, Travel, Vet Info, Visas (to name a few).
So, please feel free to follow along with me on my site and, of course, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me via welcomeusveteranstothephilippines@outlook.com
Welcome U.S. Veterans to the Philippines 