Published in the November 24, 2015 edition

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

LYNNFIELD — The selectmen were duly impressed by the depth and breadth of experience of the five candidates seeking appointment as the town’s next Veterans’ Services Agent.

Navy veteran Bruce Siegel, retired Army Colonel Joseph Connell and Army veterans Dr. Jason Freshman, Stephen Patten and Gerald Shulman appeared before the board Nov. 16 to introduce themselves and explain how their various backgrounds would be an appropriate fit to serve the needs of the town’s veterans.

They seek to succeed Veterans’ Services Agent Jason Kimball, a Marine veteran and attorney who served in the position for two years. Selectmen Chairman Phil Crawford thanked Kimball for his service and noted the sizable crowd that turned out for the Veterans’ Day ceremony Kimball organized on a drizzly day. He said the board would review their resumes and make nominations for the post their Dec. 7 meeting.

“I want to say to all of the Veterans’ Services candidates thank you very much for your service in the past. It is much appreciated for the things you do for the town and for the United States,” Crawford said. “This is certainly quite a group that has come forward.”

Selectman Chris Barrett added, “Usually, it’s difficult to get candidates though of late we’ve gotten a number of great resumes for a number of positions in town and this is another vacancy that has seen tremendous people step forward.”

Bruce Siegel

Bruce Siegel is a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Navy from 1968 to 1972. A resident of town for 18 years, he retired last summer after 21 years as a state auditor, which included 11 years as a senior housing auditor for the state Department of Housing and Community Development and 10 years as an audit supervisor for the Office of the State Auditor. Prior to that, he held positions in accounting.

He told the board that his professional experience lends itself well to this position in helping veterans to obtain their benefits because he “developed the ability to understand laws and regulations” and he has the ability to ensure consistent compliance and transparency in their application. Being retired ensures that he has the time to devote to the position, he said.

“I’ve been active in the town as a veteran for many years. I served the last several years as the Memorial Day parade marshal,” Siegel said, adding that he has worked directly with Kimball, which would make the transition “a very smooth one.”

“I’m very proud to be a Navy veteran and I’m passionate about this position. The sacrifices our veterans have made should not be forgotten. I would welcome the opportunity to assist the veterans of Lynnfield,” Siegel said.

Siegel is a Notary Public, a current member of the LIFE Board of Directors, and a past Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for the Lynnfield Housing Authority. He holds a BS in business administration and accounting from UMass Lowell and a CCS in business administration and management from Harvard University. He is a member of the Lynnfield Historical Society and a lector and choir member at St. Maria Goretti Church.

Colonel (Ret) Joseph Connell

Colonel Joseph Connell retired from the U.S. Army last year after 29 years of service and he is currently the senior operations officers for State Street Bank security in Boston.

He said it would be “a great honor” to serve both active duty and veteran members of the armed forces, their dependents and survivors with the benefits counseling, programs and outreach services that they’ve earned.

“I had a great career. I loved it,” he said. His career took him around the country and around the world. After retiring and finding a home in Lynnfield, where he is raising his young family, he said he wanted to give back in some capacity. He is currently serving as a youth soccer and youth lacrosse coach in town.

“The last couple of jobs I had being Chief of Staff for the Commander of Afghanistan was a pretty difficult, so when I retired, I retired. This job is a perfect fit,” he said, adding he is enjoying being behind the “white picket fence and coaching his kids. “I love this town,” he said.

A sampling of Connell’s career includes serving as Chief of Staff in the U.S. Forces in Kabul, Afghanistan from June 2008 to July 2009, where he provided guidance for synchronization with the Joint Staff in Washington and the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. Prior to that he served with the Combined Joint Task Force with the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan from August 2007 to June 2008 as the Joint Staff Lethal and Non Lethal Coordinator, which was comprised of over 14,000 members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coalition Forces.

He attended the U.S. Army War College at the JFK School of Government at Harvard from 2006-07 and served at the Joint Readiness Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana from 2005 to 2006. He was deployed to Iraq with the 25th Infantry Division from June 2004 to June 2005 and was the Battalion Commander with the 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment at the Schofield Barracks from 2003-05, which was forward deployed in northern Iraq conducting simultaneous combat and stability operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He is a graduate of Wakefield High School; obtained his BA from Norwich University; his MA in Public Administration from Central Michigan University and a National Security Fellowship from Harvard. He holds top secret clearance and has been awarded numerous military honors, including the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

Selectman Tom Terranova said he was very impressed by Connell’s extensive resume. “What you’ve gone through is phenomenal. I was really taken aback. I read your resume three times because there was always something I was missing, it was so extensive. Thank you very much for doing what you did.

“I think your resume speaks for itself – operational management, process development improvement, leadership. I’m just thrilled that you applied for this position,” Terranova said.

Barrett was equally impressed. “I appreciate your most recent work with the war on terror. I agree with Selectman Terranova of the depth of the service you’ve had.”

Dr. Jason Freshman

Dr. Jason Freshman practiced dentistry for 45 years prior to retiring in 2014 and is a 38-year resident of the town. He said when he entered dental school in 1964 he signed up to go into the Army because “I have a younger brother and I knew Vietnam was not going away. They tried to promise me I’d stay in the country and gave me a choice of base. They sent me to Fort Hood from 1968-70.” Freshman was a captain. He spent many years providing dentistry for service members and their families on base on weekends in addition to his private practice in Wakefield.

Freshman said there is a great need to serve older veterans, particularly those who are disabled or have mobility issues and who may not be getting the benefits they deserve due to the difficulty of navigating the system. “There’s no one out there to really help them…My whole focus is to try to help these vets that really have disabilities. If you don’t get the right answers, you walk out the door with no benefits.”

Freshman believes it is unrealistic “to tell people 75 to 80 years old to go to this base and find their way and walk a mile or two” to get assistance.

“There are so many things we could do in Lynnfield to help these people. I thought some of the money that would be paid to the (agent) I would spend to get a small bus every couple of months and take these guys down (to the base). If you’ve been to an Army base, they can be pretty intimidating.”

Stephen Patten

Stephen Patten is currently an Assistant District Attorney for Essex County During his military career with the 82nd Airborne Division, he served with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps both stateside at Fort Bragg and during deployments Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2012 and Bagram, Afghanistan in 2009-10.

Patten said it was “humbling” to be among the peers who were seeking this position. He grew up in West Peabody, where he’s raising his family, and graduated from St. Thomas University in Miami, Fla. and Suffolk Law School in Boston. He became a certified military attorney in 2009 after graduating from the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Va.

“I feel that what I got from the military I could use to help people. As a JAG officer…I was assigned to Fort Bragg and after a couple months they made me the chief of legal assistance. Essentially that meant helping to write wills for soldiers. It also involved family law on the installation and landlord-tenant issues. Following that I got deployed to Afghanistan where I did legal assistance.”

Upon his return to Fort Bragg he served as the military prosecutor until his second deployment to Afghanistan in 2012.

“In Afghanistan, I lost 52 of my friends in 18 months and coming home I decided I wanted to give back and I wanted to really live by ‘Carpe Diem’ and make every day count. I feel that I can use what the military taught me and I can give 110 percent to the veterans of Lynnfield, not only for the services the veterans needs, but also on the holidays, like Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day, to meet the veterans of this town and know they’ll never be forgotten,” Patten said.

Gerald Shulman

Gerald Shulman, a resident of Lynnfield for 40 years, is a retired self-employed attorney who holds a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University, a master’s degree in estate planning from Harvard and his law degree from BU School of Law. He was a member of ROTC in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Leavenworth.

Shulman is presently the Vice Chairman of the Lynnfield Housing Authority and chairman of the Housing Authority’s expansion committee.

“Since my retirement I have plenty of time and would work on this 24/7,” he said. Throughout his career, Shulman found ways to give back to the community, including veterans organizations and leadership positions at his temples. He chaired a Soviet Jewry Committee that brought over 100 Russian Jewish immigrants to the U.S.

“I was chaplain of the Lt. Carl Stein Post of Jewish War Veterans for over 20 years,” he said. He also served as president of Temple Beth Shalom in Peabody and Congregation Tifereth Israel in Everett in addition to being the Chairman of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston and a co-founder of the Israel Tennis Center.

His law career focused on a lot of housing issues as well. If selected as the agent, he would draw upon his organizational abilities and myriad connections to assist local veterans. He has a particular interest in encouraging veterans to “access their rightfully earned entitlements and benefits.”

He recalled that in the aftermath of 9/11, within three days he was able to help organize an ecumenical memorial service attended by over 1,000 people at the Immaculate Conception Church in Everett, where he also delivered a sermon.

“With our ‘Classmates Today, Neighbors Tomorrow’ program in Peabody and Everett and the veterans lodges, we gave scholarships to deserving students in the high schools. I would see that a scholarship was awarded at Lynnfield High School by the Jewish war veterans,” Shulman said.

“I’m very familiar with MGL Ch. 115, which is veterans benefits, as well as other statutes that give veterans benefits,” he said. Shulman has also been volunteering at the Bedford V.A. since his retirement two years ago. He offers assistance to veterans who have “lost arms and legs and helps them to fill out forms, take them to the day room, take them to the mess hall.”

“I understand from my work with a lot people who are active in the veterans organizations, there are 665 veterans in Lynnfield, according to the state Dept. of Veterans Affairs. I think a lot more could be done in Lynnfield if an effort was made,” Shulman believes, particularly to help local veterans access employment opportunities and health benefits.