Dawn Kaufman

Please help me congratulate Dawn Kaufman, VOTM for August. 

Dawn is a graduate of Center Point-Urbana High School, class of 1985. She wanted to join the service ever since getting to repel down the side of the school with the National Guard recruiters in 7th grade. So in 1986 she signed up for the Navy and left for 8 weeks of basic training in Orlando FL. Dawn also had quite a family history of service. She had 6 Aunts and Uncles that had also served in the Navy and her Grandmas brother served in WWI and was taking as a prisoner of war. After her basic training she was assigned to Electronics School at Great Lakes Naval Base. A year later she graduated her school and was assigned to the Naval Oceans Systems Center at Point Loma CA. There she worked on electronic communications systems and radios. While there she was selected to be the Captain’s driver and she said that was her best job there. Learned a lot about the Navy from driving the commander around. After her 2-1/2 years there she was selected to go to Ft Gordon GA where she trained on crypto logical equipment which allows for secure communications between ships. After training she was sent to San Clemente Island CA. There she would fly out to the island for a week on duty then come back to San Diego for a week off duty. She had a lot of fun experiences on the island watching fighters do their carrier qualifications and a lot of other things. Dawn spent 8 years in the Navy. 7 on active duty and 1 in the reserves. She separated as a Petty Officer 3rd class. She became a district manager at U-Haul and went to business school on the GI Bill. After doing that for a while she became a stay at home mom to Blake and Britney. Blake followed his parent’s footsteps and joined the Navy and is still serving today. In 2014 she went back to work in the school system and is the food services manager in the Cedar Rapids school district. She enjoys spending time with her family and being involved in the American Legion! Thank you for your service Dawn.