Of the CalVet employees we’ve featured thus far in our Veterans Serving Veterans series, Jeffrey Thirnbeck exemplifies that day-to-day dedication as much as any.

He’s worked for the past 31 years as a custodian at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville, including at Holderman Hospital, where he ensures the facility is clean and safe for the veterans and spouses who are patients there. Each day brings another opportunity to engage with other veterans, to hear their stories of service and of life.

“I’ve enjoyed all my time here at the Veterans Home,” Thirnbeck said. “Talking ‘shop’ with their experiences is exciting and sad.”

Indeed, those stories can range from boot camp to battle, families to post-service careers, triumphs to tragedies, and everything in between.

His own is pretty good. Rambunctious as a teen, his dad gave him the choice of returning to high school or joining the Navy.  He chose the Navy, enlisting as a 17-year-old in 1972. Thirnbeck spent eight years stateside, then 13 more in the Army National Guard—some of it attached to the 579^th Engineers—which took him to Panama, Honduras, and border duty at San Diego.

“In Honduras, we were flown by helicopter every morning and evening,” he said. “I had a great time building roads … for (access to the) crops and just to move around the inhabitants.”

His military occupation and rank as a sergeant sent him to Germany, where he participated in exercises with an Army unit there; he received a commander’s medal for “taking out” a tank. In 1992, his Reserve Guard unit came to the Yountville Home to haul away some old radio gear.

“I remember driving up in our five-ton (truck), and everyone (at the Home) was pretty excited about it,” Thirnbeck said. Impressed by the Home, he applied to work there and was hired on in July 1992. He has been there ever since, caring for its facilities and, by extension, the veterans themselves—listening to their stories.

Three stand out among the thousands he’s heard at Yountville over the past 30-plus years, all from veterans who since have passed.

“One (veteran) joined to become a pilot, and after two months of training, the war ended,” Thirnbeck said. The would-be pilot was given credit, pay, and status for his entire two-year hitch. “He was in for 60 days and got (credit for) full duty.”

Another, Thirnbeck said, had been on a destroyer that sank during World War II.

“He was like Kennedy,” he said, referring to John F. Kennedy’s heroics with the P.T. 109. “He saved 8 to 10 guys, swimming through oil in the water, and got a Purple Heart.”

The third veteran raised more questions than he answered, Thirnbeck said. “He’d been a pilot in the CIA,” he said. “It was all top secret.” Thirnbeck still is not sure which type of plane the veteran, also now deceased, flew. He knew only that it was a spy plane. “He couldn’t tell us,” Thirnbeck said.

What Thirnbeck can tell us is that he will retire in January 2024, and won’t be at Yountville to tend to the new 240-bed skilled nursing facility that will replace 91-year-old Holderman Skilled Nursing Facility in 2025.

But he won’t be a stranger. There are more vets to chat up, more stories to swap.

“I will continue to visit here after my retirement,” he said.

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This is one of a series of CalVet Connect posts introducing you to CalVet employees who are veterans of the United States Armed Forces—thus, “Veterans Serving Veterans.”

The Veterans Homes of California system of care offers affordable long-term care to older and disabled veterans as well as their eligible spouses and domestic partners. With eight facilities across the state, the services offered range from assisted living programs with minimal support to 24-hour skilled nursing care for veterans with significant clinical needs including memory care.

CalVet staff are uniquely capable of serving the needs of our veterans and provide an environment that honors their service to the country. The Veterans Homes are nationally recognized for the premier care and services they provide to California’s veterans. ​For more information on the Homes visit www.calvet.ca.gov/calvet-programs/veteran-homes.

Would you like the opportunity to serve veterans in your work? Join the CalVet team! We are dedicated to ensuring that veterans from every era, along with their families, receive the state and federal benefits and services they have earned and deserve due to their selfless and honorable military service. At CalVet, we prioritize serving veterans and their families with dignity, compassion, and a commitment to helping them achieve the highest quality of life. See our current job openings at www.calvet.ca.gov/jobs.