JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas  –   Brooke Army Medical Center staff and patients look forward to a friendly greeting from someone wearing a volunteer vest on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Garden Entrance to the hospital.

John Scanlon, an Air Force retiree with 50 years of combined military and civilian service under his belt, makes it his mission to brighten the spirits of those he encounters.

“When I retired, my wife told me I couldn’t just sit around the house,” he said. “She was already retired and was involved in numerous church and homeless charity activities.”

When Scanlon started volunteering at BAMC more than four years ago, he asked two things; “I didn’t want to be in charge of anything, and I didn’t want to use a computer.”

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