Former Marine wins painting company give-a-way

Revolution Painting Company recently held its first annual “Helping One Veteran At a Time” promotional giveaway and the winner was Vancouver resident Brandon Smith.

Shayne Tweedell, owner of Revolution Painting said “It’s kind of ironic. It was a computer-generated program that chose the winner but, selectively, he would’ve won. His story touched me.”

Smith is an 11-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, the same branch that Tweedell served in. Interestingly, Smith’s service began in 1996, after graduating from Columbia River High School, which is the same year that Tweedell was honorably discharged.

“(I joined the Marine Corps) simply because I wanted to serve my country and I wanted to be with the best branch,” Smith said.

The majority of his time was served in the infantry. Several years into his enlistment, Smith became a Primary Marksmanship Instructor, training new recruits on the M16 rifle, M9 pistol and other standard issue weapons. Simultaneously he worked as a Field Instructor, teaching soldiers everything that a Marine is required to know and do in a combat scenario.

Smith said that these two posts married his particular passions - shooting and teaching. He went on to say that the proper and professional training of new Marines is important to him and, while enlisted, it was his desire to be involved in their development. In any given week Smith would work with 200-300 recruits on his firing line and field weeks would involve from three-six platoons.

After being honorably discharged in 2007, Smith found the first couple of years very difficult. Transitioning back into civilian life and the mentality that comes with that had its challenges. He’s been doing well since then and his 11-year old son, Gavin, has made day-to-day life that much easier. Smith said that Gavin was his sole motivation for leaving the Marine Corps and he’s now concentrating on being as much of a full-time dad as possible. In fact, there’s a definite sense of pride in his voice as he shares that his son is in the highly-capable program at Hockinson Heights Elementary School, which provides advanced learning to students.

Smith has worked at Sonitrol of SW Washington for nearly four years, providing security, fire, camera and access control systems to commercial companies as well as some residential. Even still, keeping up with much-needed home repairs is difficult. Winning the “Helping One Veteran At a Time” giveaway means a lot to him.

“It definitely lets me know that my house is going to be better protected from the weather and the elements and will allow me to apply those funds to a bathroom remodel that is also desperately needed,” Smith said.

According to Tweedell, Smith lives in a 1940-ish home. Revolution Painting plans to assess the exterior of the house to see if it’s salvageable because Smith is uncertain if the siding is beyond repair. If it is, he can choose to have the entire interior painted. Miller Paint has donated the paint for the project.

In discussing his “Helping One Veteran At a Time” giveaway with other area businesses, Tweedell said that Dan Joner, the owner of Country Road Carpet Cleaning, had offered a full interior carpet cleaning to the winner of the giveaway. A generous offer indeed that Smith is regrettably unable to take him up on since his property has no carpet.

Tweedell’s inspiration for his giveaway comes from his own experiences. As a veteran of the Somali era, he has first-hand knowledge of what Smith and so many other soldiers returning home deal with.

“You know, things happened over there that don’t necessarily make your life easier. I had a lot of veterans who helped me out. There are a lot of groups out there that I didn’t know existed that help veterans,” Tweedell said.

For more information about Revolution Painting Company, call (360) 241-3352, email revolutionpainting@yahoo.com or go to www.facebook.com/revolutionpainting.