A retired command sergeant major who seems to spend every waking minute volunteering with the USO has won the organization’s Volunteer of the Quarter title.

Herb Schmeling (with whom Joe and I spoke before heading to Iraq last year), was one of four people recognized worldwide as such. Here’s the description from the USO’s Web site:

USO Puget Sound Area (USO PSA) volunteer, Herb Schmeling continuously gives his all to the USO, putting our nation’s service members first. As one of the center’s most committed volunteers, he regularly gives 60-80 hours a month, and is always

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Last year was a busy year for the area’s military population: The Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team was in Iraq during the first half of the year, and 18,000 troops from Fort Lewis deployed to the Middle East or Afghanistan. Airmen from McChord served across the world on deployments.

So it’s perhaps no surprise – yet no less laudable – that the USO Puget Sound Area announced yesterday is served a record number of troops during 2009: more than 439,000 people.

It’s the second consecutive year the nonprofit helping service members and their families has set a record. …

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The flight wasn’t expected to take off for four hours, so Lt. Donovan Cozzens tucked into the USO center at McChord Air Force Base. The reservist from Alexandria, Va., grabbed a hot dog and some unsweetened tea and buried himself into a couch.

“The USO’s great,” he said. “They’re always very accommodating, no matter where we go.”

Cozzens is the headquarters company commander for the 396th Signal Battalion, which left McChord early Monday morning after three months of mobilization training at Fort Lewis.

And because the battalion was leaving, the volunteers of the USO were prepared to work. …

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