June 2015 – American Legion Frederick & John Ravin Post 134

War and games are no strangers. From Roman legionaries tossing knucklebones, to a card game on a box of field rations, something about a battlefield beckons us to test our luck and skill. It’s no wonder Game Nights are such a big hit here at Post 134. This Friday, two of our own will be demonstrating a battle game they invented.

Jaerod and Andrew are veterans of the Iraq War and long-time friends who joined the National Guard together in high school. They’ve been playing tabletop games and designing their own for years, and finally decided to make one to share with the world, Yargo!

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Yargo is a two player battle game in a wooden pirate chest. Each player controls a ship full of pirates and takes turns trying to eliminate the other crew. The gameplay is strongly influenced by Chess, simple design with a focus on strategy and tactics.

Andrew Newell and Jaerod Case will be hosting a live demonstration of their new pirate board game, Yargo, on Friday June 26, 7:00pm at Post 134.

Thank you so much to the Oregon Humanities! You’ve touched so many lives with this group.

Last night was an amazing experience and it maybe one of the only times this has every happened. Our guest speakers were Tiffany, Ghaith, and Layth Sahib. Ghaith and his brother Layth stayed late to speak to Iraq combat veterans and the rest of the group and tell us about their experience of being in Baghdad the day the war began. Saddam was on the radio telling the people everything was fine and the US infidels were on the run and a half hour later US troops were walking the roads and US tanks were driving the streets. We had an intense and meaningful conversation that was truly amazing. Tiffany spoke about her work trying to help stop the sex trade in Portland and how she met Ghaith while in Amsterdam and all the obstacles in their relationship. It was all truly inspiring and a perspective hardly ever heard from. This group is so important that we will keep it going after summer whether the Oregon Humanities funds us or not. We are bridging the gap between veterans, their family members, and civilians and reading great literature and poetry and writing our own. Our first anthology of the works created in the class will be out soon. Our first reading as a group will be at the Returning Veterans Project’s 10 year anniversary party on the Fourth of July at the Red Lion on Haden Island. Everyone is welcome. For more information on that email me at Sean@post134.com.

Here are some photos of the event last night: