We Honor Our Veterans Aaron D. Boeder and Cesar Salinas

This Veteran’s Day, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard wants to honor our Veterans by sharing their experience serving our country. Their courage, honor, and commitment are admirable to all, and their unselfish manner will never go unnoticed.

Partner Aaron D. Boeder was commissioned as an armor lieutenant when he graduated from The Ohio State University. He served as a platoon leader and executive officer in a unit that was deployed to Kosovo for peacekeeping purposes. He was deployed to Kosovo in the early 2000s, where he and his platoon served as leaders for six towns helping to prevent the Serbians and Albanians from having ethical conflict. Throughout his time, he learned a lot about the value of teamwork.

“In the military, you put your mission first, and as a leader, you put your men before yourself. But ultimately, you have to accomplish the mission to the best of your ability and you have to get your team to accomplish some goal or some duty.” Aaron said. “My biggest takeaway from serving in the military is to put everyone ahead of yourself and as a leader, if something goes wrong, take accountability. You’re responsible for developing your team whether it’s in the military or as a lawyer or as anything else. You need to put your team first and help them develop because the better they are, the better you’ll all do” he added.

He served in the Army National Guard for six years and was an inactive Army National Guard for two years and then resigned his commission after a total of 8 years.

Aaron had always been fascinated with the military, history and the idea of service to your country. He also had grandparents that served in the World War II era that he admired.

Click here for a 2016 Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article that takes a closer look at Aaron’s work in Kosovo and how it has shaped his work as a personal injury lawyer:

Director of IT, Cesar Salinas, is a Marine veteran of 1st Battalion 4th Marines 1st Marine Division stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA from 1986-1992. During his time with the Marines, Cesar was deployed with the 13th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit), participating in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm of the Gulf War. He ended his career as the Separations Specialist for the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. All qualified active duty personnel’s End of Active Services (EAS) were put on hold during the Gulf War. When the war had ended there was a flood of discharges, Cesar was responsible to process everyone’s release of active duty, including his own.

During his time, he was taught the value of hard work, preparation and understanding that no detail is too small but more importantly, its the belief that you are the only one that can set your limits. The Germans nicknamed them “Teufel hundens” (Devil Dogs) during the battle of Belleau Woods because of the relentless and ferocious fight in Marines, its ingrained in every Marines.

When Cesar was asked what advice he would give to people thinking about joining the military, he said “I joined when there wasn’t an ongoing conflicts, my reasons when I joined were more personal, I never thought I would have found myself in the middle of war. I have so much respect for the men and women that join or are considering signing up these days – my only advice is no matter how difficult things get, keep the faith – Semper Fidelis”

There are many things he continues within his everyday life that he picked up from his time in the Marines including everything from the mundane routines of Field Day Thursdays, morning PT’s, squaring away his uniform (pressing his clothes every day), showing deep respect during the playing of our national anthem to even the mindset he carries – the expectations he place on myself, the dedication he commit to his family, his colleagues, our clients. He is proud to have earned the title Marine.

We are so thankful for your service and honored to work alongside you, Aaron and Cesar!

We wholeheartedly thank all Veterans today and every day. The personal sacrifices and risks taken for our country are appreciated by all and respected to no end.