Weekend for Warriors

11/11/2025

Happy Veterans Day. Thank you to all who have served our country and allow us to enjoy our freedoms that we take for granted every day.

11/10/2025

Happy 250th Birthday to the United States Marine Corps and all our Marines out there! Semper Fidelis!

10/06/2025

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10/06/2025

10/06/2025

This year was more incredible than words can say. Thank you to our amazing honorees, our sponsors and donors, and all those who attended our event in honor of these incredible men.

Our 7th Annual Weekend for Warriors event was perfect, and what a special group we had the honor of hosting this year!

09/30/2025

Join us October 5th from 4-6pm at Mahoney's Irish Pub in Poughkeepsie to honor this year's 4 combat Veterans! Tickets can be purchased at the door or at www.weekendforwarriors.com

09/29/2025

Join us on Sunday, October 5th to hear from our keynote speaker, John Nawoichyk!

John Nawoichyk currently serves as the Director of Security, Operations, Strategic Planning and Training at the US Army Garrison - West Point, New York. He joined the Garrison after serving 9 years as the Senior Associate Athletics Director - Operations in the Army West Point Athletics Department. John retired from the US Army in 2018 as a Lieutenant Colonel with over 25 years of service, including five combat and operational deployments. He is an experienced, combat tested executive manager and logistician with over 32 years of leadership, logistics and management experience in large, diverse, multi-agency, multi-national organizations. Skilled at complex problem solving with proven track record of delivering on initiatives and accomplishing objectives. Adept at counseling, leader development, and personnel development using proven techniques that result in both organizational and personal growth.

09/23/2025

Presenting our fourth honoree for this year, Mario Claussell - US Army!

Mario Claussell enlisted in the Regular U.S. Army in 1966 and served during the Vietnam Conflict from 1967 to 1968, continuing in combat and combat support roles until 2013. From 1972 to 2013, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Ready Reserve, retiring due to combat-related conditions. Over the course of his military career, he completed rigorous, multidisciplinary training that supported his professional advancement, with assignments that included the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, and several national intelligence agencies. In the final nine years of his service, Claussell was primarily based in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia, where he served as a Special Representative and Military Liaison with frequent temporary duty assignments.

He is currently the Senior Vice Commander of VFW Post 5034 and holds Life Memberships with both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Vietnam Veterans of America; he is also a member of American Legion Post 72 in Saugerties, New York. Alongside his military service, Claussell built a successful civilian career, working as a Detective Investigator with the Bronx and Suffolk County District Attorney’s Offices and later as a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. He concluded his public service in 2016 as a Racing Investigator for the New York State Gaming Commission. Claussell has been married to his wife, Susan, for 50 years. They have two sons, both U.S. Army veterans, and two granddaughters. His personal interests include fly fishing and the study of philosophy and ancient history.

09/23/2025

Presenting our third honoree for this year, Justin Hogan - United States Marine Corps!

Justin Hogan grew up in Wingdale, NY and graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes High School in 2005. Justin enlisted in the Marine Corps shortly after completing a semester at Dutchess Community College in December of 2005. He completed Boot Camp at Parris Island, SC with MOS 2671- Middle East Cryptologic Linguist. After completing Marine Combat Training in Camp Geiger, NC, Justin continued his training at the Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language Center in Monterey, CA and completed the Basic Arabic Course. Justin then went on to Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) training in San Angelo, TX and Iraqi Dialect training in Ft. Gordon, GA before finally being stationed with the 2nd Radio Battalion at Camp Lejeune, NC. Justin would go on to deploy to Iraq on two 7 month deployments with only 5 months in between instead of the normal 1-2 years.

On his first deployment to the city of Hit, Iraq in 2007-2008, Justin was a member of a mobile SIGINT team, mainly providing intelligence support and actively locating High Value Targets with Naval Special Warfare Teams. Justin also monitored and translated the communications between Iraqi and US Forces at P.O.E. Arar on the Iraq/Saudi border during the 2007 Hajj. In 2008-2009, Justin was redeployed to Al Asad Airbase where he provided SIGINT support and instructed Land Navigation classes to Iraqi Military Officers. Justin transitioned back to civilian life in late 2010 and was Honorably Discharged in 2013. Justin currently serves as a Deputy Sheriff for the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, where he has been employed for the last 10 years. Justin is married to his amazing wife, Amber, and has 3 beautiful children ages seven, eleven and fifteen.

09/10/2025

Our next honoree announcement is Nathan Grant aka "Nate the Great!"

Nathan B. Grant is affectionately known around the Hudson Valley as “Nate the Great,” a nickname he has more than earned for his years of service to the community. Nathan B. Grant was born in Virginia and raised in a small town in North Carolina, the youngest of 12 children. Nate grew up during very difficult times, after graduation from High School, Nate was offered a baseball scholarship to Fisk University in Nashville Tennessee, an offer he declined.
Drafted as a young man and deployed to Vietnam, Nate served in the United States Army as a “tunnel rat,” a job which entailed crawling into a tunnel (a tunnel initially dug by the Viet Cong, which led to their underground bunkers) to see if the tunnel was empty. His duty posed the terrifying risk of finding the tunnel occupied which would bring him face to face with the enemy, in combat, in extremely tight quarters. Nate’s only protection was a fellow soldier behind him holding a gun over Nate’s shoulder so that if Nate were to see any signs of the enemy, he would duck which would signal his battle buddy to shoot. This is the type of courage and bravery this Vietnam Veteran is made of. Nate served his country and returned home from Vietnam and worked until his retirement in 1994. Nate has embodied the spirit of giving and sacrifice, instilled in him since childhood.