Washington DC Chapter
est. 2023
VetBaseball’s DC Chapter held its first game of the 2025 season at Nationals Park on June 19. More than 40 veterans were in our party along with several members of our advisory board and some very special guests. We were working in partnership again with the great folks at the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) in Washington, D.C. All of our guests got a ballpark fare lunch; one of our new VetBaseball caps; and, an excellent seat for the game which the Nationals won on a walk off homer in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Several members of our advisory board, including Jan Scruggs and John Weber, our co-chairs, and Alexander “Rusty” Miller, joined us for the game. We were also delighted to host Alexandria, Virginia's Mayor Alyia Gaskins and her family. Mayor Gaskins spoke to our Chapter, and the Gaskins family joined us for the game. The Washington Nationals also honored Mayor Gaskins in a pre-game, on-field ceremony.
This June 19 game marked the beginning of our Chapter’s third VetBaseball season, which may prove to be our best ever. In addition to our second game, when the Nationals play the Miami Marlins on September 3 at Nats Park, the Chapter is taking an AFRH group to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, on Veterans Day 2025.
We can undertake all of these efforts because of the terrific support we’ve received from so many individual supporters and a very generous contribution from the financial services company Fiserv for the trip to Cooperstown. Many, many thanks to all!!
How Our Chapter Started
VetBaseball’s DC Chapter was launched in May 2023. A successful fundraising campaign supported by more than 25 contributors gave the chapter the resources necessary to provide two trips for veterans from the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) in Washington, D.C.
More than 65 veterans saw the Washington Nationals play against the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox.
The Washington DC Chapter has provided a game day experience to over 210 veterans!
Support the Washington DC Chapter!
Washington DC Chapter Advisory Board
Jan Scruggs, Co-Chair
Jan is an Army Infantry veteran of the Vietnam War. He serves as Chairman of the Selective Service National Review Board. He is a Virginia Native born in Washington, D.C.
John Henry Weber, Co- Chair
John was a grenadier with the 1/46th Battalion, 198th Brigade, Americal Division in South Vietnam. He was wounded in action in Quang Tin Province, I-Corps in 1969 and medically retired as a Sp/4 due to his injuries.
David U. Fierst
David is a retired lawyer living in Bethesda. In his childhood he frequented Griffith Stadium where he watched his heroes Roy Sievers, Camilo Pascual and the rest of the Senators lose repeatedly to the New York Yankees. VetBaseball allows him to combine his lifelong love of baseball with the gratitude he owes to his predecessors who defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan: his father in the Army; an uncle in the infantry; another uncle in the Navy; and, his father in law in the Navy.
Hugh B Kaufman
Hugh has been a baseball fan since he was a kid in the 1940s, when he used to go to Washington Senators games at Griffith Stadium in old DC. He was a Captain in the United States Air Force in the 1960s. In 1971 he was one of the engineers who helped start the United States Environmental Protection Agency, where he worked for over 50 years. He was one of the original season-ticket holders when the Washington Nationals came back to DC in 2005.
Alexander “Rusty” Miller
Rusty grew up locally, graduating from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. During a 28-year Army career he had varied assignments in Europe and the United States. Following that, he did consulting work for the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. Rusty and his wife, Carol, have two children (both married) and live in Chevy Chase.
Sue Riseling
Sue was the chief of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, police department for 25 years (1991-2016) and was the first woman to lead a Big Ten university police force. She is a consultant to the law enforcement community; an author (A View from the Interior: Policing the Protests at the Wisconsin State Capitol); and, the chair of Police Leaders for Community Safety, a new national nonpartisan advocacy organization.
Both Alan Duretz, VetBaseball Founder, and Dan Rosenblatt, DC Chapter Director, also serve on this advisory group in an ex officio capacity.