Pin-Ups For Vets just released the 10th anniversary edition of its of the nonprofit’s popular annual calendar, and the Marine veteran behind "Terminal Lance" is one of five men featured this year.
Maximilian Uriarte, creator of the "Terminal Lance" comic is one of 17 military veterans modeling World War II-era clothing for the 2016 edition of the calendar. Nearly half of those photographed by the project organized each year by the nonprofit were Marines. The 2016 edition features 17 military veterans – 12 women and five men – modeling WWII-era vintage clothing. Eight of the veterans are Marines, including Maximilian Uriarte, creator of Terminal Lance.
"It's more than a calendar," Uriarte told Marine Corps Times. "It's a good cause, and the organization's proceeds are going to charity."
The calendar is the flagship for Pin-Ups For Vets and allows them to do what they do best — supporting the men and women who currently or previously served this country.
Its pin-up models are dedicated to improving the lives of hospitalized veterans and deployed troops. They volunteer their time visiting the ill and injured in hospitals, sitting down and listening to their stories, donating money and equipment to Veterans Affairs hospitals, and they sending prolific care packages to the deployed those downrange.
"Many of the patients we visit do not have friends or family nearby, so it means a lot to them to know that people are out there that care and appreciate their service," said founder and CEO Gina Elise, Pin-Ups For Vets' founder and CEO told Marine Corps Times. "They often say, ‘When you’re here, my pain is gone.’ That’s the best thing that I could hear."
Elise, the granddaughter of a World War II Army veteran, Veteran – has always been a big fan of of WWII aircraft nose art from that era, which featured: beautiful images to remind troops reminding GIs of what they were fighting for back home. In 2006, she was deeply struck by media reports of the high influx of service members into the VA system who needed care, and felt strongly that she needed to do her part for them.
So she followed her heart, bringing her love of those 1940s images forward into the living present with the pin-up calendar.
"I have such a strong admiration for our nation's service members and veterans and am very aware of the sacrifices they make on a daily basis," Elise said. "I wanted to create something that would give back to them."
Pin-Ups For Vets became a vehicle to channel this support. Over the last 10 ten years, the nonprofit has been able to accomplish many of its goals, including: its record speaks for itself:
- Donating more than Over $50,000 worth of state-of-the-art rehabilitation equipment donated to VA and military hospitals across the nation.
- Making more than Over 7,000 individual visits to ill and injured veterans at their bedsides in 54 VA hospitals, military hospitals and veterans’ homes.
- Making morale and welfare visits to 23 military bases, including wounded service members at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
- Sending thousands of care packages shipped to deployed service members.
Pin-Ups For Vets is also currently in the middle of a 50-state VA and military hospital tour, donating calendars as gifts of appreciation, with a lipstick kiss implanted on the patient's birthday.
The organization's morale-boosting efforts have of Pin-Ups For Vets has won Ccongressional recognition and numerous community service awards, and Elise herself has been awarded the honorary rank of Ccolonel in the American Legion.
Richard Maxey, the Oklahoma VA hospital chief of volunteer services, wrote to Elise and her team to tell them their visit was the best he has experienced.
"The impact of the time you took to providing a smile, good conversation, and most importantly, the recognition to our valuable veterans is not expressible by mere words," Oklahoma VA hospital chief of volunteer services Richard Maxey wrote the organization. "Your visit was simply the best visit I have been part of since my beginning as Voluntary Services Chief."
All models featured in the 2016 calendar are themselves military veterans, including runway model-turned Marine Jovane Marie.
Marie was modeling in Tokyo, Japan, when she joined the Marine Corps in 2008, serving in Okinawa and then Camp Pendleton, California. She met Gina Elise after she left the service EAS’d in 2012 and became impressed with the substance behind Pin-Ups For Vets' mission. She soon began volunteering with the organization and visiting vets in local hospitals.
The calendar shoot allows her to be a part of the two very different worlds as a service member and a model.
"It was never either/or but ‘and’," Marie said. "There is nothing that says that I can’t be a hard-charging Marine and a lipstick-wearing pin-up, so I choose to be both," she said.
She said she is able to connect to the veterans she visits in hospitals since they share the bond of being fellow service members. : she said that as she sat and talked with them,Additionally, Marie added, tThe community of Pin-Ups For Vets models has also proven an invaluable resource for herself as she navigates civilian life.
"It’s not just about makeup and shoes, but the struggles we’ve all been through, from funny boot camp stories to [post-traumatic stress]PTS," Marie said. "It’s so good talking to the girls and hearing their stories to overcome."
The 2016 calendar costs $15.00, and can be directly purchased through the Pin-Ups For Vets websitehere. Those ordering have the option to send the calendar directly to themselves, to an active-duty service member in a care package or as a gift to a hospitalized veteran.
"Someone once told me: 'Why should I care? It's just a bunch of hot girls prancing around,'" Uriarte said. "I told her: 'That's so short-sighted: they're going to hospitals and talking to vets — nothing wrong with that. I'm a vet, and it's all for helping out veterans."
