Game Night with the Sonoma Chapter of The Stacks!
By Anthony Keeton
On November 11, 2017, The Sonoma County Stack traveled to Applebee’s in Corte Madera to enjoy a delicious meal together. It was an amazing sight seeing all the Veterans together at the same table.
From there, we traveled to the Microsoft Store in Corte Madera for a night of gaming. Once we arrived, we were shown to the table set up with eight GAEMS Vanguards each coupled with Xbox One S. There were many choices of games as we were able to play the new Call of Duty World War 2, Madden 18, NBA 2k18, Forza 7 and Overwatch. By far, the two most played games were Call of Duty World War 2 and Forza 7. The Microsoft Store provided everyone in attendance swag bags.
Mat from the Rohnert Park Veteran Center created a poster for the event and printed a full-size poster for all the Veterans to sign and present to the Microsoft Store to show our appreciation for hosting us. The store closed its doors at 1900 hours to the public and the entire store was open only to Stack-Up and Veterans. Josh, the Store Manager, and Trevor, their Gaming expert were fantastic hosts and made us feel very welcome in their store.
StackUpRex, the famed mascot of the Stacks, also made a special appearance for the first time at a LAN Zone Event. He greeted everyone in attendance while also enjoying a few video games (He is a terrible driver by the way).
Some words from Mat:
“This year we were able to build on last year’s idea of getting Vets together for a free meal and spend the night gaming. Anthony had been hinting about the possibility of spending the evening at the Microsoft store and we were hooked on the idea from the get-go. Despite the horrible traffic, and starting a little late- we made it to Applebee’s and had a great time socializing and getting full. The folks at Microsoft were helpful, kind, and had a great set up for us to game on.
Many of us were excited about the possibility of trying out Virtual Reality for the first time- they had three stations available! Time flew by and soon we had to end our evening but not before taking a great group picture with the staff. On a personal level, I was filled with joy to see that we broke last year’s attendance record and hearing how everyone had a good time. Thank you to everyone who participated in the event with a special shout out to Microsoft for opening their doors to us for the evening and Juan for dishing out free games for the group!”
Overall, it was an incredible night of gaming, brotherhood/sisterhood, and bonding that helped this group of amazing people lets the worries of everyday life fade away for a few hours. I am honored and blessed to be a part of this group of Veterans known as the Sonoma County Stack (formerly the San Francisco Bay Area Stack). I would also like to thank Stack-Up for providing me with a platform for which to give back to my fellow brothers and sisters in arms.
