Many long time automotive aftermarket industry insiders will remember Paul Baffico as the onetime president of the Sears Automotive Group and CEO of Western Auto. They also will remember him as an individual who, after a 37-year stint at Sears Roebuck & Company working his way up through the ranks, retired in 1999 at the relatively young age of 53. His last act was the sale of Western Auto to Advance Auto Parts.
But what was hidden from most were the wounds Baffico carried after a traumatic tour of duty in an unpopular war in Vietnam. It was not until after retirement that he began to process his war experience, which ultimately led him into a second career of giving back to other veterans who had faced similar psychological and physical wounds.
Called to serve
Baffico served his country with distinction as a member of the U.S. military. A 1968 Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) graduate from the University of San Francisco, he earned a B.A. degree in psychology. Achieving the rank of 1st Lieutenant, Baffico was a member of the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971.
Like many men of his era, the marking point of his military career was 10 months of combat duty from 1970-71 in the Vietnam War as a communications platoon leader in the 101st Airborne rappelling out of helicopters to set up communications for soldiers on the front lines. Baffico, a self-described “reluctant participant,” flew in 206 combat assaults earning the Bronze Star and the Air Medal.
“When I came back from Vietnam in January 1971 to my hometown of San Francisco, it was the classic experience of most Vietnam vets,” explained Baffico. “I was spit on, I had urine and paint thrown on me.”
After checking papers at Travis Air Force just northeast of San Francisco, he got in a car with his father and his future wife and drove home. “I had to take the uniform off as fast as I could because we were getting flipped off and shouted invectives,” recalls Baffico of the harsh reception he received.
That was a Tuesday and by the next Monday he was taking graduate school classes. “I slammed the door on Vietnam as hard as I could, I slammed it as fast I could,” explained Baffico. He got married and after one semester quit graduate school because it was “unstimulating.”
He returned to Sears and buried himself in his career, unaware that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Encountering the Wall
“The job that I had (with Sears) was extremely intense because we were the profit engine of the company,” said Baffico. Interestingly, all of Baffico’s jobs during his career at Sears were all turnaround assignments.
“In retrospect, I’ve been able to see that for me that was similar enough to the adrenaline rush of combat to keep my mind occupied.”
In 1988 Baffico first encountered the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which is often described as “The Wall That Heals.” Dedicated in 1982 to honor “the men and women who served in the controversial Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial chronologically lists the names of more than 58,000 Americans who gave their lives in service to their country.”
For Baffico the healing did not happen on his first trip. He had taken his son Jeff to Washington, D.C. in 1988 to complete a school tour that Jeff had missed with his classmates. Baffico vowed to Jeff that they would go to all the same sites as his classmates, which included a stop at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
When they ended up at the Wall, his son just happened to be standing next to the panels that listed two of the five men under Baffico’s command that he had lost during his time in Vietnam. After briefly explaining to Jeff about the men he lost, he said, “Jeff, I’ve got to get out of here.”
Baffico said the war experience was something he couldn’t explain to his two sons, they only knew that Dad didn’t watch movies like “Apocalypse Now” or “The Deer Hunter,” or go camping.
After a divorce and subsequent remarriage, his new wife a “theologian/philosopher” encouraged Baffico to return to the Wall to “go talk to your guys.”
“I took her seriously and said: ‘OK, but I have to do this alone. I can’t have anybody around me, I don’t need anybody to hug or cry or anything like that.’”
So in March of 2006, he was in Washington, D.C. with his wife visiting her son. They dropped Baffico off at the site of the memorial, located at the corner of Henry Bacon Drive and Constitution Ave. He told her, “Give me about 20 minutes or so.”
“It was snowing and it was cold, and all I had on was a sweater,” explained Baffico. “I had my hands in my pockets and I kept thinking ‘Why am I doing this?’”
He ended up encountering a docent serving at the Wall. After initially asking to be left alone, the two men ended up talking.
“We had identical backgrounds, even though he grew up in Georgia and I grew up in San Francisco,” said Baffico. “As I was getting ready to leave, he said, ‘Have you ever thought about volunteering yourself?’
I said, “No, I live in Chicago.” He said, “You know of all of the time I’ve been home, this is the only safe place to be.” And I said, “That makes a lot of sense.”
So he reluctantly gave his new friend, Leroy, his business card and said he would consider his request.
Baffico met up with his wife who had been patiently waiting for him to return and he told her, “I’m sorry it took so long.”
His wife said, “We’ve been here for about 30 minutes, but it seemed like that was quite a conversation you were having.”
Then his wife said, “Standing here (with her son), we were thinking you should volunteer here. You have the money, you have the time, and you have the resources. I think it will do you good. I think it will be good for you to be with your men.”
And I said to her, “That’s what he (Leroy) just said.”
So after completing the application, three months later Baffico began volunteering at The Wall. That was Memorial Day weekend of 2006.
Since then he’s returned every month, designating a weekend to serve as a docent. He leaves on a Saturday morning from his home in suburban Chicago, returning on Monday at his own expense.
“I’ve never missed a month,” said Baffico, who is closing in on 100 trips.
“I do get a lot out of it, as much as I put into it. It’s cheaper than therapy, and it works a lot better,” he said with a laugh.
A new book and mission
Out of this experience, Baffico has written a book called, “Last Mission for a Reluctant Patriot,” which is set for release this summer. He said the book was therapeutic for him and a way to tell his family about the things that happened to him during the war. He put into writing the things he could never verbalize.
In addition to volunteering at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Baffico donates time helping veterans in Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois as a licensed peer support specialist. Baffico became a peer support specialist after being formally diagnosed with PSTD and coming to grips with the effect it had on his own life.
Baffico also dedicates his time as the treasurer of the Lake County Veterans and Family Services Foundation (LCVFSF). He says the foundation is like a “portal” for veterans, guiding them to the right places where they can get help. He said military training creates veterans who often are the last to ask for help.
“We don’t just say, ‘Okay, go to the fifth door down and knock and see if someone answers,’” explained Baffico. “We actually send a peer support specialist with them and that person is sort of like a mentor, but they’re actually a companion to guide them in the right direction.”
LCVFSF believes it is important to veterans to be able to safely and confidentially discuss issues they are struggling with, from job and benefit issues to emotional stress caused by deployment, reintegration and family issues, said Baffico. Having a fellow veteran who has walked in those shoes mirrors that of the veteran experience in the military, which is based upon strong bonds of trust.
“The peer support staff member shares how his or her issues were successfully handled and then can help guide the fellow veteran to needed services and walk with them through the healing process,” said Baffico.
The organization was originally started through a grant from the federal government. The foundation was later put in place so that when the grant ended the support network for veterans would stay in place.
Serving veterans and their families has become an important mission and purpose for Baffico’s life. He says it trumps anything he did during his aftermarket career.
“This is about serving a population that is very much underserved and underappreciated,” he candidly stated. “Our military force in World War II was 11.7 percent of the population, though 100 percent of the U.S, population was involved.
“In Vietnam it was 5.4 percent of the population who actually served in the armed forces, but 100 percent of the population had an opinion about the Vietnam War,” he stated. “Today only 0.45 percent of the population serves in the military.”
He said the distance between civilians and those who served in the military is enormous. Baffico speaks to groups in the Chicago area to help close the gap between civilians and military personnel, and to help civilians understand their military obligation.
The American Red Cross honored Baffico for his work with veterans naming him as a 2012 Military Hero. Click here to watch a video that was put together by the Red Cross to honor him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHZ9nvb5aQI.
To learn more about LCVFSF, visit www.lmvfs.org.
To watch three videos of Baffico that are related to this interview, visit www.searchautoparts.com or link to them directly by clicking on Baffico talks about why he serves at the Wall; Baffico talks about why he wrote the book; and Baffico talks about the work he does with veterans in Lake County Illinois.)
