Trooper of the Month
Trooper of the Month is selected by members of the Garrison Command Staff each month to honor the accomplishments of our members. Members can nominate other members by contacting the GCO. Each of these people has gone above and beyond the call of duty for the Dune Sea Garrison.
Congratulations Troopers!
Shanda Haddock – TB-11714 – June 2026
As both our Garrison Charity Officer and a Legion Charity Officer, Shanda exemplifies what it means to serve others through the spirit of the Legion. Since transferring to the Dune Sea Garrison, she has become an invaluable member of our leadership team, bringing enthusiasm, creativity, and dedication to everything she does.
Beyond her charity work, Shanda generously shares her incredible collection of props and interactive displays at conventions and events, helping create memorable experiences for fans of all ages.
She is constantly developing new ideas and attractions that enhance our convention presence and give attendees something exciting to enjoy.
Her willingness to volunteer her time, support her fellow members, and think outside the box has made a lasting impact on our garrison and the communities we serve.
Thank you, Shanda, for your leadership, creativity, and commitment to making the Dune Sea Garrison stronger. Congratulations on being our June Trooper of the Month!
Mike Alvear – TD-85650 – May 2026
Mike joined the Dune Sea Garrison in 2013. As member of the Jundland Wastes Squad (JWS), he has been instrumental in coordinating events in the far southern reaches of Arizona serving Sierra Vista, Tombstone, and Benson. Singlehandedly coordinating events in those communities year after year without missing a beat.
Mike has been recognized for his willingness to step up when the squad needs a little extra help having built props for the Cochise College Comic-Con, helping new members complete their kits and serving as the JWS Squad leader for a brief period.
Mike is also a member of both, the Scorched Dunes Tribe and Fire Team Desert Storm. These groups are not officially recognized by the 501st Legion itself but are small sub-groups of specific costumes that encourage members to troop more events in groups. With that they bring an esprit de corps and camaraderie from the shared bond formed by members who have the same costume and trooping together.
A few years ago, a request to have Star Wars characters visit a youngster with cancer was received. Mike did not think twice before jumping into action. He formed Team George with other members from Sierra Vista and got to work. Through their efforts, they helped raise nearly $1,000 to support George.
Mike’s continued dedication and support of the mission of the Dune Sea Garrison and the Jundland Wastes Squad have earned him the title of Trooper of the Month!
Congrats Mike Alvear!!!!
Kathleen King TK-61321 – April 2026
Kathleen accomplished something that the Garrison has not achieved since 2008 – she saw the creation of a new squad from beginning to end. The Beggar’s Canyon Squad had been a dream of our Northern Arizona members ever since the Tucson area achieved the creation of the Jundland Wastes Squad. With great collaborative efforts and cooperation, Kathleen saw the process through and is the 1st Squad Leader of the BCS. She helped build a strong environment of collaboration and growth not only in the Squad, but in the Northern Arizona Star Wars Community.
Kathleen joined the DSG in April 2017 and has trooped an amazing 93 times. She has three costumes and was the third of six “Sinya” costumes in the world.
ASHER BENNING – DS-12657 – March 2026 (1st Award)
Asher joined the DSG in October 2024. While still relatively new to the club, he has made a huge impact. Having only been in the club for 18 months, he has trooped 34 times and has five approved costumes! Of those 34 events, he has trooped many of the high-profile events such as Weird Al’s Concert, the Fiesta Bowl Parade twice, the Flagstaff 4th of July Parade, and the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. He has also donated his time to many charity fundraisers like the MS Walk and the Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides Walk.
SCOTT WOODWORTH – TI-41469 – February 2026 (2nd Award)
Scott Woodworth, TI-41469 joined the Dune Sea Garrison (DSG) in December of 2019. By early 2021, he was elected as the Jundland Wastes Squad (JWS), Squad Leader; a role he is now entering his fifth year of holding. During that time, he has shepherded the squad into hundreds of events and provided invaluable support to the Garrison.
Scott is known for his friendly and encouraging personality that elevates the fun at every event. He regularly mentors new members and helps guide their involvement in the squad as well as the garrison. He has even inspired several of his family members to join! He has helped lead the club’s participation in Tucson Comic Con, Tucson Roadrunners Star Wars Night, and many other community events.
Scott recently completed his 100th troop, 14 of which were hospital visits. Both are meaningful milestones worthy of praise.
For several years, Scott has served as Schoolmaster for the Quartzite School of the Galactic Academy, helping younglings be involved at events. In his role, he helped provide a welcoming and safe space for kids to learn about cosplay and community service.
Behind the scenes, Scott has given up many a weekend to work on the Star Wars neighborhood by contributing demanding physical labor to keep convention props in good order.
Scott consistently steps up whenever and wherever the club needs him, and always does it with a smile. His dedication, leadership, and enthusiasm for the DSG, JWS, and the community make him an outstanding role model for our members.
Well done, Trooper Woodworth. You make us proud to troop beside you.
JOE LAFORTUNE – TI-9494 – January 2026 (2nd Award)
Joe LaFortune has been a dedicated, knowledgeable, and integral backbone of the Dune Sea Garrison longer than most people have been aware of the club. Joe joined the DSG in September 2006 and has trooped an amazing 287 times as well as wrangled an additional 44 times! He is a former DSG Commanding Officer and is the member who manages the Trooper Recognition Program and the “Merch” Archives for the club.
Joe has a huge passion for community service and, of course, Star Wars. Joe has personally managed our Blast-A-Trooper events at major conventions for well over a decade, generating thousands of dollars in revenue each year for Kids Need to Read. Joe has also led the DSG’s engagement with the Fiesta Bowl Parade year after year, which is always a significant lift. The Fiesta Bowl Parade requires flexibility and grace under fire on what is usually a chilly morning.
He works hard and truly understands how to help each individual strive to make a difference. He is one who recognizes strengths in our others to help in weak areas!
This club would not be the club it is today without having Joe Lafortune as one of our members! Congratulations, Joe, you have most certainly earned the recognition for the January 2026 Trooper of the Month!
CASSANDRA SCHERM – DS-33359 – December 2025 (1st Award)
Cassandra Scherm, DS-33359, is a person with several passions. Behind her faith, her family – and maybe slightly above her love of teaching – is her passion for Star Wars. She, along with her family, eats, breathes, and loves Star Wars.
She is always willing to help the club, and it’s members – whether that be as one of the Garrison Event Coordinators, trooping, putting together the Star Wars Neighborhood at Phoenix Fan Fusion, helping organize club social events like the All Clubs Dinner, wrangling, helping at build days, or just being the kind hearted, thoughtful person she can be counted on and will make everyone around her smile while doing so!
Cassandra has trooped and wrangled nearly 80 times over the last ten years and is one of the kindest humans we know.
We are honored to recognize and award the December 2025 Trooper of the Month to Cassandra Scherm. We are grateful for her leadership, hard work, and dedication. Congratulations!
IVAN CABRERA – TK-11187 – November (1st Award)
TK-11187 has been trooping with the Dune Sea Garrison since 2017. His first costume was a Stormtrooper and his passion for charitable work through the 501st Legion has not gone unnoticed over the years. ITK-11187 holds a special place in all of our hearts as his kindness, his playful nature, and passion for helping others inspires many of us. TK-11187 has recently shared he is moving out of Arizona and one of his closest friends and garrison members has these words they’d like to share:
“I have known TK-11187 for almost 5 decades. Growing up around the corner from each other through elementary school, junior high school, and high school our families accepted each other as their own sons. TK-11187 has always been like a brother to me, and I’ve always loved him as so. If one of us was ever to get in trouble, you can bet the other one was right behind getting in the same trouble. We went to all the same schools, dated all the same girls, and crashed our bikes on the same hills in an effort to compete with each other. In high school TK-11187 had his first seizure and ended up having a tumor removed. It slowed him down but never dampened his spirit. When he decided to move to Arizona, we became roommates and only grew closer. After I joined the 501st legion it seemed only fitting to build his first Stormtrooper and get him involved. We have shared many troops together and lots of laughs over the past several years. Over the past few months, TK-11187 has gone through the most unbearable tragedy I could imagine. Knowing how much he hurts, makes my own heart ache, and I have been unable to make him laugh like I used to. Brothers to the end, I will support him in moving to Florida to be closer to his older brothers. He will be sorely missed here in Arizona by my family and all those who know him. TK-11187, I will always love you as a brother, I have never been as close to anyone as I am with you Godspeed and be safe out there!” – CC 3359
ADAN GARCIA – DS-42286 October 2025 (1st Award)
Congratulations to Adan Garcia for receiving October’s Trooper of the Month Award. Adan continues to go above and beyond as our Garrison Diversity Officer; particularly by coordinating the Phoenix Pride Parade each year.
The impact he has with the members and community makes us proud! The first time he managed the event, the club received the “Best Walking Group” award from the parade. Adan loves to troop and brightens up the room with his kind and fun personality.
Adan also spends countless hours of his free time making the graphics and images we have produced throughout the year. He has been instrumental in the development of items such as the new alternate design for the DSG Racing Shirt, the Beggar’s Canyon Squad logo, the Trooper of the Month images and the event banners that the squad has come to expect!
Once again, we are honored to give the Trooper of the Month Award to Adan and grateful he is part of our Leadership team and club.
MARK MANOCK – SL-82968 – September 2025 (1st Award)
ERIC FOHENER – TK-37423 – August 2025 (1st award)
Congrats, TK Föhner, for being the Dune Sea Garrison’s August 2025 Trooper of the Month! He troops constantly and spreads happiness and joy to those who meet him.
He goes out of his way to make sure the DSG is well represented and “shiny.” He is a trooper who can be counted on. He works hard and gives constantly to the club, whether it be trooping or as one of the Dune Sea Garrison’s Costume Judges.
While everything he does locally is worthy of this award, it was the Neon City Garrison that put his name forward to be considered TOTM. The Neon City Garrison had to support six Weird Al concerts this summer in Las Vegas. Eric stayed an entire weekend and trooped three of the shows.
The event coordinator commented that his dedication, assistance, and professionalism were worthy of recognition, and we wholeheartedly agree!
Tom George – TK-21497 – July 2025 (1st award)
Tom George, aka Tom, has been selected as the July 2025 Dune Sea Garrison Trooper of the Month. TK-21497 is a kind and thoughtful human and is one of the first to volunteer his time to help the Garrison. Tom is a veteran who served for over 25 years in the military. He constantly gives wherever he sees a need, not only when asked.
At both of our major Phoenix conventions (Phoenix Fan Fusion and Game On Expo), Tom jumped to the aid of other groups that needed help, even though he didn’t belong to either of those clubs. You can count on Tom to rally members to show up, as well as work hard to make connections with honorary members to help grow our community.
Tom is one of 5 members who made it past all 9 innings of this year’s Star Wars Night with the Diamondbacks. That alone shows his dedication to the Garrison and the local community! Congrats Tom!
DOUGLAS KING – TK-21613 – JUNE 2025 (1st award)
June’s Trooper of the Month goes to our one and only GXO Douglas King. Doug’s organization, support, and kindness truly helps our Garrison run smoothly.
Doug has consistently given his time and effort to support the garrison and all of its activities. He has worked tirelessly to ensure our technical systems are able to support our members. He worked to ensure PFF went flawlessly. He has taken the time to reach out to members of my family when we were in distress. Quite simply he exemplifies what we expect a top notch trooper to be.
Doug came into the legion with a strong dedication to doing charity work. It was the biggest draw for him. The costumes were fun, and Star Wars was entertaining, but helping people was the fire that got him going and kept him trooping. Hitting 100 troops is a monumental accomplishment that isn’t achieved by most. He has dedicated a great deal of time and money to make this club and our garrison, he took on the role as XO and performed the job with great professional with a strong dedication to be inclusive all of our diverse membership, coordinating activities with all of our sister clubs, taking the lead for a large number of the club’s events, and being the primary point of contact for all of the Northern Arizona troop, funding the clubs website and forums out of his own pocket, and driving home the new trading card design. Doug always drives to maintain a peaceful and professional environment for all members to enjoy trooping in the safety possible way!
Congratulations Doug on being June’s Trooper of the Month! We are so grateful for your leadership and example of dedication to the Legion!
CLASSIFIED – BH-6722 – May 2025 (1st award)
BH-6722is always there! No matter what or where. From build days, meet and greets, post troop events, having dinner with visiting 501st members, storing stuff for the clubs, making Star Wars babies, monkey lizards, the years he spent as the garrison GWL and now taking on a new role as a GML to help with the more exotic costumes – his positive impact can be seen and felt everywhere.
To put it bluntly and say it again because it’s true: BH-6722 is always there, working hard and making gestures that bring the level of fun higher and higher for the club.
We got to say all of that without even mentioning trooping. BH-6722 currently has ten approved costumes and quite a few more that are retired or “just for fun”. Ten is a lot, but it is THE ten that makes BH-6722 stand out. A lot of his costumes are the creatures everyone knows, but very few could pull them off. Cad Bane! Hondo Ohnaka! Pando Baba (you know, the Walrus guy in the Cantina). BH-6722’s troops ALL. THE. TIME. He mentioned that he has over 300 troops in Kylo Ren alone! He often troops with neighboring garrisons, too, which is one of the main reasons our relationships with Dewback Ridge and Imperial Sands Garrisons are as strong as they are.
For these reasons and many more, BH-6722 has been selected as the Dune Sea Garrison’s May Trooper of the Month! Congratulations. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, ALWAYS!
CARMEN DEGREYT – TX-16699 (1st award) -AND-
CHRIS HELLER – TX-10646 (1st award) – APRIL 2025
First of all, the DSG would like to congratulate these two on their recent engagement! Not only are they dedicated to each other, we recognize these two for their hard work and dedication to the clubs and the entire Star Wars community! They show up, they rally, they know the ins and outs of how to troop and how the clubs work, and most of all they have fun doing it!
Carmen and Chris have been in the DSG for a relatively short time, and in that time, they have gone above and beyond for not only the people in our garrison but everyone they have come in contact with. When there is an event that needs people, they show up. When someone has questions, they have answers. When a member needs help, they are there!
No event is too small or too far for Chris and Carmen. Bringing smiles to people is what they do best! We applaud Carmen and Chris for their dedication and commitment to bringing joy to the community! May the force be with you two always!
MIKE SCHERM CC-3359 – MARCH 2025 (1st award)
Mike works hard to represent the Dune Sea Garrison with honor and respect from being a Garrison Member Liaison, attending troops, meet and greets, build parties, and hosting events with his family. With being a volunteer organization, we both try to participate as we can with work, family, and other commitments. Mike is also a First Responder and has always gone above and beyond his duty in his career and with the Garrison. He steps up when needed and can always be counted on to do whatever the club needs.
His costume-building knowledge and experience have helped countless people join our ranks! Congratulations Mike! The Dune Sea Garrison honors you as the Trooper of the Month for March!
DUSTIN DIAL – TI-5647 – FEBRUARY 2025 (1st award)
The Jundland Waste Squad and the Dune Sea Garrison want to recognize Dustin for his dedication to the club and community. A member of the Legion since 2006, and founding member of the Jundland Wastes Squad, Dustin has committed much of his time and energy to the goals of the 501st Legion.
Constantly on the look-out for opportunities to coordinate events that bring the love of Star Wars to the public. He sets up a “Shop with a Cop” event every year and is always a massive help at the conventions. He continues to help transport sets and club equipment and is always quick to help with set up and tear down at our largest conventions such as Phoenix Fan Fusion and Tucson Comic Con.
Dustin has also made Blast-a-Trooper more fun for everyone by acting like a hard nosed drill instructor taking recruits under his wing and teaching them how to target troopers for charity.
Dustin is someone you can count on and one of our longest tenured members. We are pleased to honor you as the Trooper of the Month for February!
RYAN WILLWATER – ID-40360 (1st award)
Ryan joined the 501st Legion in April 2024 after many years of association with the Arizona Star Wars clubs, he created his first approvable Star Wars Costume. The membership threshold for the Legion is one troop a year. In his first year as an official member, Ryan participated in 26 trooping events.
As expected, May the Fourth is a busy time for the Empire and Jundland Wastes Squad despite being considered a “Jedi holiday”. Ryan showed extraordinary resolve when he managed to attend 5 separate events in just two days, only a month after his approval.
Ryan is always ready to lend a hand with projects to improve the garrison. He helped to load, build, take down, and unload the set pieces for Phoenix Fan Fusion. Afterwards, Ryan organized a group to inventory, measure, and catalog all the Star Wars clubs set pieces. Using the information learned, he cataloged and designed the Tucson Comic-Con layout in CAD to efficiently and effectively create a layout to fit the dimensions of our show space that included a list of the parts and set pieces, as well as props that were needed ensuring nothing was left behind. Once again, he helped to load, build, takedown, and store the sets afterwards. He also participated in Meet and Greets to learn how to play Sabaac in preparation to be a Sabaac dealer at a table for guests at the Tucson Comic-Con.
Ryan has also taken on the role of Garrison Web Liaison for the Dune Sea Garrison. A position that had been vacant for a couple of years growing a backlog of entries into the Legion database. Without hesitation, he threw himself into the duties to clear away the piles of files needing attention.
Ryan spearheaded a Garrison Patch design for Star Wars Celebration Japan creating the concept and managing the run in time to have the patches available before the convention.
For Ryan’s continued support of the Dune Sea Garrison and Jundland Wastes Squad, we are honored to share that he is March’s Trooper of the Month!
