Tara Mueller, left, and Hillary Shields of Shear Heaven talk in the salon's main area. The stylists are part of a group from the business that gives free haircuts to veterans at VA Butler Healthcare's Community Living Center every six weeks.

BUTLER TWP — Tara Mueller of Shear Heaven has given thousands of haircuts throughout her years as a stylist and salon owner. But for the past several years it's the cuts she gives outside her office on New Castle Road that have meant the most to her.

Mueller and a group of her employees give those free cuts once every six weeks or so when they visit VA Butler Healthcare's Community Living Center in Butler Township.

It's a ritual that started three years ago.

During that time Mueller and the stylists in her shop have learned a lot.

Most of the veterans have their favorite stylists, their favorite stories to share and, of course, their favorite haircut.

“It's a lot of 'high and tights,'” Mueller said, chuckling, of what type of cut the group most-often gives while at the VA.

On a more serious note, Mueller said, visiting the center and the dozens of veterans who are staying there has given her a chance to visit with a group of people with whom she shares a special connection.

Mueller's father, Frederick Dean Farley, served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and took his family around the world with him during his military career. Mueller herself was born in Spain, to a mother from Ireland, and grew up in a globe-trotting lifestyle many veterans can identify with.

That makes sharing time with the vets at the VA center all the more special, she said.

“It's a different world, and I grew up in it,” Mueller said. “So I kind of relate to them. It's just a different atmosphere. They're so incredibly grateful, and it's just fun.”

With 40 or more veterans needing their hair cut every six weeks, Mueller has turned to some of her employees at Shear Heaven for help, putting together a team of three stylists — Hillary Shields, Lyndsy Day and Stacy Seabring — to help her out. Many of the stylists have their own personal connection to the U.S. military, but it's the connections they've forged with the veterans in Butler that have turned their visits to the center into a reunion atmosphere.

Shields, who has been working as a stylist at Shear Heaven for more than a decade, called the experience the most rewarding thing she's done. The veterans share stories of their families and their service, Shields said, and have welcomed her in a way she didn't expect.

“I didn't realize that I would have such a bond with these guys,” she said. “It's kind of, I'm one of the family now.”

Mueller not only has a connection to other veterans through her father, she's got a connection to the VA. After his career, her father returned to the United States and spent much of his retirement helping other veterans navigate the often-complex and confusing VA benefit system. Farley, who suffered from complications from Agent Orange, died four years ago. But his work reaching out to other veterans — as well as help he received from VA Butler as his health worsened — has inspired Mueller to do what she can to carry on his legacy.

“I enjoy it,” Mueller said. “I feel it's a good memory for my dad.”