Chapter Meeting Notes - 15 June 2013

8th Annual CSM(R) John McLaughlin Memorial Golf Tournament. Chairman Greg Brown. Tournament will be on 7 September at the Fort Bliss Underwood course. Looking for more Sponsors. Golf Tournament meetings are held at 1200, before the general meeting.

Relaxation (RandR) Center Fort Bliss: Chuy gave an update. AD Soldiers still meet on Monday’s from 1100 hrs to 1600 hrs in Bldg. 48 at Fort Bliss. Chapter donates $200 each month for arts & crafts. If you want a dog collar made, get Chuy the dimensions.

Billy Waugh’s book “Isaac Camacho, an American Hero” is still available. Website http://www.isaaccamachoamericanhero.com

Chapter IX Shirts, Coins, Mugs & Blazers: Shirts, mugs and coins are available. Coins are $10 each. Anyone needing a blazer needs to talk to Pete. We are also selling golf balls for $2.00 each, hats for $10.00, cups for $7.00 and green Chapter 9 shirts for $35.00.

Isaac Camacho Head Start School: 125 students in the school. Any school supplies that you wish to donate please bring them to the meetings. Chapter is donating up to $100 per month as needs arise.

Jerry Rainey Scholarship: Chairman Greg Brown. We are promoting 2 x $500 scholarships and actually present 2 x $1,000. Nominations are due now.

SFA Chapter 9 Sign on the road: SFA 9 will pay for a 4 x 8 foot sign once the VFW approves it. Numerous groups will be on the sign and share the costs.

SF Room at VFW: Negotiations continue – no decision yet. We want to build a room onto the existing structure that will be available for use by the VFW. We selected an engineer to begin plans and are getting quotes.

Soldier Mentors Program: Mentor program is in progress with the El Paso Courts system for Soldiers who have no violent offenses for 8-12 months. See Tom Brady.

Veterans Summit: 38 organizations are now involved. They are building a co-op. Fort Bliss is very involved.

SFA 9 Roster: Bill is working an updated roster, please get him any changes you have ASAP before we print, contact Bill at sniderbill@att.net

82nd News: Benavidez-Patterson All Airborne Chapter. Chairman Joe “China Boy” Lopez. Chapter meets the 4th Saturday’s, lunch at 1300 and meeting at 1400. Chapter bar is open every Friday and Saturday from 1500 until whenever.

VFW Post 812 News: VFW 812 Commander Ramon “Moose” Saiz. 1st Sunday of every month is a fish fry from 11-2. Bar is open every evening.

President's Message:

Greeting’s - June was the SFA National Convention in San Antonio and I have to say, Chapter 15 did an excellent job in securing the venue, entertainment and the schedule of events. There were a few Chapter 9 members representing and I can say that we all had a great time. I want to give a special tip of the Green Beret to VFW Post 76 in San Antonio. They hosted a convention picnic and treated Chapter 9 members with open arms and the red carpet. Albert, the Post Commander and Robert, their Service Officer gave our members the royal treatment and I hope to do the same one day.

A couple of items from the convention that I want to mention to our members; one is the amendment to change the SFA Constitution. Of the 9,153 members of the SFA only 500 +/- voted. According to the Constitution, SFA need’s 10% of the eligible members to vote to have a quorum and this did not happen. This has been consistent over the last few years where changes to our by-laws cannot happen if there is not a quorum hence the amendment. At first I was against the amendment to the constitution because of some of the wording BUT we as an organization cannot move forward. Jack Tobin and his staff have been doing a great job moving the SFA in the right direction so they have my trust. During the general membership meeting, a motion was made and seconded to approve the requested amendment to Article XVI of the Construction and it passed without one nay.

Another item that was discussed is canceling the hard copy of the Drop. This drew some boo’s from the membership and it is not locked in stone. Jack Tobin did say that IF this decision is made (It’s all about the cost) then current members will be grandfathered and we will continue to receive the Drop in hard copy unless they choose not to. The newsletter is on the web for all to access.

There are a number of other initiatives that National is perusing to include more corporate sponsorship’s, working with SOF organizations, and building the image of the Special Forces which brings me to my last point. At the convention it was brought up (and it’s happened to me) that ALL branches of the US Military have a “Special Forces” so when you say “I’m a Special Forces Soldier” the general replay is “oh Navy Seals huh”. President Kennedy gave us the title of “The Special Forces” but more importantly he gave us the distinction of being “Green Berets”. This distinction cannot be copied so remember that when you talk to John Q public. We are Green Berets.

Thank you for all of your support and remember our 8th annual golf tournament on September 7th 2013 so get some teams and sponsors.

De Oppresso Liber!
Pete