Chapter Meeting Notes - 21 September 2013

8th Annual CSM(R) John McLaughlin Memorial Golf Tournament. Tournament was held on 7 September at the Fort Bliss Underwood course. It was a BIG success......Chairman Greg Brown did a great job!


Picture: L to R: Scott McLaughlin, Gus Gonzales, Dieter McLaughlin, Pete Peral

SF Room at VFW: Negotiations continue – no decision yet. We may want to build a room onto the existing structure that will be available for use by the VFW. Discussion held about the type of structure, add-on, separate building. 82nd is a viable option and China Boy discussed possible plans. Bottom line, we need to support both organizations and keep options open.

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: 62 organizations are now involved.

Guile Raffle: Initiated by some of his closest friends, tickets will be available in October at the meeting. Steve and Pete are coordinating this to help defray costs for the Guile family as his wife battles cancer.

Christmas Party: Scheduled for 21 December at VFW 812. Chairman Joe “China Boy” Lopez. He will get us quotes from the caterer.

18th Annual Ralph Dominguez/Jerry Montoya Food Drive: Chairman Naipo Robertson, Co-Chair Tom Melgares. Pablo Sanchez has a large truck and is on the committee. Other members are: Rod, Chuy, Leo, Steve and Sam.

Wreaths Across America – Civil Air Patrol: Debbie Torres Chairperson. Project is coming up in December; we are waiting for the details. Bill maintains the list of those interred at Fort Bliss.

Chapter Elections: October is nominations with voting in November; Installation of Chapter Officers for the next 2 year term at the Christmas Party.

Veteran’s Day Gala: 7 November (Thursday) $30 per person for those interested in attending.

Scouting’s Salute to the Military: Our own Ike Camacho was the Keynote speaker at the September 11th Yucca Council Salute to the Military. Ike forgot his glasses and could not read his own speech, but by all accounts, nobody could tell that he was winging it. Great job Ike!

President's CYRIL Report:

We are winding down for 2013 and it has been a good year. Our chapter is doing great things for our family, friends, community and our country. I want to thank the membership for the support for the last six years and like Bill said, October is nominations for Chapter Officers for 2014-2015. Like I’ve said in the past, I don’t hang my hat on the office so if a current chapter member, in good standing, would like to run for ANY office, be there at the October meeting to make the nomination. The nominee has to be willing to accept the office so clear it with him BEFORE you nominate.

As mentioned above we have our Chapter Christmas party scheduled for 21 Dec at VFW Post 812 (more details to come) Please mark your calendar for this event as this is the time we get to see brother that we haven’t seen in a while. We also have the Christmas food baskets that we’ll be needing help with so please get with Bill, myself or the chairpersons listed above and volunteer.

One of the topics that has been on the front burner is the “Team Room” that we have worked very hard for and we are in a good position to build/buy one. We have been looking hard at the property collocated with the VFW Post 812 but have not been in formal negotiations with the Post yet. The 82nd All Airborne Chapter has been offered to discuss their location also but my question is, “if we build it, will you come?” It would be great to be able to display all of the memorably that we have but there will also be a cost to run it.

As it stand VFW Post 812 is our home but that could go away with a change of leadership and those who have been chapter members for a while will remember the number of times that Chapter 9 has had to relocate. We have a strong membership base and if you are eligible for VFW membership and NOT a member of Post 812, you need to. Our membership can dictate the future of that Post and out current home. In line with that, 99 % of our members are airborne qualified so if you’re not a member of the BP 82nd Airborne you need to join also. They are our brother paratroopers too. Again, thank you for your support and we’ll see you on October 19th.

De Oppresso Liber!


Pete Peral, Chapter IX President