Chapter Meeting Notes - 15 February 2014

Bataan Death March: http://www.bataanmarch.com The 25th Annual memorial march will take place at White Sands on Sunday, 23 March 2014. We will host 10 wounded warriors coming in from the DC area for the march and also 10 Cadets from West Point; More to follow. SFA 80 always appreciates our help if you can work part or all day. Chapter 80 will attend our March meeting to talk about our help manning the SF Water Point (Water Point 7). Their invitation includes the party after the water point is closed down at Mike Burleson's house, 8936 Lisa Lane, Las Cruces NM. Member Tony Beltran will march again: He is in town from Oregon and will be at the March meeting to solicit sponsorships for how many miles he hikes at the Bataan. He will donate the proceeds to Wounded Warriors in the name of SFA 9.

Border Patrol Expo: Will be held on 29 and 30 April with a golf outing on the 29th at Butterfield, 0800 shoot gun start; $55 per player. See Steve to help with the Expo set up.

SF Room at VFW: Chairman = Steve Franzoni; Teamhouse Committee = Gus, Brian, Chuck, Tom, Tony and Chuy, the committee is hard at work trying to get a survey for the property and listing requirements for the structure.

Chapter IX Shirts, Coins, Mugs and Blazers: Shirts, mugs and coins are available. Coins are $10 each. Anyone needing a blazer needs to talk to Pete. We currently have a 36R and a 38R blazer on hand for purchase. We are also selling golf balls for $2.00 each and the new Chapter 9 shirts for $25.00. Ties are also available at $25.

R and R Center Fort Bliss: PTSD Soldiers still meet with Chuy every Monday from 1100 hrs to 1600 hrs in Bldg. 48 at Fort Bliss. Chapter donates $200 each month for arts & crafts.

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.

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.

Chapter Historian: Jerry Campos Historian, Committee Bill Snider and Fidencio Gonzalez. Bill sent him what has already been collected. If you have historic information for SFA 9, please get it to Jerry. Jerry will itemize potential expenses and bring the list to the Chapter for approval.

DROP Magazine is Online: All members can access it at here.

Sign at the end of the road: Tabled, we need to decide the Team House status first.

San Antonio SFA 15 Annual Jack Houge Picnic: To be held at the Fort Sam Houston Recreation Area, Canyon Lake, Texas, May 16 thru 18, 2014. Chairman, Bob Hand 210-336-1102 or retsfcsmbh@sbcglobal.net. SFA 15 has reserved 30 trailers so far, but can obtain additional trailers if needed. The cost of the trailer is $85.00 a night or $170.00 for the weekend. Contact Bob ASAP if you want to attend. If you want me to send you the itinerary, just ask.

Jerry Rainey Scholarship: Sam Morgan, Chair. Nothing to report, but it will be in August again. Jerry passed away in March 2007. We had the first scholarship in August that same year, so this will be the 8th year we have honored Jerry in this way.

9th Annual CSM(R) John McLaughlin Memorial Golf Tournament: Scheduled for Saturday 13 September 2014 at the Fort Bliss Golf Course. Ike Camacho and Gus Gonzales Co-Chairmen.

82nd News: Benavidez-Patterson All Airborne Chapter. www.bpaac.org Chairman Lee Walker. 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: www.vfwpost812.com 812 Commander Ramon “Moose” Saiz. 1st Sunday of every month is a fish fry from 1100-1400. Bar is open every evening. June = hosting Heavy Equipment Rodeo – VFW will get some free work done. 812 Golf Tournament is 17 May at Sunset Course - $80 a player – 0800 T-Time. Burch More is involved with VFW recruiting along with Rod Raulston. Al Hobbs is running for Commander since Moose is retiring. Vote is 1st Saturday in April, 1000 hrs.

Presidents Message

Greetings all; April 5th is the VFW Post 812 meeting and also elections. I encourage every Chapter 9 member who is a member of Post 812 to show up to the meeting at 1000 to cast your vote. Our own Al Hobbs will be running for Commander and it would be in our best interest to make sure he’s elected. One huge item on our plate is the building of a “Team house”. As it stands, we are looking at building something adjacent to VFW Post 812 but there is a lot of work that needs to be done before that happens. With that said, I need to push support for the VFW. We call the Post our home but most only support it once a month during our meeting. There are Officer positions that will be open and I encourage you to consider running for one of them to reinforce our position with the “V”. If we are going to align ourselves with the Post we need to support it more than once a month. There are always things to do up there to include just helping with the grounds clean-up, fish fry’s special events etc. I would love to see more Chapter 9 members in officer positions also. If the “V” is going to be our home, let’s support it.

De Oppresso Liber!
Pete Peral