Chapter Meeting Notes - 17 October 2015

Chapter IX mourns with our brothers in Chapter 80 in Las Cruces upon the passing of Oscar Terrazas(SFA 80). RIP Oscar, you will be missed.

New Chapter Command Group position: Brian Kanoff was selected to fill the new position of Sergeant at Arms. Brian volunteered for this position. His arm was onlyu twisted a little bit.

New Chapter Members this month: Welcome Bob Chisolm and Jack Cranney to the Chapter as members.

1st Group Reunion: 1stGroup Reunion is scheduled for El Paso in 2017. This will be the 3rd time we hosted the reunion. Ike Camacho is the Project Chair. We will assemble the committee very soon.

20th Annual Jerry Montoya/Ralph Dominguez Food Drive: Chair is Tom Melgares. Committee members include Chuy, Steve, Leo, Pablo, Alberto. We will pack boxes on 16 December at 1900 hrs. om is working toward having the El Paso JR ROTC to support the Christmas Food drive. There are 8 High Schools who could participate, plus several other local schools. $1500 allocated for hams and other required expenses. Ike is working with a produce company and is getting the Head Start school to collect cans.

SFA Chapter 9 Elections: Elections are this month. If you are interested in running for office, get someone to nominate you. Installation will be at the Christmas Party. Nominations so far are: Pete Peral – President, Steve Franzoni -Vice President; Bill Snider –Secretary; Ike Camacho – Treasurer. John Szilvasy will remain Chapter Chaplain as that is an un-elected position. Final nominations can be made before the vote in November.

Viet Nam Memorial: El Paso Viet Nam Veterans Memorial to be erected at the flag pole. They are raising $50K for the memorial. Chapter donated $1400 towards the monument. China Boy said fundraising is going fine –shirts are for sale for $20.

Chapter Christmas Party: Chair is Steve Franzoni. Scheduled for 19 December at VFW 812. 1800-1845 social hour, 1845-1915 meeting and installation, dinner at 1930. Meal is Chicken or Roast Beef. Again members and 1 guest are free, additional guests are $10 each. The CHapter allocated $2,000 for expenses. Door prize donations are being accepted in the $25-$100 range. Uniform is Blazers and Berets or semi-formal.

2015 Elite Tactical Challenge (ETC): As covered in an earlier article on this website, Tommy Buchino hosted the challenge at his range again. SFA 9 Member Tony Beltran came in from Oregon to compete. See photo. Again, all proceeds from the ETC Proceeds benefited the Task Force Dagger Foundation, a world class organization benefitting wounded SOF.  See picture at right of Tony Beltran, 7+ year old stud muffin running with the young dogs.

Wreaths Across America: Debbie (husband - Rolando) Torres is Chair for this project. The Chapter is sponsoring 31 Wreaths this year. We pay for all SF and SFA 9 Members/spouses who are interred in the Fort Bliss Cemetery.

SFA Convention 2018 – El Paso: Exploratory Committee Chair is Brian Kanoff; members are Bill, China Boy and Joe Kerwin Jr. We will reach out to SFA 80 to assist. “Visit El Paso” will be at the November meeting to spell out their planned support.

USASMA Reunion 2016: Al Hobbs is the Chair. El Paso is hosting the reunion 14-17 July, 2016. Not an SFA project but many of our SGM members will participate. More to follow.

Veteran’s Gala: This annual event is in November. Tom Melgares’ suggested we get a table for SF and nominate someone to be honored.

Chris Lewis Christmas Request: Chris asked the Chapter to send letters and Christmas packages for 50 of his deployed Soldiers. Voted to pay $200 for gift packages –VFW 812 and the 82nd will also support the project. Address is: SGM Christopher G. Lewis, HQ, TAAC-E, TB Gamberi, Afghanistan, APO, AE09354

2nd Annual Joshua Mills Challenge: Occurs 18-20 November 2015. There are 10 x 6 man teams competing. An Awards Ceremony will honor the top 3 teams at 1000 hrs on 20 November. Danny and his Recruiters asked for Gatorade support again. The Chapter donated $100 to support. The shooting competition will be held at Tomy Buchino's Tactical Ranch.



Chapter President's Message:

Greetings all. The year is winding down and we have just a few projects to work on before the holiday cease fire is in effectand the ground battle starts again next year.

Next up on the firing line is the Thanksgiving for the troops that the VFW Post 812 is sponsoring. I would encourage any chapter member that can to come up and volunteer. I believe we are good on food but I’ll follow up with the VFW. We are expecting about 100 troops this year.

After that we have the Christmas boxes to pack and distribute. Rod and Rosie Raulston secured the Collins elementary school again and Tom Melgares’ is working on the JR ROTC folks. COL Gus will contact the El Paso food bank again and see if they can support. Tom and his committee are working hard to make this a great event: Thank you.

After we put this one to bed we’ll end the year with the Christmas party on December 19th. Last year we had about 80-100 people and I think I’m safe saying everyone had a blast. We’ll hold a short meeting and the installation of the 2016-2017 officers before the party and I’m sorry to say, you’ll have to deal with me, Steve and Bill again. Tom’s schedule is on fire so we’ll give him a break and Ike will take the Treasurer slot for a couple of years. We decided to add a Sergeant of Arms and Brian Kanoff was volen-told he’d be the man.

Unfortunately I will not be at the November meeting as I will be attending moose’s brothers’ funeral in Phoenix. Dada was a good friend of mine and many of you know him well. Pray for him and his family.

Lastly I want to thank all of you for another successful year. From the golf tournament to the expo, to the scholarship and to all of the other “little” things that you support with your vote, your time and your energy. It’s because of the team that Chapter 9isas successful as we are. Thank you.

De Oppresso Liber!

Pete Peral, President, SFA Chapter IX

Chaplain's Corner - August 2013

Adapted from a recent interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life.” In the interview, Rick said:

"People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity."

"We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness."

"This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for."

"You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal my wife or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people."

"When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, I want to know You more and love You better..... In your - Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD."

Chapter Meeting Notes - 20 July 2013

8th Annual CSM(R) John McLaughlin Memorial Golf Tournament. Chairman Greg Brown. Tournament will be on 7 September at the FT Bliss Underwood course. All teams have signed up and we are full. We still need more hole sponsors. Prizes for winners will be the same as in the past. Meetings are held at 1200, before the general meeting.

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. If you want a dog collar made, get Chuy the dimensions.

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 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. New shirt options were presented by Brian Kanof - contact Pete for prices and options on dress shirts.

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. Tom Connell is making a personal donation of 150 backpacks.

Jerry Rainey Scholarship: Chairman Greg Brown. We will present 2 x $1000 and 1 x $500 scholarships at the August meeting . . . wear “Blazers and Berets” to the meeting! Pete asked for a vote on the scholarship amounts for the future. Motion that we will present 2 scheduled $1000 scholarships each year – passed.

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

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.


82nd Benavidez-Patterson All Airborne Chapter News: www.bpaac.org
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: 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.

Chapter President's Message July has been busy with all the events at VFW Post 812 and working toward the golf tournament for September 7th. As mentioned in the meeting notes above, we are full on teams as it stands now and we are starting a stand-by list for those strap hangers that may show up on the day of the event. We need all the help that we can get in the form of securing hole sponsors. We average 25 people at each meeting but only 7 show up for the golf meetings. I understand our time is valuable but this “ODB” needs all hands working together to make it work. The golf tournament is our big money maker and gives us the resources to support all of the extra projects that Chapter 9 is involved in.

We are trying to build a Team Room but we can’t do it without all members leaning forward in the foxhole. We have 4 weeks left before the tournament so please get out and find us $100 hole sponsors. Contact Greg Brown or me if you need flyers or sponsor letters.

At our August general membership meeting scheduled for 17th we will be presenting two $1,000.00 scholarships to the winners of the Jerry Rainey scholarship. If you remember we started off with $250.00 awards, to $500.00 now $1,000.00. In the short time that we have been awarding scholarships, we have come a long way. Remember the event will be in Blazer and Berets or as minimum business casual attire.

Lastly Chapter 9 is invited to the Change of Responsibility for SGM Jerry Hochstedler assuming the senior enlisted position for JTF-N. Date is 13 August at JTF-N starting at 0830. Again Blazer and Berets.

De Oppresso Liber!
Pete