Chapter Meeting Notes - 15 July 2017

John McLaughlin Memorial Golf Tournament: Scheduled at Fort Bliss for 9 September. The Committee is Gus, Al, Ike, Leo. Ike discussed the upcoming Tournament and mentioned that everything is set up and that everyone needs to go out and sell hole sponsors - the Chapter currently has 40 hole sponsors. Teams are full. Committee Meetings are every Thursday at 1700 hours at VFW 812. In August, we will meet every week.

2018 SFA Convention – El Paso: Chairman is Brian Kanof. Co-Chair Bill Snider. Dates are set for 12-17 June, 2018. Convention Theme is “Mexican Americans in Special Forces”. It will be a 5-night conference with events beginning on Wednesday. SFA 80, VFW 812 and the 82nd Airborne chapter will assist. Brian has asked the members to seek sponsorships. Committee is meeting before the general meetings at 1200 hours every month at VFW 812. All committee Sub-Chairmen have been selected – A roster was emailed to all on the roster. HQ Hotel = Camino Real – they are doing a makeover (to be re-named “Hotel Paso del Norte”) and will be finished before the reunion. Full registration is set at $150 early (By 1 March 2018) and $165 late registration after 1 March 2018. Vendor tables are $150 for each table for the week. More details are forthcoming. The 2018 SFA National Convention website is http://www.sfa2018elpaso.com or you can access the site through the Chapter Website. Steve Franzoni and Tom Melgares (see picture at right) are working the registration for the 2018 National Convention.

USASMA Class 68: Class is arriving. 10th SF MSG Michael Bixler visited us at the golf meeting on Thursday and will coordinate the 13 SF guys and other Special OPS attendees for Chapter 9.

Korean War Veteran News: On Armistice Day - Roy Alridge was recognized in the Congressional Record by Congressman Beto O’Rourke. Roy announced that the El Paso area had 3 MOH recipients . . . more than any town in Texas. At the Chihuahuas Game on Armistice Day, Roy threw out the first pitch at the Ball Game.......we heard it was a strike.

Chapter President's Message:

Welcome to another month of fun in the sun and rain all over the place. As you may remember this Saturday is our general membership meeting at 1300 followed by the Jerry Rainey scholarship. There are three (3) recipients who, as of now, are attending with their family. This brings up two points, 1st let’s not get in the weed’s on any one item. I want to take no longer than 45 minutes for the meeting so we can have a break before the scholarship starts at 1400. 2nd point is dress appropriately for the occasion and for the Rainey’s. No shorts and/or flip-flops. At the least, wear a Chapter shirt. Not only will Rainey family be there but also the family of the recipients.

Our golf tournament is 3 weeks away and we’ll concentrate on discussing the tournament at this Saturday’s meeting. Gus, Ike and Al are the leads on this and will have an update on the 5 W’s Saturday. If you haven’t purchased a hole sponsorship, you can do it Saturday with a check, cash or credit card. If you can’t afford $100 for a hole sponsor then think about buying beer or sodas (No water we have plenty of that) to help offset the Chapters cost. We also need items for goodie bags, raffles and door prizes so beat the bush for that support. Look for gift coupons for restaurants, spas, automotive centers or any other business. Also look for things like McDonalds coupons or any other place where you can get at least 110 of the item for the goody bags. Lastly on the golf tournament, we need volunteers for both the inside, set-up and the refreshment points. We are meeting every Thursday at 1700ish so if you want to support, come to a meeting SOON.

On the 2018 convention, Brian and the committee are going full speed and it’s looking good. After the scholarship and golf tournament we’ll go knee deep on the convention.

Lastly I want to thank each and every one of you near and far for the support that you gave our granddaughter. Whether it was monetary or prayers everything helps. People were coming out of the woodwork to support. I want to give a special thanks to those from the VFW and Chapter who put the fund raiser on. It was a huge success, so thank you.

Pete Peral

President

SFA Chapter IX