A PRESIDENT WRITES TO THE MEMBERSHIP

Attached is the setup for the luncheon meetings for the summer months.

The schedule for the luncheons will be a monthly meeting throughout the year as follows:
Note: Schedules for Luncheon WEST, Luncheon EAST, and Dinner Meetings are published; late in the summer an evaluation of attendance will be made to determine if turnout is good enough to continue.

So far, I am getting positive responses from people who have not been able to attend for some time. That is why the “GET ACQUAINTED AGAIN” bit for the first program. It should be a fun meeting and hopefully something to be able to keep a good record of those who are no longer with us.

We are planning for the picnic in late July and then making August an “off” month while planning for a “Whiz Bang” September meeting to start the fall season. This will also let us have time to secure a place and set up a speakers program for the coming year. COL Gliaudys is working on this problem and Col Wenner is giving his expertise to assist in the new season.

I attended the Leadership Workshop at Vandenberg AFB on May 18-19 and it was very informative. We are working on programs to help the chapters with their attendance and recruiting. Some very informative information. One of the subjects, “Community Involvement” made some very important recommendations. Some of them are within our reach, such as “Military Ambassadors to both the Local Military Community (ie. Reserve Units, Veterans Organizations, DAR, JROTC, etc) and the Civilian Community (ie. Civic/Service organizations, ties to the City Council/Mayor’s Office, Charitable Groups, Restoring veterans monuments, Widows Groups, Develop media contact to get information in the papers about the doings of the Chapter) all of which make us a visible and helpful source for help to the community. Establishing Speaker’s Bureaus to go out to speak to the various Veterans and civic organizations to raise our visibility within the community is also very important.

Days that we can be, and should be visible are Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Flag Day, Flag Retirement Ceremonies, and many others. The DAR has regular flag retirement ceremonies wherein the old, damaged, stained flags are retired in a proper manner in a ceremony, usually by Boy Scouts. A very impressive ceremony, good for both the flag and for the young people participating in honoring the flag of their country.

We should also be present at the funerals of our members and assist in other military funerals by our presence, if not by more active participation.

Another really important item is to be able to know enough about the legislative happenings relative to Veterans and to be able to assist families and friends of veterans to “get the word out” as to what is occurring in the legislative arena that affects them.

With the Military Community, there are Retiree Activity Days, Outreach to survivors, Support to families of deployed members, and a source of information for TRICARE, Tricare For Life, and SBP.

There is also need to connect with Guard and Reserve units, Local Veterans Coalitions, and of course, assist JROTC/ROTC by judging Drill Competitions, providing items not in their budgets, and we already do the Medals, Certificates, and Scholarships. Interestingly, at the Blair High School, I was there to award medals etc and the young lady who was receiving one of ours came up to me with a chest full of ribbons. My remark to her was “My gosh, you have more ribbons than I do.” Yes, she had about 8 rows of ribbons or more. Some of the Chapters are VERY much into the Legislative support of the various veteran issues and keep in close touch with their Congressmen, Senators and also at the State level of state issues. There are even some County and City issues that affect both the veterans from the past as well as those just returning from deployment. If you hear of or read about these issues, PLEASE pass the word on to the officers of the Chapter so we can pass them on up to the National level for review and for assistance in stopping some items that can be detrimental to the welfare of our military community.

I gave out a list of the Web-Sites avaiilale for your perusal in a previous newsletter and those of you who are computer friendly will be able to keep up to date on what is happening.

One of the current happenings pertains to the Senior veterans about the new Veterans homes that are being built. If you feel that you might be helpful in this field, a committee that can work together on the many issues can be a pleasant pursuit of comraderie that will be beneficial to both you and the veterans community. Think about it. You won’t even have to leave home or travel long distances. You will be able to become an expert and to be able to advise the Chapter members in their time of need. Even though we are getting “up there” in years, we can still be a very important cog in the wheels of assistance to other members in need.

And with that I will pass the torch to another to carry across the finish line.

COL Keith D. Liddle, AUS (RET)
President
San Gabriel Valley Chapter

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