President's Message
March 2007
Click Here For Archived Dec. 2006 Message
Click Here For Archived October 2006 Message

As usual the last quarter was full of events that show just how vibrant and broad our Chapter is as we support the many groups, events and programs across the community, which is the same sentence I started with in last quarter’s newsletter. We are through the holiday season and have begun the new calendar year with a great deal of activity on numerous fronts. From the General Membership and Programs aspect during the month of January, at the Holiday Inn, we hosted Dr. Gerardo Melendez, the Director of the C2 Directorate in the CERDEC. He provided the large audience with the approach the directorate leadership has undergone to reorganize and set the new direction for the upcoming years. It was great to be able to host him starting the year off in the right direction. Later that week the Command said good bye to one of our greatest supporters, Vic Ferlise. After 35 years he decided to retire and it was my pleasure to represent AUSA at the retirement luncheon held at the Sheraton Hotel. We will certainly miss Vic, although he showed up at the AUSA Winter meeting in Florida about a month later, because he is a great supporter and fan of all that this Chapter does.

There was no general membership meeting in February, but a lot of activity supporting deployed soldiers, and our continued support to the Taste of Heaven Program. We are going to dedicate our next issue to what the Chapter does to support deployed soldiers, but suffice it to say it will be most impressive for a Chapter that does not have the amount of soldiers, such as a Ft. Bragg or Hood, but under the leadership and efforts of Kathy Reidy we can all be proud of what is done, and will continue to be done. At a Chapter Board meeting we also appropriated $2,500 to both the Boy Scouts’ and Girl Scouts’ organizations and will continue to help those programs grow the future leaders of the country, many who will become military leaders.

March came in like a lion with the departure of Major Ed Brown as the HHC Company Commander. Ed is on his way to Korea after about 18 months of Command and will leave with a warm appreciation of how AUSA can help him in his Command. He always looked out for the soldiers in HHC and we were there to help, when needed. On the same day I attended a promotion ceremony of one of our Chapter members, LTC Jim Ross, as he was promoted to LTC. These are both great events in the careers of any Army officer and are genuine representation of the military traditions.

On 7-9 March, I represented the Chapter at the AUSA Winter Meeting in Ft. Lauderdale and was host to an event that has become one of our premiere events. The Winter meeting began on Wednesday the 7th at the Broward County Convention Center and was attended by well over 1,000 registrants and hundreds of exhibitors. That night the Chapter hosted our reception at the Hyatt Pier 66 Marina and that alone was attended by well over 200 people, most of whom were there at the same time. This event is sponsored by local corporations. This year, based on the amount of people still in attendance, it had to be extended by an additional hour. The Chapter members in attendance and the leadership from the Fort mingled and all had a great time. I continue to receive great positive feedback from the Fort leadership, members who attended and industry that helped sponsor, about the value and benefit of these events. You may recall we do two a year, one at each AUSA National meeting.

This quarter culminated with our last luncheon which was hosted by COL Jim Costigan, in my absence, and Ed Bair was the guest speaker. An article about this luncheon will appear in the June issue of the Team Monmouth Communiqué.

Lots going on, as usual, but please keep in mind the Fisher House fund raiser that is scheduled for 9 June at Gibbs Hall. Our goal is to surpass the donation from last year, and that can only happen with your help and ATTENDANCE! Remember it is a fund raiser, and no money stays here, it all goes to the Fisher House Foundations.

We are doing great! Help us do better.