Rock of the Marne!
The fall is always a busy time for the Society. We have our Reunion in November and the ever-present business needs of our Society to attend to.
Our Reunion is fast approaching. Please make your reservations EARLY. Please send in your registration form NOW! I always look forward to seeing everyone at the reunions. They are wonderful opportunities to fellowship with fellow Society members and to take care of business.
Please make plans to attend the General Membership meeting at the Reunion. This is your chance to have a say in how the Society conducts business, to implement changes, or to help steer the way forward for our Society. Many Veterans Organizations are dying because of a lack of membership or participation by Veterans. I, and the Executive Committee, work every day to ensure this does NOT happen to our beloved Society. Get involved and help out by being at the Reunion.
Speaking of our way forward, the EXCOM and I are looking at restructuring the Society. Mainly, moving away from the current Outpost structure to another structure that would generate more participation from our members. COVID really destroyed the Outpost activities and many OP’s are just not doing anything. We believe that it is time for our formation to change. At the general membership meeting we will discuss this possible change and I would like your input.
As always, please make sure you inform our Business Manager of any changes in your address, email, or telephone number. The number one reason why members do NOT get their magazine is because they moved and we don’t have their new address.
The financial report and audit are in this edition. We are doing very well and 2024 was a good year for us. It is important that we maintain complete transparency of our records with our members, and these reports are the primary method we use to communicate financial information with our members.
Let me know if you have any questions. The donation cards went out in September and would like to say an emphatic THANK YOU! to all those members who donated to the various funds that make up the financial streams of our Society. Your philanthropic endeavors are what make our Society financially strong and position us to be successful in the future. We thank Major (Ret.) Heri Marrero for running this program, we are grateful to him for volunteering his expertise to manage your donations. Heri is a combat Veteran with multiple deployments to the Middle East and a longtime Dogface Soldier. Thank you Heri!
In the next few months, we will celebrate Halloween, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving, and then Christmas will be upon us. I hope that you all celebrate with passion, enjoy with pleasure, and always be grateful for the liberties we enjoy in our great country.
Our division will be deploying to Europe and many of our Soldiers will be away from home during the holidays. We wish all of our division Men and Women God-speed during this time.
Please continue to take good care of yourselves and please keep our deployed Soldiers in your prayers.
Rock of the Marne!
Toby Knight
President