EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE... Fall 2007
Bob Anderson

photo of Bob AndersonFall is upon us. Seems like it got here faster than usual this particular year. The reunion in Saratoga Springs, New York went extremely well. Al St Onge and the New England Chapter of NCVA out did themselves. They have conducted two very successful reunions. The city Saratoga Springs went out of their way to welcome the NCVA. Welcome signs were in abundance all over the downtown area, welcoming members that were in attendance. The highlight of community involvement with the reunion was a remembrance of those lost during the attack on the world trade center 9/11/2001. A ceremony placing an 18 inch square brick in the sidewalk at Veterans Memorial Park was a joint undertaking of NCVA and the city of Saratoga Springs. The New England Chapter, in conjunction with the city, arranged the ceremony and held it on 9/11/2007. The local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter assisted the NCVA in forming a joint color guard for the event. An exact replica of the brick is currently on display at the Cryptologic Command Display in Pensacola, Florida.

The board of directors conducted the annual meeting on the 9th of September. The board reviewed a draft of the updated bylaws of NCVA. The draft will be printed in the next NCVA Membership Directory that will be published in November 2007 and will be voted on by the membership at the St Louis reunion in 2008. This will allow for all members to review the bylaws prior to approval. If you have comments and/or suggestions please forward them to me at my address listed in the CRYPTOLOG.

Other actions of the Board of Directors:
  1. Board approved a third $1000.00 scholarship to be awarded annually.
  2. Approved three new board members that were presented to the General Membership. They are incumbents Lee Mobley and Clyde Wilson approved for another three year term, and Retired Reserve Force Master Chief Mary Ann Floyd.
  3. Approved life membership for Dave Fiehtner in recognition many contributions to the association.
  4. Approved member Dave Welty as the new Archivist for NCVA. Dave replaces long time archivist Bill Lockert who retired in June 2007.
  5. The board approved a measure that will charter all of the various groups of the NCVA. Sample charters will be sent out to local member groups that do not currently have a charter. In conjunction with this measure, NCVA will provide commemorative plaques for the chapters to award to local military groups for such things as Sailors of the Year or other ceremonies that they may choose. The plaques are currently being designed. Chapters will be notified when they are available.
  6. Approved official recognition of "Uncle Sam" Wilson by the U.S. Naval Crytologic Veterans Association. The proposal was put forth by Retired Senior Chief Art Gowie of the New England Chapter. This recognition along with a short history of the man known as "Uncle Sam" will be published in the Spring issue of the CRYPTOLOG.

Other milestones for NCVA this year are: publication of the NCVA Membership Directory in November; a thirtieth anniversary Executive Director update in January; and publication of the Second NCVA History book shortly thereafter.. The history book is already nearing 400 pages. We are still in need of member biographies. Please submit your biography with pictures (preferably a before and a current picture). Bio's got a big boost at the last reunion but we still would like to have more available to publish.

The reunion site for 2010 was approved by the general membership at the annual meeting in Saratoga Springs. We had two superb presentations to pick from, Valley Forge/Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Orlando, Florida. Both presentations were for the spring of 2010. Voting was by a ballot that was made available in member's packages when they registered. Voting took place throughout the four days of the reunion. Ballots were placed in a ballot box located in the hospitality suite and were counted daily by Dave Fiehtner and Ann Karoly. The results were announced after the general membership meeting. Valley Forge/Philadelphia was the winner. The reunion will be held in May 2010 with Fred Demech as the host.

Our special guest this year at the reunion was RADM (Sel) Edwin H. Deets, III, USN, Vice Commander Naval Network Warfare Command. His briefing for the membership included an account of his trip to the war zones in Iraq. He mentioned each of this year’s award winners who were in attendance. The OTRG award winners, Master Chief Tom Ayers and MSGT Jason Confer, and the NCVA award winner Senior Chief Brent Barnes have all been assigned to a command in that area of the world. Master Chief Ayers is still there as Command Master Chief of NIOC Bahrain. GYSGT Jerrod Jasmine who was the Marine Corps winner of the NCVA award was in school and unable to attend the reunion. The Admiral’s remarks about these individuals and the rest of those assigned in the war zone were an indication to all us that what we do or did in the past is no longer done from afar. It is now real time, on the spot and up to the minute.

As a reminder our Vice President Frank Huffman is the host of our 2008 reunion in St. Louis, Missouri. Plan ahead. He has a great event planned.

Archived Executive Director Updates:
Fall 2007
Summer 2007
Summer 2004
Spring 2004

Last Modified: Sunday, 16-Mar-2008 10:06:04 EST