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September - October 2010

Poulsbo Post 245 Newsletter



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MEETING CHANGE NOTICE  !!

Our next General Meeting will on held on Friday, Oct. 22 at the Poulsbo Fire Station at 19:00.!

COMMANDER’S CORNER
By- Bill Bogardus

Comrades,

Our first news letter for this year.   As most of you know, we have decided to sell the Post Hall.  It was getting too much for us; the money and upkeep.  We have an offer and approved it. We should be having settlement around the first of Sept.  We have been looking for a new meeting place, somewhere in town and we have some leads.

We are also looking for an office for the Service Officers for we have to move from our city hall location in a couple weeks.  We need help with that if anyone can.

If you were not able to attend our July picnic, new Department Commander Ken Lee was there.  The Post was recently contacted by the Suquamish Tribe before their Chief Seattle Days celebration in Suquamish.  At that celebration the Post was awarded a plaque for our support in the community.  I was able to attend to receive the award for the Post.  I will be presenting to the USCG  Auxiliary Flotilla on Bainbridge Island a certificate of appreciation for their part in our Memorial Day Ceremony. 

For God and Country,

Bill Bogardus


SERVICE OFFICER REPORT
By- Terry Inman


The Service Office continues to serve between 5-8 clients a week, with a lot of newcomers. Vets that are just now submitting the required paperwork for their compensation, with a lot of them being Viet Nam vets.

We still have no word on where the office will be moving at the close of the City Hall and the Mayor has quietly requested that we not be there longer than the end of the month. Without an office, this service that we provide will be stilled. I believe that I can speak for both Earl Jones and myself, we do not want this to happen. With that in mind, I have made myself a portable office of forms that are nec-essary for claim submittals and will continue to assist our brother vets as I can from wherever I can.

PAST COMMANDER'S UPDATE
By- Bob Theal

I recently had the opportunity to visit Spokane and attend the American Legion Baseball World Series. The weather was great and the tournament was spectacular. Before the games started I attended the opening banquet where I had the honor of sitting next to “Gunny Lauve”, a highly decorated Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant and veteran of sever-al World War II and Korea battles now residing in Wenchatee. The guest speaker was Hall of Famer George Brett, who provided the players and the audience with an excellent motivation speech. All of the games were played in warm but not hot temps and nice low humidity, which all of the teams enjoyed. The new national champions are the Mid-City Oklahoma Outlaws team who beat the Eden Prairie Minnesota team, twice on the last night.

During the numerous breaks between games, I had the opportunity to have several talks to chat with National Com-mander Clarence Hill and Mr. Bill Haase, the Senior Vice President from the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame.

I look forward to speaking with as many of you in the months to come as we progress into our new Legion year. A Past Commanders job is never done.


LADIES AUXILIARY
By- Marilyn Teal


Well, it’s hard to believe that summer is closing and we’re about to enter into a new season. Personally, I’m still hold-ing out hope that my tomatoes will ripen. I’ve got a lot of them on the plants, but they’re still a very distinct shade of green. While I know we didn’t have a summer of fabulous weather this year, it could have been worse. I spent two weeks on the east coast in temperature of 90 degrees with 85% humidity and no air conditioning. I felt like I needed gills to breathe. Not great for sleeping, however, their gardens are flourishing. So there’s good in everything, you just may have to look a little harder. Who knows maybe we’ll have a dry and mild winter. Keep the faith!
I do not have a lot to report at this time, but I did want you to know about some upcoming Auxiliary Events.

Membership
September 29th is our first membership goal date. So if you haven’t done so already, I offer a quick reminder to get your dues to Joan Watte.

District Conference
October 23rd is the 3rd District Conference at the Bainbridge Island Post 172.

Department President Visit
November 20th Department President Jane Montaney will visit our district. The details have not yet been worked out. More to follow.

Retsil Gift Shop
November 29th – December 2nd is the Retsil Gift Shop. They can use mailing boxes, wrapping paper, cards, gift items and cash for shopping and mailing costs. Most years we have a group that goes down for a day. If interested give me a call. We can usually set up a car pool.

Unit Officers for 2011
President: Marilyn Theal
Vice President: Barbara Sather
Membership Secretary: Joan Watte
Chaplain: Clara Smith

I look forward to a great year with all of you.

VENTURING CREW 1042
By- John Zantec

We Have A Venturing Ranger

It came as a complete surprise. At the closing ceremony for this year's National Youth Leadership Training course at Camp Pigott, BSA Scoutmaster Phil Sohn announced that the Chief Seattle Council had approved the award of the Venturing Ranger Medal to the course's Senior Patrol Leader...Crew 42's Jeff Zantek.

The Ranger award represents years of work for Jeff, who is an original member of the Crew, chartered to the American Legion Post 245 in Poulsbo. To earn Ranger, a Venturer must display skills in 8 core areas and in at least 4 of 18 elective specialties. The core areas include First Aid, Wilderness Survival, Emergency Pre-paredness, Communications, Leave No Trace, Cooking, Land Navigation, and Conservation. The electives include Backpacking, Cave Exploring, Biking/Cycling, Ecology, Equestrian, First Aid, Fishing, Hunting, Lifesaving, Mountaineering, Outdoor Living History, Physical Fitness, Plants & Wildlife, Project COPE, Scuba, Shooting Sports, Watercraft, and Winter Sports. All requirements must be accomplished as a Venturer and are quite challenging.

The presentation of the Ranger Award came just as Jeff was preparing to depart the Council and start his freshman year at the University of Montana. Congratulations, RANGER Jeff!

EDITOR'S NOTES
By- Don Spinar

Breidablik Hall Sold!!

As mentioned in the Commander’s article, by the time you read this, the sale of the Post’s Hall should be finalized. This means that the September meeting date and location has changed to Friday 9/17 at the Poulsbo Fire Station and that subsequent meeting dates and locations will change but are undetermined at this time.

We’ll have a lot to do when the sale is finalized so we will need extra hands to move stuff (e.g. equipment, tables, etc.). If you’re able to help, send me an email to dspinar@comcast.net and when I’m sure of our schedule, I’ll send you an email letting you know the date(s)/time(s).

Hope you can help,
Don Spinar


Monopoly Here & Now

Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British Airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich, and the Crown was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape...

Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only where stuff was, but also showing the locations of 'safe houses' where a POW on-the-lam could go for food and shelter.

Paper maps had some real drawbacks -- they make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly, and if they get wet, they turn into mush.

Someone in MI-5 (similar to America 's OSS ) got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever.

At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd. When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort.

By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category of item qualified for insertion into 'CARE packages', dispatched by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war.

Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where Allied POW camps were located. When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopo-ly playing piece.

While they were at it, the clever workmen at Waddington's also managed to add:

1. A playing token, containing a small magnetic compass
2. A two-part metal file that could easily be screwed together
3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!

British and American air crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set -- by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free Parking square.

Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this high-ly successful ruse in still another, future war.

The story wasn't declassified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were finally honored in a public ceremony. It's always nice when you can play that 'Get Out of Jail' Free' card!

Story verification: http://blogs.wsj.com/informedreader/2007/11/19/wwii-pows-perk-monopoly-with-real-money/



Federal rules published for Tricare Retired Reserve
(From: Air Force Retiree News Service)

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AFRNS) -- The interim final rule for the Tricare Retired Reserve, or TRR, program has been pub-lished. That brings the opportunity for members of the Retired Reserve who are not yet age 60, the so-called “gray-area” retirees, to purchase Tricare Standard coverage one big step closer to a planned program launch expected as early as September 2010.

At that time, instructions about how to qualify for and purchase TRR coverage will become available. If purchased, TRR cover-age is expected to go into effect as early as Oct. 1.

The statute that established TRR requires that qualified retired reservists pay premiums equal to the full cost of the coverage without government subsidy. According to the interim final rule, monthly premium rates for 2010 will be $388.31 for TRR member-only coverage, or $976.41 for TRR member and family coveage. Rates will be adjusted annually.

This year's premiums are based on the actual costs during 2007 and 2008 for providing Tricare benefits to people in the same age categories as the retired reserve population. The 2011 premiums will be adjusted based on 2008 and 2009 costs.

Beneficiaries can read the entire interim final rule on line at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-19313.pdf. A 60-day comment period will allow for public input before the final rule is issued. Those interested may submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal -- www.regulations.gov -- or by mail to the Federal Docket Management System Office, 1160 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1160.

Retirees who may want to purchase TRR coverage should make sure their eligibility information is correct in the Defense Enroll-ment Eligibility Reporting System.

To get more information about TRR as it becomes available, visit www.tricare.mil/subscriptions and sign up for "Benefit Chang-es" for “Retired National Guard and Reserve Member.” (Courtesy of Tricare)

Needs for VA Hospitals/Facilities

All Posts/Units/Squadrons and Chapters:

Our VA Medical Centers, as well as the Soldiers' Home & Veterans' Homes are in continuing need of the following "Comfort" items.


Please note: Because of the level of care given by the VA Medical System and the requirements which have been established, they are requesting that all items be Name-Brand quality, and all products need to be alcohol-free.

Shower Slippers - Size: Large
Shaving Cream
Tooth Brushes
Combs/Hair Brushes
Nail Clippers
Deodorant
Denture Cleanser
Denture Cream/Adhesive
Razors
Emery Boards (No metal files, please).

If you are unable to take or send these to the VA Hospital/Facility of your choice, please notify the De-partment VAVS Coordinator, Jim Broe via e-mail at: jimbroe@earthlink.net. If you do not have e-mail, please ask a friend or relative to send it, so that there is a written record of the donation or re-quest - or, contact your Post to relay the information. We will attempt to provide collection/delivery of these goods.

The greatest need for these products is at the Seattle and American Lake Facilities.

Thank you,
Jim Broe
Department VAVS Coordinator
The American Legion,
Department of Washington
15600 NE 8th St. Suite B1-678
Bellevue, WA 98008-3900
206-999-6502
jimbroe@earthlink.net



The Value of Grass


Look at the picture of this Army soldier in Iraq with his tiny 'plot of grass' in front of his tent. Here is a soldier stationed in Iraq, stationed in a big sand box. He asked his wife to send him dirt (U.S. soil), fertilizer, and some grass seed so that he can have the sweet aroma, and feel the grass grow be-neath his feet.

 When the men of the squadron have a mission that they are going on, they take turns walking through the grass and the American soil -- to bring them good luck. Notice he is cutting the grass with a pair of a scissors. 

Sometimes we are in such a hurry that we don't stop and think about the little things that we take for granted. Say a little prayer for our soldiers that give and give (and give up) so unselfishly for us.

Patch of US Grass



CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

9/11 Poulsbo Freedom Walk (10:00-See flyer on 'Home' page)

9/13 Veterans get in free at the Puyallup Fair

9/17 Post General Meeting (19:00) at Poulsbo Fire Station

9/20 Veterans get in free at the Puyallup Fair

9/30 Crew 42 Meet (19:00) at Poulsbo Fire Station **

10/6 Auxiliary Meet (Sian Palace-17:00) 

10/21 Post General Meeting (19:00) **

10/23 Aux. District Conf. at B.I. Post 172 

10/28 Crew 42 Meet **


** Because of the move, check the web site to verify the date & location