Our chapter ventured once again into the high mountain country of Eastern Tennessee. The AO for this venture was the Park Vista Hotel in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we braved the terrible winter weather for the fifth time to hold our Winter Chapter meeting.

The Hospitality Room soon filled to overflowing and it looked as if once again this chapter would show up in force for the meeting at 1400 (that's army time for you Legs) on Saturday. I don't know when the last of the members departed the Hospitality Room on Friday night because your poor web guy was under the weather with a cold that probably bordered on pneumonia. He had departed the gala events of the evening shortly after the last dinner bell and wasn't seen again until Saturday morning.

Did anyone really miss him?

Sid and Beth, host and hostess for this gathering, announced lunch on Saturday at 1200 hours sharp. The goodies were laid out and everyone dashed for the tables. Your poor web guy did manage to make the lunch call and did manage to take some photos. Just how good they are is debatable since he couldn't see much through blood-shot eyes and nerve-racking coughs.

At 1400 hours (Army time for you Legs), our newly-elected President, Art McRae, slammed the mallet on the table and the 2014 Winter Meeting of Chapter XXXIII was offically underway.

There were the usual reports from the VP, Secretary and Treasurer. Then Art McRae, turned the floor over to Jack Tobin, President of the SFA, who spoke of many things including knives, rifles and the Green Beret Foundation.

Our President made a few comments about being careful about donating money to those charities everyone watches on TV. He read off the salaries of some of the executives of some of the well known charities and cautioned about where to give your money. One member whom I won't name, but drives a Harley and lives in the Knoxville area, mentioned he was giving money to one of the charities our President had cautioned about. He questioned his choice but would still like to give. Jack Tobin jumped in and suggusted he might consider giving to the Green Beret Foundation. Almost all monies donated to that foundation go to help the SF troops. So, Guys and Gals. If you want to donate, check out the GBF first.

1830 hours, Saturday evening, our members filled the dining area for a buffet of chicken, ribs, salad, beans and blueberry cobbler. All members loaded their plates (some may have gone back for seconds and thirds). Then the tables were cleared and our very own Auctioneer, Stan (the Man) Shank proceeded to lay out the rules and regulations for the upcoming auction. Any blinking of eyes, rubbing noses, twiddling thumbs, nodding head or any other motion or sound the Auctioneer might take as a bid, will be called on. Some bids during the course of the evening, contested those calls and/or motions, but our Man maintained the decor and grace of the evening by ignoring the pleas and placed the auctioned item on the lap of the man/woman. Some of the items went for $300, $250, $100 and more. In the end, the Chapter Scholarship fund, which had a starting balance of $95, ended up with over $2,400. Well done, guys and gals. Well done!

And, as always happens at these gatherings for the past hundreds of eons or so, Sunday burst upon the scene cloudless, bright and cool. We gathered one last time for our farewell breakfast, said our good-byes, paid our bills and departed for the far reaches of our AO.

The Spring chapter meeting will be held in Chattanooga, Tennessee on the 2d weekend of April 2014 (11-13 April 2014). Mitch Greene will host this meeting. The hotel is the "Days Inn of the River", Chattanooga, TN. That's all the information I have at the moment and this has been published on the Bulletin Board of the Chapter web site. As soon as Mitch gets more information I will update the BB.

The Summer meeting will be in conjunction with the SFA Convention in Columbia, SC in June. If you are in the area, make the meeting. We’ve had problems in the past getting a quorum together.

Jack Heist is talking about having a meeting up in his area. Ohio and Northern Kentucky are famous for their Oktoberfests in the fall of the year. We had a meeting in Ohio years back which included the Oktoberfest. Jack will let us know about those arraignments.

As you can see I have changed the format of this page. I was getting tired of the same old look. Now you can click on any of the photos on the right and gaze upon the artistry of your very sick web guy.

Enjoy and we'll see you in Chatanooga in April.

Copyright © 1994 Chapter XXXIII SFA. All rights Reserved.
Chapter XXXIII, SFA, The Larry Alan Thorne Special Forces Memorial Chapter
Winter Meeting was created 03 February 2014