As those who attended the Summer 2009 Quarterly Meeting in Gainesville, GA noted, the President of Chapter XXXIII, SFA was not present and was represented by other chapter officers. It was his full intention to attend the meeting but, at the last minute, he received a call from a "headhunter" (military minds and bodies for hire and sale) outfit offering him a short-term engagement as the chief of a training team providing short-duration training to the armed forces of a former Soviet (now separate and independent) republic. After three days of pre-deployment training at Ft Bragg, he flew out on Friday, July 24, 2009 (just about the time that we were setting up the Hospitality Room).

Anyway, our leader, Sidney L. Morgan, is in Yerevan, Armenia (look it up on a map), providing staff training to the commanders and staff of the newly organized Armenian Peacekeeping Brigade. (Google "Armenian Peacekeeping Brigade" for information on this new unit. Apparently the unit has already deployed and served in Kosovo and Iraq alongside US forces and received very laudatory comments about their abilities and professionalism.) This job will last approximately eight (8) weeks, and Sid promises to be back for the Fall Quarterly Meeting in October.

Sid, by the way, is imminently well-qualified for this type mission: he's the former commander of SATMO at Ft Bragg (you're supposed to know what that means) and traveled throughout Europe coordinating with all NATO countries, to include newly-independent former Warsaw Pact countries, during his assignment to NATO/SHAPE. (This probably won't be the only time that we'll have to share his talent with some foreign country, but as long as the boy is having fun and making some money . . .)