Chapter 33's Fall Meeting was held at the Howard Johnson (INN) North, in Knoxville, Tennessee sometime between the dates 11 - 15 October 2002. And true to the Special Forces Axiom (and Murphy's Law) the Howard Johnson (INN) North had changed hands between the time the Alert order was given and the date of the meeting. However, since we were all highly trained in Special Forces Special Situations, we eventually found the newly named motel.

The troops started arriving, for the most part, on Friday, 11 October 2002. Some of the really die-hards had come in on Thursday, 10 October 2002. They wanted to beat the crowds to the famous outlet malls near Dolly World.

Being the highly-trained Special Forces Troops that we were, we eventually found the local watering hole affectionately referred to as the Hospitality Room. The Hospitality "Room" wasn't a room at all but a one-room building. Members filled it to overflowing and then spilled out onto the porch and parking lot. Food and drink was in abundance and soon, very soon, we were into that famous Chapter 33 Modus Operandi---Drinkin', eatin' n' shootin' the bull.

And this Modus Operandi continued well into the wee, wee hours of the morning.

Thus Friday, 11 October 2002, slipped unnoticed into the past and Saturday dawned bright and early. The women were long gone to that great shopping mall associated with Dolly World. I don't really know the name of the place, but women need no names of places. They need only that there be lots and lots of stores and that they be within fifty feet of each other. This way they didn't waste too much time moving from one shop to the next.

The men, true to their survival training, staggered about. Some blurry-eyed members reported early for duty at the Hospitality Room, while others tried to partake in that famous Cracker Barrel breakfast menu. Eventually (about 1000 hours) the Hospitality Room was once again over-flowing into the parking lot as we all prepared for the Chapter meeting at 1400 hours.

One of the high lights of the meeting came when Judy Hines was made an honorary member of Chapter 33. This was the Chapter's way for saying "Thanks, Judy" for all your outstanding contributions, the time and effort spent helping to make our chapter what it is today.

The second most important thing that was discussed at the meeting was where the next one would be held. And Lo and Behold! It's back to that Swiss Chalet in Cleveland, Tennessee!

With the meeting under our belts we went about our business of getting ready for the dinner that evening and the auction sometime after the dinner.

Matt had requested that a short memorial for him be held at our next meeting and the tip of our berets to Art for fulfilling Matts request. Up to and including the music.

Our guest speaker was none other than Bryan Shank, son of our famous Auctioneer, Stan Shank. He was fresh back from the woods of Afghanistan with photos and tales to tell. I don't know if there are really woods in Afghanistan or not, but there were always woods when we were serving. We spent well over an hour listening to Bryan tell how the younger generation of SF is keeping the spirit of Special Forces alive. Our Berets are off to you, Bryan and all your comrades.

The auction was the final highlight of the festivities. Everything from bricks to rifles were auctioned off. Some items went for as little as $1 and others went for as much as $140. It wasn't the money or the item that was so important but the sport of having our three Auctioneers (Stan, Bill and Harry) move effortlessly through the crowd extracting that ever-elusive next dollar from some unsuspecting bidder. All in all I do believe the Chapter raised just over $1,000 bucks. Money well spent and a hell of a lot of fun.

And thus ended the fall chapter meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee. The next day, Sunday, was involved in paying the bills and saying the good-byes until next time.

And now, thanks to the quick eye and fingers of Bob Hines, you can wonder through the chapter photos. Enjoy yourself!