Fall Chapter Meeting

The Chapter's Fall Meeting was held once again in beautiful uptown Knoxville, Tennessee. Our powwow for the weekend was at the Baymont Inn & Suites. Surprisingly we had a great showing from the members who call North Carolina home. You might recall, the hurricane Francisis spent a few hours hovering over Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, dropping a few inches of water across the land. As I understand it, if you didn’t have webbed feet, you had a slight problem of getting from one place to the other. Those members who dared the hardships of travel, never removed their footwear so I had no chance to personally verify the “Web Feet” situation.

The Team Room, AKA the Hospitality Room, opened it’s doors somewhere around 1500 hours (that’s 3pm for any Legs out there) and the die-hards quickly filled the room. Ron Bruce was our host for this meeting and he had laid out all sorts of condiments for the troops. Of course, there were a couple of members (no names please, but one lives in Erlanger, KY and the other in Fayetteville, GA) who complained about not having enough ‘Mixed Nuts’ so Ron made a special trip to the local ‘Mixed Nuts Providing Store’ to satisfy the nut-cravings of those two members. Oddly enough, when the Team Room was cleared out Sunday Morning, there were still cans of Mixed Nuts on the table.

Saturday, which always follows Friday, the troops gathered in and around the breakfast bar, waiting their turn at the two waffle machines. The old timers, which all of us are, partook mostly of the Biscuits and Gravy. This delicacy brought back fond memories of by-gone days when we would enjoy the morning meal of SOS in the company mess hall. A meal of waffles and biscuits and gravy was all we needed to carry us through to the midday snack catered by Ron Bruce just before the Chapter President called the business meeting to order.

Right off the bat, we had a head-to-head drag-out about what constituted a forum. It seems like the concept of a forum for SF meetings was modified by the National Committee at this years National Convention. Since the old concept of a forum was/is a certain percentage of the total membership, National had a problem with conducting official business. They changed the rule for a SF meeting. The SF concept of a forum is a percentage of the attending members. If this be the case, all meetings in Special Forces chapters will have a forum. The argument was; did the new meaning of forum apply only to National at the National Conventions or did it apply to all chapters of the Association? We took it to mean all chapters of the association. Therefore, from this day forward, we will always have a forum and a business meeting.

A few changes were made in the officer corps. Billy Phipps, our VP, assumed the extra duty of Secretary. Sid Morgan was seated at this meeting as acting Secretary just to assist Billy in getting his feet wet as Secretary. Chuck James assumed the position of Treasurer due to the death of Jim Godwin on 4 October.

The normal business subjects were covered and, if required, motions were made and seconded. One major motion made and seconded was the chapter forgo any monies going to scholarships until the scholarship fund can rebuild it’s finances. Then the meeting was officially closed and the troops resumed their favorite pastime of shooting the bull and partaking of the local beers and liquor.

Ron had not included an official, sit down dinner. There were ungodly numbers of restaurants, bars, grills and such within walking distance of the Baymont Inn. The only caveat being the troops had to be back by 1700 hours for the auction.

The Chapter Auction. The main event and highlight of the Chapter get-togethers are the auctions. We missed our well-known and well-loved Assistant Auctioneer, Charlie Ponds, but our Master of Ceremonies, our Pitchman, our very own Auctioneer, extraordinaire, Stan Shank was on scene to conduct the ever popular auction. He wheeled and dealed; he cajoled, begged, threatened and pleaded and in the end, the Scholarship fund assets had increased to the tune of more than $600. The fund added $150 in addition by donations.

And then all things must come to an end. Sunday morning the troops gathered once again around the breakfast bar to say their good-byes and make the long or short drives back home. Each waiting for the final word of where the next meeting will be. Dave Hensley has volunteered to host the Winter meeting in Marion, Virginia sometime in January or February. The particulars will be posted on the Chapter Website’s Bulletin Board as they are known.

A few photos were taken and are placed on this page for your viewing pleasure.

Remember! Our meetings are BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle). Chapter XXXIII no longer furnishes the hard stuff. All alcohol beverages are the responsibility of each member. The Chapter will furnish the soft drinks and water.

You can return to the meeting list by clicking on the icon on the left or view the photos from this meeting by clicking on the icon on the right. Either way, hope you enjoyed your stay with our January 2018 Winter meeting.