BRIG GEN ROBIN OLDS AMERICAN LEGION THAILAND
POST TH01
NEWSLETTER
Volume 1 Issue 1
26 May 2016
Commander Larry D Edmonds
1st Vice Commander Wayne Wright
2nd Vice Commander Potyrala, Theodore L
Adjutant Jeffrey G Ludwig
Finance Officer Jeffrey G Ludwig,
Service Officer JC Molette Jr
Sergeant at arms Bruce A Templeman
Historian Theodore L Potyrala
Judge Advocate Don C Ford
Chaplain Hugh T Mason
Publicity Officer David M Burns
Executive Committee:
Members At Large Floyd D Wilson
Members At Large Salvatore Salzarulo
Members At Large Joseph E Reedy
This Year’s 2017
Annual Election Are Over!
Here are your new Post
Officers
.
This month we celebrate Memorial Day. Unofficially, at
least, it marks the beginning of summer. Officially it is one
of the most solemn holidays in the United States.
Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday of May,
honors men and women who died while serving in the U.S.
military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated
in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.
Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding
family gatherings and participating in parades.
*****************************
Monday, 23 May 2016, marks an important day in the history of this Post. This afternoon I and Adjutant Ludwig mailed our Application for a Permanent Charter to Department of France, to be forwarded on to National Headquarters with Department's recommendation for approval. Department already received an emailed copy with supporting documents but needed a hard copy to forward on to the National Headquarters. The approval of this application, which I have been assured will be issued, will make our Post a permanent post within The American Legion. It will also mark in history the first Chartered post in Thailand and SEA. It will make our post name official, The Brig. Gen. Robin Olds American Legion Thailand Post TH01. The shorter version is Thailand Post TH01. If the process is anything like our application for Temporary Charter, we won't hear anything from National Headquarters until sometime in October at the earliest.
Commander’s Brief. -
By Larry Edmonds
Monthly Post Membership Meeting,,
This month marks our second meeting at the Ubon RTAF Base, Golf Course Clubhouse. It was also the first meeting held with an enhanced (beefed up) server for electronic conferencing the
meeting. This allows our members in the USA and other areas to listen and participate in the meeting. The quality was much improved from previous attempts. JC, our IT Director, will continue to tweak the server and promises even better quality at the next meeting.
We encourage maximum attendance at the June meeting. At the June meeting we will conduct our first Swearing in Ceremony for the new Officers. We are going to adhere to the time honored traditions of the Legion. For many of us new members, it will be a first. Let’s get out and support our new officers and get them started off right. Also, we would like to take a group picture of the members present and take individual snapshots of each officer.
*****************************
NEXT
POST MEMBERSHIP MEETING
June 13 2016
Ubon RTAFB, Golf Course Clubhouse
Adjutants Post –
Jeff Ludwig,,
This month saw much progress made. We were able to get into myLegion.org and obtain the permanent Membership ID numbers for the new American Legion Members. We were also able to review the records loaded in the system and take action to correct the errors.
That being said, I encourage each of you to register and sign-in to the members section of myLegion.org. This section of myLegion.org allows members to view information on file at National Headquarters, view messages and events published through the department and Post myLegion sites, view our newsletter and network with other myLegion members using networking tools. It also allows you to print a replacement membership card. As we all know it can take a while to get the new membership ID cards in the mail. Access to the members section of myLegion.org allows you to review your personal profile, address, and other personal information. You can also check to see if your annual dues are recorded correctly. I promise you it is simple and easy; just go to this link, {myLegion.org} or just google my legion.org.
***********************
Finance Officer Vault
– Jeff Ludwig,,
Reminder renewal of
dues for 2017 starts
July 1, 2016. Our new
dues are $40.00 if
paying online or paying
in the U.S.A. and
1,500 Baht if paying in Thailand. As
you may recall, National raised their
per capita per member from $13.50 to
$18.50. The Department raised theirs
from $6.oo to $8.00. Raising our dues
to $40.00 gives us a return of $13.50 to
go into our Post funds.
We submitted our request for dues
increase to the Department of France
and are waiting for them to update the
amount in the system.
If you are renewing online,
(recommended), please make sure that
the dues amount reflected is $40.00
before you renew your membership. If
you renew your membership before
Department and National change the
dues amount in the system, you will
only end up shorting the Post.
,,
It is my honor to be the Sergeant-at-Arms of this Post. When I decided to transfer my membership to the Brigadier General Robin Olds Post TH01, I had no idea that it was a fledgling Post and I am very excited to be a part of what will be a long-lasting legacy for the American Legion in Southeast Asia.
As Sergeant-at-Arms, I understand that I will have many ceremonial duties and, more importantly, am the one to chair the welcoming committee for new members. I believe that I am up to the task, having dealt with Protocol and Honor Guard for many years in the U.S. Air Force.
There is no more important duty as Sergeant-at- Arms than to make sure that we conduct our meetings with the proper protocol. When we socialize, we are jovial comrades. When we conduct the business part of our meetings, we are solemn and professional, assisting our commander by offering our opinions, advice, and offers of service. Once the gavel is brought down on the table signaling the adjournment of the meeting, it is my hope that we stay and socialize more. Getting to know each other is a great benefit to each one of us, especially living together in a foreign land. Our meeting together gives us the chance to bond over shared experiences as well as give each other the benefit of lessons we have learned throughout our lives. I look forward to seeing everyone again at the Clubhouse.
*****************************
Sergeant of arms,-
Bruce Templeman
Historian-
Ted Potyrala,,,
Today in history 26 May,
1907 – John Wayne was born
1965 – Australian troops depart for Vietnam
1971 – North Vietnamese seize Snoul, Cambodia
1991 - Passenger aircraft crashes 100 miles north of Bangkok **From the History Channel
Before we established our current Post, an attempt was made to form a VFW post. This proved difficult because of the strict requirements to become a member of the VFW. Simply put, there just weren’t enough American veterans in the Ubon area to achieve the numbers required.
The idea was brought up by our now Commander, Larry Edmonds, to try to form an American Legion post. The requirement for membership wasn’t nearly as strict as it was for a VFW post.
After a few planning meetings and some heavy recruiting we came up with the required number of members needed to submit an application to National requesting approval to start a Post. Our temporary charter was approved on October 20, 2016. We became the first ever American Legion post in Thailand and South East Asia. Thus was born, The Brig Gen Robin Olds American Legion Thailand Post Th01
Next month a little about Gen Olds and why we decided to name our post after him.
*****************************
Tech Talk -
IT Director JC Molette,,
Hello, I’m JC Molette, your friendly neighborhood Tech Guru and
member and It Director of The American Legion Post TH01. I
figured I’d throw out a topic that might be near and dear to everyone’s heart — How The
Internet Works. Given that using computers and the internet is no longer just a
convenience but a necessity, it nice to know a little about the internet. Here’s a link for
those who “really want to know”...
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/05/how-the-internet-w... data-centres-last-mile/
Enjoy, and I’ll talk to you again next Month.
*****************************
View more history for Post TH01 in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, France
