Re: December Newsletter

Fellow Riders;

I hope your holidays were joyful and safe. I apologize for not sending out a newsletter sooner, but the last few months have been extremely busy. Since we last met in “Dickinson” (minutes for this meeting attached), we have been involved in 12 events. I have attached an After Action Report that list all of the things we have been involved with just to show how busy the VFWMG Unit 1 has been. I hope more of us can get together to plan events for this year. I know each of you have busy schedules, but we need to try to participate more as a group. I will do a better job of getting the information out on our Website in advance when I can for the rest of this year. I have a completed “E-Mail” list now, and plan to post events coming up in a timelier manner.

The VFWMG has been going full throttle since our last meeting and now have two more Units formed and several more almost ready to charter in the near future. I have been in close contact with the two Units, which have been started up and attended a meeting for one to help answer any questions. The Motorcycle Group is growing faster than expected and that is fantastic. There is a lot of excitement and interest in almost every District that I have spoken to about our group. The two new Units are from District 8 – Post 6873 in Abilene, and District 21 – Post 9299 in Alvarado. Waco, Burnett, Fort Hood, and San Antonio have all requested Charter Information.

Russ & Zelda Richards, my wife and I, as well as 2 members from Unit Two and 3 members from Unit Three attended the AMA Risk Management Certification Training Class in Austin on December 31^st. We completed our training so we can apply to the AMA to become a Sanctioned Club to put on major events in the future. I need input from each of you in regards to the type of events we want to plan. Russ and I have talked extensively about different runs, but we need your input, so E-Mail, call or send a letter with your ideas. Also let us know what is happening in your local community. Seeing how we are so scattered out from several areas, we would like to participate in all of our communities. We are a riding group and need to get together more frequently. We need to be taking advantage of this great riding weather we have been having.

There are two events this month that I would like to see us get together for. The first one is this weekend on Saturday, January 14, 2006 at the VFW Post 4709, 1303 W. Semands Street in Conroe, Texas. I know this is a short notice, but the final plans were only put together a couple of days ago on this Rally. Conroe is at the top of the list for an Out-Patient Clinic to be built for the VA Hospital System. This is the same type of facility that was opened in Galveston last year. The VA keeps pushing the start date out from 2005 to 2006 and now they want to move it out even later. Our local House of Representative, Congressman, Senator as well as some of our local politicians are hosting a Grassroots Press Conference at the VFW Post here in Conroe to draw attention to this situation. They have asked for a showing of support from all the Veterans to gain Media Support and hold the Secretary of the VA Administrative to the promises that they have made to build the clinic in Conroe. We need your help and support if we are going to be successful at this rally. We expect several hundred Veterans to attend and would like to have a thousand plus if possible. Try to attend if you can ride or drive up to support this Rally. It starts at 1:00pm on Saturday, January 14, 2006.

Also this month, our Mid-Winter Conference in Austin will be held from January 26^th through January 29^th. There will be a VFWMG meeting on Friday January 27^th at 2:00pm in Russ Richards Suite. There will be a notice by the elevators in the lobby of the Double Tree as to the room number. The other two Units will be represented and we will be presenting Unit Two with their Charter. Also there is a proposal to amend the By-Laws to allow the Support and Auxiliary members to hold the appointed offices. Please see attached By-Law Proposal for full details. This will be discussed and voted on by the members present at the VFWMG meeting. This will be the first meeting with all of the VFWMG Dept. of Texas Units and a chance to discuss the future of our organization. If enough of us ride up and time permits, perhaps we can plan a small Rally in Austin. We also need to discuss the State Convention in Corpus, The National Convention in Reno “Vander Clute Rally” and any other Rallies or Rides we want to plan. Please try to come if only for one day. We need to be visible and show our support for the VFW. I am sure we can recruit more members for the Motorcycle Group as well by being present sporting our VFWMG Vest.

I am the District 17 Hospitality Chairman and can be found most of the time if not in a meeting in room #486 of the Double Tree starting on Thursday, January 26^th. I will be arriving on Wednesday and my room number should be #488. If you get in early give me a shout. Hope to see you soon, until then keep the Road Gremlins at bay and “Ride Safe”.

Your Fellow Veteran Rider,

Norm Brawner

VFWMG Unit 1-12024 President