To:
All Members of the Honor Guard
From: Joe Reardon & Joe Keifer
Subject:
Re-Organization
It has been suggested there was a need to elect new
leadership now that Jack Thomas is no longer available to help with the
administration of the organization. We both agree that we need some new blood
in the leadership role, but we feel that before we have any kind of an election
we need to make the organization more formal. We need to define our role within
Del Vet's and set down our reasons for Being and set up some rules on how we
will operate. A single person in charge, while sounding like a good idea, could
be a disaster if we do not have others to fall back on when that single point
person is not available for some reason.
We need to put on paper an organization outline
along with our principles and Mission Statement. Then we can determine what
posts can we fill by Election and which posts do we fill by appointment.
We look at this organization as the service arm of
the larger body of members known as Del Vet's Post 1. It was formed after some
members of the Post attended a funeral of one of our Veteran Members. The
funeral director asked if we would like to fold and present the flag to the
widow. We did not feel comfortable in folding the flag after we had watched
the. Military do it so often on T-V but we would certainly be willing to handle
the presentation, and Our Chaplain did an excellent job It was on the way home
from Veteran's Cemetery that we decided that we should be able to perform those
tasks if asked to do it. In addition we had been reading in the paper about the
difficulty the Military was having in supplying Firing Squad &; Honor Guard
for Veterans that were not retired Military Personnel. We felt that with the
proper equipment and a little bit of training and a lot of practice we could
offer our services if asked. This leads to what we call The Mission Statement.
The following are our thoughts about what the Honor Guard has been over the
last 6 years and where it is going in the future.
·
Participate in fund raising activities for the Post,
sponsoring some and helping with others. The "Help" are things like
manning the P/A System and handling traffic and parking control.
In order to carry out our mission as outlined in the Mission Statement it is felt that we need the following:
Honor Guard Captain - Be the
leader and main contact between the group & the Post, calling meeting and
presenting to the organization the various requests and invitations received.
Honor Guard Lieutenant - Be a part
of the Administration of the organization and act as back up for the Captain.
Be next in line for the leadership role if the Captain becomes unavailable for
any reason.
Color
Guard Sargent - Be part of the Administration of the
Organization and also be responsible for the Parade Flags and other Parade
Equipment. Be third in line of progression in case the other leadership become
unavailable.
These 3
positions would be filled through an election that would be held once every 3
years unless a position would become vacant
Additionally
there are a few positions that should be filled by a volunteer or by
appointment.
Armored - Someone
to maintain the M-1's and ammunition
Quartermaster - Someone
to be responsible for Ties, Shirts, Hats, Gloves, Patches, Beer Mistier etc.
and have a supply on hand except for shirts and the Beer Mistier.
.
Election
held 4/14/2004 results:
Captain Joe
Reardon
Lt. Bob
Moynihan
Sgt. John
(Moon) Reilly
Appointments
Armorer Joe Barnes
Quartermaster Rich Micolucci