A non-profit official publication the Department of the Pacific Areas, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Volume XVIII – Number 6 January 2015 FREE “Fight for our Vets!” Typhoon / Around the Pacific Table of Contents Section: Page: Department Officer’s Comments 2 HHaappppyy Commander 2 Senior Vice Commander 3 Junior Vice Commander 6 Junior Past Department Commander 7 Chief of Staff 7 Adjutant 8 NNeeww YYeeaarr!! Quartermaster 8 Judge Advocate 10 Certified National Recruiter 12 Historian 13 = EDITION HIGHLIGHTS = Inspector 14 Surgeon 14 Department Committee Reports 17 DECEMBER 2014 COUNCIL OF Americanism Chairman 17 ADMINISTRATION Clark Cemetery Committee Chairman 18 Convention Chairman 19 Convention Book Chairman 19 Legislative Committee Chairman 20 Life Membership Chairman 21 National Home for Children Chairman 22 Publicity Chairman 23 POW-MIA Chairman 24 Public Servant Award Chairman 25 VOD / PP / Teachers Award Chairman 25 Safety Chairman 26 Scouting Team Chairman 27 Assistant Department Service Officer 28 (See Page 38.) Editor 28 --------------------------------------------------------------- Around the Pacific - Community Report 31 Department Special Event 38 NEW COMBINED TYPHOON / AROUND THE VFW Pacific Areas General Announcements 45 PACIFIC NEWSLETTER Cootie Corner Announcements 50 Pacific Areas Photo of the Edition 52 Pacific Areas Joke of the Edition 52 Letters of Intent 53 (See Editor’s Comments on Page 28.) VFW Department of Pacific Areas Page 1 Volume XVIII – Number 6 TYPHOON / AROUND THE PACIFIC January 2015 DDeeppaarrttmmeenntt OOffffiicceerr’’ss CCoommmmeennttss From the Commander: Hello Comrades, We had an excellent Mid-Term Department Council of Administration meeting. Many very positive actions resulted. First, it was determined that the “Around the Pacific” publication, which showcases photographically, many of the activities you are accomplishing in support of Veterans, local communities, our military and much more, would be published monthly as a second part to our monthly Publication of the “Typhoon.” As you know, the “Typhoon” is designed to update you on the latest policies, inform you of the various statistics showing where you are at and reporting your accomplishments. Our Department stands high among the other Departments and States within VFW. For this, I wish to thank you all for the hard work and dedication you have put in to helping to improve our VFW, thus helping the causes of our Veterans, families and communities. Your dedication to these causes is truly appreciated by so very many. In this regard, we are doing well in membership and recruiting, however, we have slowed and are starting to drag behind a little. It is most important that we re-energize our recruiting efforts and meet the goal of exceeding our previous 100% membership goal set by National. Most Districts are doing well; however, not all are there yet. I can’t emphasize enough how important our larger membership is when working to help our Veterans, families, widows and orphans. Remember, our clout in Congress, which enables us to make positive movement via the Government towards improving VA and other services to Veterans, is exceedingly contingent upon our membership ranks and numbers. Recruiting – absolutely a key to better assisting our Vets. I will be attending the Legislative Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. soon, as we (VFW) meet with the Congressional Joint Committee on Veteran’s Affairs on March 4th. Our Commander in Chief John Stroud will testify on behalf of our Veterans. We will be “Fighting for our Vets!” ““FFiigghhtt ffoorr oouurr VVeettss!!”” Warmest Regards, Bear --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VFW Department of Pacific Areas Page 2 Volume XVIII – Number 6 TYPHOON / AROUND THE PACIFIC January 2015 From the Senior Vice Commander: Comrades, First of all I would like to send a belated Happy New Year to all the Comrades of the Pacific. I hope all enjoyed their Holiday Season and now it is time to ensure the Department of the Pacific will enjoy the New Year by reaching the 100% membership goal. At the midterm C of A the DPA was ranked #3 Nationally as well as being only 1 of 3 to reach to reach the 90% goal in membership prior to December 1st. Thanks to all the Comrades who recruited and put the PACIFIC on the map for success. The second half of the year has started and I am disappointed to report that our membership percentage ranking Nationally has decreased from #3 to #7. The National leader is currently Europe at 95.01% and our current percentage is 92.07% as of January 5th 2015. We have also gone from # 2 to # 3 in the Western Conference Standings. Comrades we are also behind last year’s total recruited Comrades within the DPA as well as some Districts and Post’s membership percentages have decreased from last year’s percentages. Comrades we need to focus on recruiting and put the Department of Pacific BACK on TOP and STAY on TOP where we belong. I have posted the current DPA membership statistics from National as of Jan 5th 2015 and the percentages speak for themselves. Also congratulation’s to Post’s and District’s who have reached or exceeded 100% ahead of schedule. I would like to also extend a job well done to the current top 4 recruiters: David Wykes Post 9612 (38), Cliff Wilsey Post 2485 (35), Gasper Delise Post 9985 (30), Larry Lyons Post 10216 (19), Daniel McMillan Post 10216 (15). There are 73 Comrades who have also recruited members as of January 5th whom I would also like to extend special thanks to all recruiting Comrades and please keep up drive and initiative toward membership your time and effort will benefit your Post, District, and Department. I would like challenge each and every Comrade of the Pacific try to accomplish the 2014-2015 VFW National Commander-in-Chief John Stroud three basic goals: 1) Every Comrade recruit or reinstate one new member. 2) Share your VFW story. 3) Get involved. Comrades please ask yourself what have I done about the three R’s in the past month? Did you R-cruit new members? Did you reach out and R-einstate members? Did remind annual members to pay their dues and R-etain continuous members? Thanks for all your support and lets have a great year Fighting for Our VETS! Once again thanks to all the Comrades of the Pacific Areas for your support this year as the SVC as well as the Membership Chairmen. The numbers and percentages are growing daily on members and it is visible that there has been a lot of time and effort put into your recruiting. Please take the time and effort and ask the simple question to all that you meet are you a VFW member and always carry your applications! Yours in Comradeship and Service, Homer Kemper Senior Vice Commander Department of Pacific Areas See MEMSTATS and Recruiting Tips on the following pages. VFW Department of Pacific Areas Page 3 Volume XVIII – Number 6 TYPHOON / AROUND THE PACIFIC January 2015 MEMSTATS (as of 05 January 2015) State Post Dst Life New Reinst Cont Total Prior Year Percent Div City N/R LM Prior Annual Retention DPA 9723 1 743 15 6 43 807 800 100.87% 1 OKINAWA 8 59 50.85% D. Totals 1 743 15 6 43 807 800 100.87% 8 DPA 1054 2 694 3 0 7 704 700 100.57% 2 YOKOSUKA CITY 12 17 41.18% DPA 9555 2 339 3 1 18 361 390 92.56% 2 YOKOTA AFB 1 42 45.24% DPA 9612 2 368 3 28 14 413 367 112.53% 2 CAMP ZAMA 10 12 100.00% D. Totals 2 1401 9 29 39 1478 1457 101.44% 23 DPA 8180 3 623 2 1 20 646 779 82.92% 1 SEOUL 4 151 16.56% TONGDUCHON- DPA 9985 3 186 32 2 33 253 473 53.48% 2 1 285 12.63% UPREA DPA 10033 3 456 5 2 20 483 510 94.70% 2 TAEGU 1 46 41.30% DPA 10216 3 887 36 4 65 992 1193 83.15% 1 SONGTAN-SI 10 343 29.15% DPA 10223 3 218 24 0 12 254 275 92.36% 3 CAMP HUMPHREYS 2 66 25.76% DPA 12109 3 17 2 0 16 35 51 68.62% 9 WAEGWAN 0 34 44.12% D. Totals 3 2387 101 9 166 2663 3281 81.16% 18 DPA 727 4 73 0 0 5 78 79 98.73% 8 TAICHUNG 0 5 100.00% DPA 9957 4 325 0 0 14 339 350 96.85% 3 TAIPEI 0 19 78.95% D. Totals 4 398 0 0 19 417 429 97.20% 0 DPA 9876 5 398 10 0 46 454 468 97.00% 2 PATTAYA CITY 0 74 64.86% DPA 9951 5 231 3 0 14 248 255 97.25% 3 BANGKOK 0 27 66.67% DPA 10217 5 115 1 1 13 130 139 93.52% 6 KORAT AF BASE 0 26 65.38% DPA 10249 5 237 1 1 23 262 269 97.39% 3 UDORN 3 39 76.92% DPA 11575 5 90 0 0 9 99 102 97.05% 7 PHNOM PENH 0 13 76.92% DPA 12074 5 64 1 1 26 92 114 80.70% 6 CHIANG MAI 1 55 49.09% D. Totals 5 1135 16 3 131 1285 1347 95.39% 4 DPA 1509 6 332 5 1 13 351 385 91.16% 2 YIGO 1 50 28.00% DPA 2917 6 164 3 1 5 173 223 77.57% 4 AGAT 0 60 16.67% DPA 3457 6 196 14 5 8 223 219 101.82% 4 SAIPAN 6 32 34.38% D. Totals 6 692 22 7 26 747 827 90.32% 7 DPA 124 7 110 0 0 0 110 103 106.79% 7 BAGUIO CITY 10 0 100.00% DPA 2485 7 1553 11 1 46 1611 1682 95.77% 1 ANGELES CITY 24 134 43.28% DPA 9892 7 234 9 0 4 247 244 101.22% 4 BAUANG,LA UNION 4 12 50.00% DPA 11447 7 376 3 2 10 391 407 96.06% 2 SUBIC BAYN 10 36 47.22% DPA 12130 7 36 9 0 24 69 65 106.15% 9 CEBUNES 0 47 72.34% D.