President’s Corner Aug 2018: Branson Selected for Reunion 2019, 30 Sep-4 Oct
Marines,
We are busily planning HMM-265 Reunion 2019 for Branson, MO, Sep 30-Oct 4.
At the 2017 reunion in San Francisco we had voted to have the 2019 Reunion in Philadelphia. However, the Philadelphia coordinator had to back out and we could not find anyone in the immediate area to take over planning. We have had extensive online discussions and two all-hands email polls. (Time simply did not permit the inclusion of snail-mailers in the polls.) The final poll was a dead heat between Branson, MO, and Quantico, with an 11.2 percent response rate. There did not seem to be any systematic response differences between old-timers and the FNGs. However, our reunion history shows that we have held reunions in the east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and west coast, but never in the mid-west. The Board of Directors has remedied that by selecting Branson as the venue for our 2019 Reunion.
John Winter is the Reunion Coordinator 2019, which makes him also an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors. Thanks for stepping up, John, to be our point of contact and boots-on-the-ground. Branson is in the middle of the country and, being a resort town, gives us plenty of flexibility for pricing as well as entertainment and eating possibilities. Details are still being finalized, but preliminary information suggests that Branson will be materially cheaper than some of our recent reunions. As soon as we have additional details we send them out. In the meantime, if you have any questions you can contact me via the website. Have a good remainder of 2018 and plan on meeting us in Branson in 2019.
As has been pointed out several times lately, none of us are getting any younger. Our RTB list is getting longer, so mark the dates on your calendar and plan on coming and enjoying visiting with your friends while we all are still here. Start talking it up among those with whom you have maintained contact. Let’s try to make this one the biggest and best ever. We never know which one will be our last, especially those of us from the early Vietnam years.
Semper Fi,
John Long, President