The Official Newsletter of the Greater Austin Council Navy League of the United States December 2018 Citizens in Support of the Sea Services www.navyleagueaustin.org Bill Welch is a retired Air Force Brigadier General and a long-time executive level business leader and entrepreneur in Austin, Texas. As CEO, he is responsible for guiding corporate governance, policies and procedures, research and development, business development, sales, and customer service. Distinguished Speaker Dinner Series THURSDAY December 6, 2018 Featured Speaker BGen Bill Welch, USAF Ret. & CEO Apptronic Systems Inc. TOPIC Humanoid Robotics in a Military Application Special Holiday Performance by Members of the A Cappella Unlimited Chorus Bill has experience in numerous roles as CEO, president, managing partner or otherwise as senior executive in charge. As an entrepreneur, he is recognized as the founder of successful business ventures in a diverse range of businesses. He established his first business success through an award winning 30-year career in commercial real estate. He founded the nationally acclaimed aviation service company, Twomey/Welch Aerocorp, and sold the company for profit in 1998. He and his wife started a retail business that has operated profitably for the past 30 years. He also founded successful enterprises with interests in real estate, ranching, fast food restaurants, and technology. The combined value of business transactions completed through his business ventures exceeds $1 billion. A highly decorated career Air Force Reserve officer, Bill rose in rank from the lowest enlisted level to become a general officer. Over the span of his military career, he accumulated more than 1,000 hours of flight time in the F-4 Phantom and commanded units at the squadron and wing level and served as a major command director. Immediately after 9/11 he reported for active duty and was dispatched to the Pentagon to lead a team responsible for developing the security plan for all USAF installations and served as a consultant to security directors throughout the Department of Defense. He was later deployed as Commander of the 321st Air Expeditionary Wing where his assigned aircraft were tasked combat missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He accumulated more than 100 hours of combat flying time with his squadrons. His unit was awarded the Speaker Continued on p.3
2018 GREATER AUSTIN COUNCIL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Tim Hunsberger President... 512.970.9299 tahunsberger@earthlink.net Vacant President-Elect... Glenn Looney V.P for Membership... 512.327.7413 navyleagueaustin@austin.rr.com Mary Virginia Pittman-Waller V.P. Dev. & Mktg... 210.212.4500 mvp.texas@yahoo.com Kathy Pillmore V.P. for Comm. & Programs..512.292.1194 kpillmore@icloud.com LuAnn Reyes CFO & Treas... 512.203.4399 luann@luannreyes.com Jim Brotherton V.P. for Military Affairs... 512.632.4206 jdbrotherton@att.net Jeanie Coffey V.P. for Legislative Affairs... 512.431.8573 jeanie.coffey@gmail.com Launtz Rodgers V.P. Youth Programs... 512.545.2920 launtz@outlook.com Adam Samuels Chaplain... 757.818.3641 samuels7995@gmail.com Michael Murray Judge Advocate General... 512.472.5192 ADDITIONAL DIRECTORS Don Jones Tamesha Jumper Max Miller Randy Patterson Mary Ritter NLUS DIRECTORS Max Miller Jeanie Coffey Tim Hunsberger Glenn Looney Max Miller Mary Ritter M.V.Pittman-Waller LIAISONS Open Marine Corps CAPT David Mongo Koss, USN CO UT NROTC CDR Rodney Magallan CO Navy Operations Support Center President s Message Tim Hunsberger President, Greater Austin Council, NLUS Our December meeting will be a great celebration as we close out this year. Holiday music will be performed by members of the A Cappella Unlimited Chorus. To help spread the holiday cheer, this is our annual drive for Toys for Tots, so you are asked to bring new unwrapped toys, several if you can manage it. Let s make it a great Christmas for those deserving children. The speaker Brigadier General William Bill Welch will discuss his company s robotics systems. Their vision is a partnership of man AND machine that will take humanity into the next stage of evolution. The national board meeting in Alexandria, Virginia was very interesting. Next year we will be seeing the completion of the headquarters IT systems upgrade. This will be transparent to most WELCOME NEW and RENEWED COUNCIL MEMBERS! CAPT Peter Eaton, USN (Ret) Bob Campos CAPT Ralph Patterson, USN (Ret) of you, but it will allow us to better serve you with up-to-date information and support in the coming years. I will be completing my third year as president and it has been a great pleasure to serve all of you. The job was not always smooth but it was made easy by the excellent support of our board members and their expertise. I cannot thank them enough for all they have contributed to our mission. To name a few of our successes, our dinners and the superb speakers we have brought in to educate and inform, the veterans outreach program where we served over 200 veterans morning nachos at the local VA clinic, and the clothing drive we completed last month. These are only a few, and again, thanks for the great opportunity and the memories. The Anchor is the official publication of the Greater Austin Council, Navy League of the United States. It is published six times per year, prior to an upcoming Distinguished Speaker Series dinner. Archived copies of past Anchors may be found at www. navyleagueaustin. org. 2008 2010 2014 2017 RESERVE YOUR SEAT AT OUR NEXT DINNER AUSTIN WOMANS CLUB CHATEAU BELLEVUE Free Parking - Entrance on Nueces between 7th and 8th Streets Social 1815 Dinner 1915 Program 2015 Members & Their Guests- $30 Military in Uniform & Their Guests - $20 Cadets & Midshipmen and Their Guests - $15 CALL 512-203-4399 OR EMAIL luann@luannreyes.com ONLINE via PayPal at www.navyleagueaustin.org PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR MEAL WITHOUT A RESERVATION 2 The Anchor, October November 2018
SPEAKER, cont d from page 1 Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with a device for Valor and he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. In his final assignment before his retirement in 2013, Brigadier General Welch served for three years as the Director of Operations, United States Forces Korea and was in charge of planning and executing wartime operations for all United States forces in the Republic of Korea. He has extensive experience in the Asian Pacific region and possesses excellent cultural skills and some language ability. Bill received his Bachelor of Science Degree, Cum Laude, from Boston University and his Master s Degree in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business. He has also completed studies at numerous senior military institutions including the National Defense University, Air War College, Air Command and Staff College; Joint Forces Staff College and completed executive level training at the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, N.C. and the Elliott School of International Affairs, at the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. What is Apptronik? Apptronik is a spin out from the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. We were founded in Early 2016 with the goal of bringing forth the next generation of robots that will change the way we live and work. Our team is made up of a diverse group with expertise ranging in everything from robotics, business, art, to marketing. We all share a passion for using technology to change the world. Apptronik s Vision Apptronik has a bold vision for the future. We believe that it is not Man vs. Machine, but Man AND Machine that will take humanity into the next stage of evolution. We want to build machines that empower humans to live to our fullest potential. We are passionate about the role that technology can play in our society, and are uncompromising in our commitment REMEMBER! BRING A NEW, UNWRAPPED GIFT FOR A BOY OR A GIRL TO THE DECEMBER DINNER. MARINE CORPS RESERVISTS WILL BE ON HAND TO PICK THEM UP AN GET THEM TO DESERVING CHILDREN IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS. www.navyleagueaustin.org The Anchor, October November 2018 3
Snapshots from the November 1, 2018 Distinguished Speaker Series Dinner Honors Bestowed CAPT David Koss, USN Professor of Naval Science and the new C/O of the UT NROTC unit, was presented with a Certification of Appreciation recognizing the unit for their continuing support of the Council. (Photos top row l-r.) Tim Hunsberger with presenting a GAC challenge coin to Mike Pestorius Pestorius sharing information about the submarine force Wanda Boldeback, Deborah Groesbeck, Bob Conklin and James Boldeback (Second row) Cadets from Vista Ridge with LCDR Adam Samuels Jim Hornfischer and Randy Patterson New Braunfels High School MCJROTC Marine Instructor 1stSgt Felix Acosta and Jim Bracken (Third row) New Braunfels High School MCJROTC cadets with 1stSgt Acosta Tom Griffey, John Roberts, Roy Walker 4 The Anchor, October November 2018
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Working as a Team When I was a ship s Damage Control Assistant (DCA), one of the toughest jobs I had was turning a team of random sailors into an effective team to man a firehose put out a main engine room fire. The sailors were collateral duty cooks and electricians, gunners and store clerks, bosuns mates and quartermasters. A few said they had previous experience from a different ship and different team but they had never worked together before. The team that failed was the team in which members said, I am right always and every other person who does it differently is wrong. As we begin the year and make the annual vows to go to the gym more or have one less donut, let us also vow to make our family, neighborhood, city, state, and even country better by relearning how to work as a team. Let us remember our time at General Quarters on the ship, when we heard, This is not a drill, or huddled in a foxhole under fire. Differences between us and the Chaplain s Corner by LCDR Adam Samuels, USN (Ret) sailor or Marine a few feet away were set aside and we all worked together to survive to tomorrow. That reliance on each other did not come overnight but through weeks, months, and years of drills, shared mistakes blood, sweat, and tears and we worked together to correct the mistakes. Let this be the year that we see the urgency to make the effort listen and share ideas with our neighbors instead talking at them. Let this be the year that we find the common tomorrow we could both live in instead of ignoring or discounting the road each other is on or someone else s values. That will only pull us apart and the Class Bravo main space fire will continue to grow. Even though we are out of the service, let this be the year we find courage to make the foxhole or General Quarters moment with neighbors and make the America and the world we can all feel blessed in. Amen. LCDR Adam Samuels, USN (ret) is the Austin Council Chaplain for 2018. He was a Surface Warfare Officer assigned to multiple ship and staff Operations and Engineering Departments in addition to the Pentagon and DoD Agencies. He served as senior Lay Leader on two destroyers, one cruiser, and two aircraft carriers. He currently is the State Emergency Manager for the Texas National Guard HQ on Camp Mabry and lives in Georgetown TX. The Strange Story of the SS Warimoo The passenger steamer SS Warimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought Captain John DS. Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo s position was LAT 0º 31 N and LONG 179 30 W. The date was 31 December 1899. Know what this means? First Mate Payton broke in, We re only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line. Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of theopportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. He called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship s position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed. The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At mid-night the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The consequences of this bizarre 6 The Anchor, October November 2018 position were many: The forward part (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer. The rear (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter. The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899. In the bow (forward) part it was 1 January 1900. This ship was therefore not only in: Two different days, Two different months, Two different years, Two different seasons But in two different centuries - all at the same time! Ref: Company of Master Mariners of Australia - http://www.mastermariners.org. au/stories-from-the-past/2304-strangestory-of-the-ss-warimoo
THANK YOU to our November 1, 2018 Adopters Jeanie Coffey Ed Finnegan John Burkhardt Hans & Marion Mark Joe Cruz Tim & Barb Huntsberger Glenn & Nancy Looney Bruce Byron Peggy Jones Help us keep cadets from Austin and surrounding area JROTC, UTNROTC, Sea Cadet and Young Marine units coming to our dinners. Your adoption of one or more cadets at each dinner helps us to offset the cost of hosting these great young men and women. (The Greater Austin Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. You will recieve a tax receipt in the form of an adoption certificate. WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR RESERVATION, LET US KNOW THAT YOU WANT TO ADOPT-A-CADET ($25 PER Cadet) GAC 2018 Calendar December 6 2019 February 21 April June 6 October 21 BGEN Bill Welch USAF Ret. CEO of Apptronik, Inc. Holiday Music by members of A Cappella Unlimited Chorus Toys for Tots Collection Fred Burton, Chief Security Officer, Stratfor and his newest book Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah s War Against America Army Futures Command (Speaker and date TBD) RADM Ted LeClair, Deputy Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet William H. Venema, USA Ret, JAG Corps, attorney and author of Death in Panama, loosely based on a courtmartial case he prosecuted in 1983 when he was assigned as an Army lawyer in Panama If you know of a speaker that would be of interest to our members, please tell us. Contact Kathy Pillmore, kpillmore@icloud.com *Dates and/or speakers are subject to change due to unforeseen situations. For calendar updates go to www. navyleagueaustin.org ROTA, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (Oct. 27, 2018) Builder 3rd Class Emma McCarthy, from Springville, N.Y., and Construction Electrician Constructionman Akeem Braddy, from Eastman, Ga., both assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1, Detachment Guam, transport a wooden rafter from a flatbed truck while reconstructing a roof for a home that was damaged during Typhoon Mangkhut. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kelsey J. Hockenberger/ Released) George T. Jones, 1926-2003 U. S. Navy WWII Veteran and Navy League Member George T. Jones Scholarship Fund provides scholarships to graduating seniors in Navy and Marine JROTC and Sea Cadet programs Contribute Now! Send your tax deductible contributions to Greater Austin Council NLUS George T. Jones Scholarship Fund c/o Greater Austin Council NLUS 8650 Spicewood Springs, #145-625 Austin, TX 78728 www.navyleagueaustin.org The Anchor, October November 2018 7
The ANCHOR Kathy Pillmore, Editor 10001 Jupiter Hills Dr. Austin, TX 78747 512-292-1194 Email: kpillmore@icloud.com The ANCHOR is the official newsletter of the Greater Austin Council of the Navy League of the United States. It is published six times annually and distributed free of charge to all its members and to other interested parties. The Greater Austin Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and as such is exempt from Limited Sales, Excise and Use Taxes per the IRS Code. The Navy League of the United States is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating our citizens about the importance of sea power to U. S. national security, and supporting the men and women of the sea services and their families. YOUR MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS Below are just a few of the companies that offer discounts to Navy League members To learn more about your Navy League benefits go to www.join.navyleague.com HELP US BUILD OUR MEMBERSHIP Use the form below and sign up a new member. Bring it and your new member to our next council meeting, or mail the form, together with the fee (check or money order payable to NLUS,) Greater Austin Council, 8650 Spicewood Springs, #145-625 Austin, TX 78759. The new member will immediately be added to our mailing list. YES! Name: (Mr., Mrs., Dr., Etc.) Please enroll me as a Navy Leaguer Today I am a U.S. Citizen Address: Number, Street, Name (Apt., Suite, P.O. Box) I am not a U. S. Citizen First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name Date of Birth City State Zip Code (+4) Home Phone Business Phone Email Greater Austin Council Sponsor s Last Name Sponsor s Membership # New Member s Council Type of Membership (please check one)* 1-Year Premium Membership...$55 2-Year Premium Membership... $100 (Save $10) 3-Year Premium Membership... $130 (Save $35) 4-Year Premium Membership... $180 (Save $40) 5-Year Premium Membership... $225 (Save $50) Life Membership (to age 55)... $1,000 Life Membership (age 56-75)...$750 Life Membership (age 76+...$500 1-Year Electronic Membership...$25 Method of Payment Check enclosed (Make payable to NLUS) or Please charge my Visa MC AMEX Card # Exp. Date Signature Billing Zip Code