December 2011 Serving the Kettle Moraine area since 2005 Vol VII Issue 11 Thanks to YOU 2011 is a huge success!! Our next Meeting will be held: 9am December 17th, 2011! It will be conducted at the Trenton Town Hall located at 1071 State Hwy 33 East, West Bend. Hope to see you there!
2011-2012 Detachment Officers Commandant Jim Ramage (262) 242-9823 Sr. Vice Commandant Danny O Toole (262) 255-3514 Jr. Vice Commandant John Stern (262) 297-1325 Judge Advocate Charlie Keller (262) 389-0333 Adjutant Paul Schlief (262) 338-4911 Paymaster Roger Cross (262) 675-6965 Chaplain George Wujcik (262) 338-8426 Sgt at Arms Bill Wallace (262) 338-3525 Historian Jason Waier (262) 623-1417 Public Affairs Jason Waier (262) 623-1417 John Fleischman (262)626-1156 Honor Guard Cmdr John Stern (262) 297-1325 Color Guard Cmdr Jim Ramage (262) 242-9823 Newsletter Highlights Cover: Toys for Tots donations collected at Gordie Boucher Ford in West Bend Page 3: Minutes from the October Meeting Page 4: Different War, Same Marines. A letter from the front Page 5; Officer Comments Pages 6 & 8: Photo pages Page 7: VAVS Calendar of Events(subject to change) Dec 17 0900 Regular Det Meeting held at Trenton Town Hall Dec 25 Merry Christmas! Jan 21 0900 Regular Det Meeting held at Trenton Town Hall Feb 18 0900 Regular Det Meeting held at Trenton Town Hall Mar 8 Mar 17-18 FHPT for Young at Heart Club at Cabrini Church West Bend MCL State Convention Hosted by KetMorDet NEWSLETTER INFO THE KETTLE MORAINE MARINE Newsletter, copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 by Kettle Moraine Detachment #1203, Marine Corps League, PO Box 1163, West Bend, WI 53095. All rights reserved. THE KETTLE MORAINE MARINE is not an official publication of either the U. S. Marine Corps or the Marine Corps League. Opinions expressed do not imply official endorsement by any agency of the U. S. Government or the Marine Corps League, and remain the sole opinion of the writer. Unless otherwise specified, articles not accompanied with a by-line have been inserted by the Editor and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Officers or Members of Kettle Moraine Detachment #1203. Copies of all past Newsletters since March 2005 can be viewed in the Reference Section of the West Bend Library. THE KETTLE MORAINE MARINE Newsletter is normally published prior to monthly scheduled meetings for the information and use of Detachment Members. Articles and letters are invited but the Editor retains the right to edit any submission. Submit typed materials or photographs marked for the Newsletter to the Editor by the first Monday of the month using either e-mail: jwaier@charter.net or snail mail to 2235 Sylvan Way Apt #6 West Bend, WI 53095. Annual donation for ads is $100 for a single block and $175 for a double. Half or full page ads are also available. Editor: Jason Waier (262) 623-1417 See the Newsletter and other Detachment info at www.ketmordet.com Newsletter Editor Jason Waier (262) 623-1417 Flag History Team George Wujcik (262) 338-8426 2
Kettle Moraine Detachment 1203, Marine Corps League Minutes of Meeting Held October 15th, 2011 16 Members Present The meeting was held at the Trenton Town Hall, West Bend, Wisconsin The Junior-Vice Commandant called the meeting to order at 0900. Sergeant at arms posted the colors, and the Chaplain opened the meeting with a prayer, the bible is open. Roll Call of Officers Commandant: Jim Ramage excused Sr. Vice Commandant: Danny O'Toole excused Jr. Vice Commandant: John Stern Adjutant: Paul Schleif Judge Advocate: Charlie Keller excused Paymaster: Roger Cross Chaplain: George Wujcik Sergeant at Arms: Bill Wallace Historian: Jason Waier Other Members Attending Other members in attendance were John Fleischman, Dave Gardner, Carl Heiman, John Krause, Gil Lucka, Fritz Montag, Barry Oelerich, Doug Smith, Hugo Straub and Ken Unertl. New Members and Guests We had three guests with us today! Dan Buttery was here to talk about the Fisher House project that is happening in Milwaukee on the VA grounds. Sgt Chinias and First Sgt Easton were also attending and talked about the annual Toys for Tots campaign as well as the Marine Corps Ball. Reading of the Minutes A motion was made by Jason and seconded by Hugo to accept the minutes as published in the newsletter for last month. The motion passed. Paymasters Report Roger presented the paymaster report. Among other things the report detailed renewal on our storage locker rental, the renewal of CDs, some newsletter charges and one member renewal, your humble scribe, the adjutant. Roger continues to do a really nice job looking out for our interests, thanks. After a motion made by Fritz and seconded by Jason to accept the paymaster report, the detachment accepted it. Chaplains Report George reported that Charlie Keller underwent surgery recently. As some of you may remember, Charlie's knee had a run-in with an automobile some time back. In addition Jim Ramage is going to have surgery soon, and Jim's wife also is recovering from a recent surgery. Please remember to keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers. Correspondence Received or Delivered Dan Crawford sent a very nice thank-you for our coffee that we donated for the VA in Milwaukee. Report of Standing Committees Honor Guard: No honors rendered for any service people since last meeting. Flag History Presentation Team: The flag history team had a recent presentation over in Hartford, and they had a really nice time there. There is a new presentation on the books for October 18th at Trinity Lutheran. Color Guard: Christmas season is fast approaching and that means parades! There were sign-up sheets for two at the meeting, West Bend and Germantown. Old Business Jason brought our new red shirts that were on order to the meeting. These shirts were purchased by the detachment for members to wear while fundraising, traveling and generally to get our name out in the community. After our detachment meeting today Roger wore his to the gun show in Fond du Lac and I was impressed by how many "Semper-Fi"s he heard. I heard them too as I was along with him, but I didn't have my shirt on. So rest assured when you wear these out in the community people notice! So thanks Roger, plus the gun show was terrific to boot. But that is another story. Continued on Page 7 3
Different war...same Marines. This is a Marine Corps Birthday message from a Navy Doctor in Afghanistan (for the civilians among you, he is stationed at a major, non-marine base). Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 1:30 PM As an IA or individual augmentee for the army,and being stationed on a NATO base, I planned on not seeing alot of Marines. Their primary base, "Camp Leatherneck " is in Helmand province and combat injured Marines are close to another Role III run by the Brits. When a Marine crosses my path I usually engage him in one form or another and when they are in my shop I can sometimes make what's routine for me less daunting to the Marine. Marines don't like medical, pure and simple. Not that I want to see Marines injured but I just want to see Marines. Marines don't show up to sick call with I want my mommy complaints. Marines don't walk the base in PT gear or with their weapons slung haphazzardly. Marines seldom if ever, fail to note an officer passing. Marines take care of their own but are appreciative of those Docs that take care of them. Apart from my medical degree, the award, honor, ribbon, or academic acknowledgement that I am most proud of is the " Fleet Marine Force " warfare device I earned deploying with the 2/23 Marines to Ramadi, Iraq in 2009. Marines do show up here at KAF though and I usually take the opportunity to mess with them. Two Marines were in the chow hall on their way to Camp Leatherneck and I ask if I can join them. The two Lance Corporals seem a little suspicious but after I put them at ease with some old man banter they swivel their heads around and ask me...sir, what the f*** is this place? Everybody's got gym clothes on and it looks like their weapons don't even work. What's with the hippie civilians? I explain KAF and they are both happy that they will be leaving soon. I see Marines in primary care when they come on a consult to see opthomology or our neurologist the TBI specialist. The LNO, an FMF corpman, will grab me if they have any wound related issues. I have had two Marines seeing those specialist for eye injuries or TBIs and I have seen them for the holes where shrapnel tore into their subcutaneous space and was subsequently removed, leaving a gaping open wound. Lucky they had been,but they were left with a big hole that would take a month to heal. Ioffered a delayed primary closure to the two of them telling them that it had a fifty-fifty chance of not getting infected. Like all Marines, adventuresome and for the most part trusting of a Navy doctor...an FMF doc, they said that if it would get them back to their unit they were good to go. I scrubbed their wounds, debrided margins and sutured them up. I see Marines in my trauma bay and usually these Marines have not been as lucky. When I know they're comming I have on my game face and I ask the Lord for my A game. A snipers bullet to the head, a dismembering IED blast and a Marine who I will call "Rocky". Rocky is a recon Marine, the toughest of the tough. His face,neck andupper chest were exposed to an IED blast. He is six foot two, two hundred and 45 pounds. He comes in on a litter with only an IV and a face that looks like hamburger. His left eye is ruptured and his right is swollen shut. Thankfully he can answer me and nods and gives one word answers. I tell him we will put him to sleep and square him away. He tells me " Doc, do what you got to do " The blinded Marine shows bearing in the face of serious injury. After the CT scan that confirms his eye rupture but has spared his brain, we clean up his face the best we can while we wait for his time in the OR. My team takes out eight stones blown into his face and neck. The smallest being the size of a peanut M&M and the largest the size of a pecan in his forehead. We saved all the stones for him. At the same time in another bay, another Marine has been shot in the head. Luckily he is awake and although speech comes with difficulty, the bullets tract is on the periphery of the brain. He will go to Surgery with our Neurosurgeon and blessedly do well. Before he goes to the OR, I need to squeeze his hand and wish him luck. On his chest is written: "My help comes from the maker of heaven and earth " Psalms 121.2.The third Marine unfortunately, is a fallen angel. I am also lucky enough to have two former Marines on my trauma team. One is a now hardened experienced ICU/ER nurse.he served in Vietnam as a Recon Marine in 1968. The other is a former grunt and Hollywood Marine and is also an experienced ER nurse. These two necessary components make my trauma team the best in Afghanistan...simple as that! Today I am not seeing any Marines at the hospital. I am among them however, during a 5K run on their beloved Marine Corps Birthday. The run was fast and I ran in honor of a Marine KIA in OEF. My bib has the name of LCPL Tyler O. Griffith. I ran for him today and all the Devil Dogs in Afghanistan. I ran for all Marines but I ran the hardest for the grunts, the infantrymen that will always be the definition of warrior. Semper Fidelis, LCDR Dave Dennihy MC,USN Diplomate American Board of Emergency Medicine Taken from a forwarded email
Report of Officers and Committee Chairs In order to expedite the regular monthly meeting, all Officers and standing committee chairs are afforded the opportunity to provide their input to the Newsletter by the first Monday of each month. Members are also welcome to submit something. This will enable all Members to review items of interest and reduce discussion at the meetings. Additionally, it provides any Member who is unable to make it to a regular meeting, the opportunity to remain abreast of current Detachment activities. Any submission may be edited and use depends on available space. -------------------------------------------------- Commandant Jim Ramage reports: Nothing Reported --------------------------------------------------- Sr Vice Danny O Toole Reports: Nothing Reported Judge Advocate Charlie Keller reports: No news to report --------------------------------------------------- Chaplain George Wujcik reports: So far, nothing new to report. --------------------------------------------------- Newsletter Editor Jason Waier reports: Marines! I hope you had a bountiful Thanksgiving with good friends and great times! The Holiday season is upon us. Please remember those that may be having hard times financially or personally and offer up a plate to those that you know that will be alone. This season can take its toll on the mind, and make those that are having difficulty dealing with various personal issues even harder. Sometimes to an extreme, where they can not or do not want to deal with the pain they feel anymore and see suicide as there only way out. While a simple smile and a shoulder for them to lean on may not ease their financial burdens, or heal the pain of missing loved ones, or comrades in arms. It does go a long way in letting that person know that they are not alone and that there is someone out there that cares about them. It takes a warrior to ask for help, but a warrior also steps up and helps someone those in need. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left many of our returning Veterans with deep scars on the inside. Homelessness among these warriors is skyrocketing as they return to civilian life in a poor economy. That combined with the scars of war these Veterans face a very uncertain future, and may think about suicide. A quick Goolge search found Milwaukee County had 111 registered homeless Veterans in Sept 2011. You can not solve everyones problems for them, but you may give them the strength to fight for another day. Birthdays: I would like to wish: Carl Heiman, George Kaczmarek, Charlie Keller, Danny O Toole a Happy Birthday! Membership: As of the November Meeting: Jerry Lorenz dues are due in January Todd Meeks dues were due in Nov Andrew Moericke dues were due in Oct Brian Rahn dues due in January Doug Smith dues due in November If you are listed above and feel this to be incorrect please contact Roger Cross. Newsletter: I would like to thank everyone for supporting the Fisher House! We do not have a Wounded Warrior Regiment anywhere near us, but anyone that was at the Oct Meeting and heard Mr. Buttery speak I think can attest that this is the next best thing for our local Veterans and their families. If you were not able to attend that meeting I do have some booklets that Mr Buttery left giving some great insight into the project. I would also like to thank everyone for their support of Toys for Tots! You did a great job out there this year. While the boxes have not been collected as of the writing I have seen several of them out there in the community. A total number of toys collected will be very hard to determine, but suffice it to say that several dozen children if not even hundreds of children will have something to open this Christmas season. I was at the event hosted by Fox Co in Jackson a couple years back and you can not believe the excitment those children showed that evening. Finnaly I would like to say thank you to everyone for the support you have shown me over the last couple years. This will be the 73rd issue I will have had some hand in. I was going to do a retrospect issue, but looking back will not get us to tomorrow. Only more hard work will. No one has come forward yet to take over the Newsletter, but there is still time. I leave that person this. Do not think of what HAS been done here, think of what YOU CAN do here! Semper Fi Jason Waier 5
Below: Marines Roger Cross, Bill Wallace and Rollie Moericke are seen here with $500 worth of dry goods purchased at Walmart before being delivering them to the West Bend Food Pantry. Those on hand at the Monday Night Football game where the Green Bay Packers defeated the Minnesota Vikings participated in a Veterans Day salute. Below are pictures from that inspiring scene. The cards were taped to the seats prior to the game and then raised at the appropriate time. Fundraising events: Marines, If we choose to hold a Rose Distribution Fundraiser at Miller Park these are the available dates as of the printing of this newsletter. Please review the dates and bring your ideas to the Meeting. We need to turn in our application as soon as possible so as not to loose out on any dates. April 6th St. Louis Fri 3:10 PM 7th St. Louis Sat 6:10 PM 8th St. Louis Sun 1:10 PM (Easter) 23rd Houston Mon 7:10 PM (?) June 1st Pittsburg Fri 7:10 PM July 3rd Florida Tue 3:10 PM 4th Florida Wed 3:10 PM Aug 16th Phillys Thur 7:10 PM 17th Phillys Fri 7:10 PM 18th Phillys Sat TBD 19th Phillys Sun 1:10 PM 31st Pittsburg Fri 7:10 PM (?) Sept 1st Pittsburg Sat 6:10 PM 2nd Pittsburg Sun 1:10 PM 10th Atlanta Mon 7:10 PM 11th Tue Tue 7:10 PM 12th Wed Wed 7:10 PM Below: Newsletter Editor Jason Waier(r) presents George Wujcik(l) his prize for his Patriotic Photo submission. The photo that won can be seen on the cover of the October Newsletter. 6
Continued from Minutes on Page 3 Dan Buttery was at the meeting and gave a terrific talk on Fisher House. As you know we have donated toward this project, which is beginning to really get going. Fisher House is a facility where family members and veterans can stay while they are undergoing treatments and therapy. This is a wonderful resource for veterans and their families, plus it is right in our back yard, being in Milwaukee. I feel that this is truly a worthy charity for us to pursue and champion. Thanks Marines, and thank-you Dan for coming and visiting us. New Business Sgt Chinias gave a very informative talk and enlisted our assistance for the Toys for Tots program this year. We accepted twelve boxes for people to donate toys. They do not need to be manned by somebody while they are out for donation. Several detachment members accepted the boxes as they have a connection or business where they can be displayed. In addition we gave Toys for Tots a monetary donation last month. Sgt Chinias and First Sgt Easton expressed the appreciation of the Toys for Tots program for the assistance. Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School is holding their annual Veterans Day observance on November 11th, that's a Thursday. They really have a very nice, classy program for this day, and it begins this year at 0900. A sign-up sheet was at the meeting for any interested member. Good of the League First Sgt Easton gave a brief talk on the Fox Company Marine Corps Birthday Ball which he still has a few tickets for. Tickets are 45 dollars, Roger has his phone number if you are interested, and the event is the 5th of November at the Olympia in Oconomowoc. Roger gave a nice talk on the new law for concealed-carry that is about to go into effect here in Wisconsin. It is sounding now that a record of service in the armed forces will qualify people for the permit as long as they pay the fee for it. The Winnebago detachment is having a Marine Corps birthday observance on November 5th. There was a letter with information for any interested members to peruse. Regrettably, the title that was noted on the announcement with interest turned out to be the name of one of the vegetable entrees, not the band. Meeting Closed With no further business to conduct, the Junior-Vice Commandant gave the order to close the meeting at 1013. The Sergeant at Arms retired the colors and the Chaplain gave the closing prayer. The Junior-Vice Commandant thanked all members for attending and asked that they secure new members. The Marine Hymn was sung in closing the meeting. The Bible is closed. Respectfully submitted by: Paul Schleif, Adjutant Right: Here we see Stephanie and Bonnie from Bank Mutual in West Bend with the Toys for Tots box in the customer waiting area. This is where the Det does it s banking. They also highlighted the Detachment for the month of November by allowing us to promote the Det with posters and flyers showing everyone who/what we are and what we do. 7 VAVS Older Vets to Get GI Bill Benefits November 21, 2011 Terry Howell The President has signed the VOW to Hire Heroes Act into law. There are several provisions in the law that will have a positive impact on the veteran unemployment rate. The most often reported of these are tax credits for employers who hire veterans and wounded warriors ($5,600/veteran and $9,600/disabled veteran). However, there is one provision that is not being as widely reported that will come as great news to unemployed veterans over the age of 35 a new shot at 12 months of the Montgomery GI Bill. That s right, the pre-9/11 veterans who often feel as if they have been forgotten, may soon qualify for as much as $17,600 for education and training. This benefit can be used for finishing up a college degree, certification, vocational training, On-the-Job Training and more. This new benefit could help about 60 percent of the current 850K unemployed veterans. To qualify, veterans must be 35-60 years old, unemployed, and not currently enrolled (or within the past 6 months) in a state or federal job training program. The remaining question is, how soon can the VA pull the trigger and start accepting applications.
Above: Kettle Moraine Detachment presents Dan Buttery from Fisher House Wisconsin a check for $2000.00. This is the largest single donation to date given by Kettle Moraine Detachment to anyone. When completed the Fisher House in Milwaukee will serve Veterans and their familes for decades into the future. Right: On Behalf of the Kettle Moraine Det. Roger Cross presents Cpl Roberts from Fox Co 2/24 in Milwaukee with a $200 donation for Toys for Tots! 8