Marine Corps League Department of New Jersey INCORPORATED BY AN ACT OF CONGRESS Minutes of the Department Council Meeting, January 17, 2016 Meeting opened in due form at 1000 by Sr. Vice Don Mack Uniforms Senior vice Commandant Mack, spoke on the proper way to wear the Marine Corps League uniform, for both male and female League members. He spoke on the many infractions he has come in contact with during his tenure in the League, such as: Wearing the Marine of the Year medal with the Color Guard Uniform, or Undress uniform, ie Long Sleeve white shirt, dress blue trousers, black field scarf. It should ONLY be worn with the RED Blazer. Wearing the Dress Blue Trousers, with the Blood stripe with the Red Blazer, only the Black trousers, or Tux Trousers should be worn with the red blazer, Wearing the Devil Dog Red Vest with any MCL uniform is not allowed. Only the Devil Dog Collar, Black, red or Gold can be worn on the MCL uniform, and the Devil Dog Cover Patch on the cover is authorized. Mixed ribbons are not allowed on any uniform, either MCL or DOD ribbons, you cannot mix the two together. Mini ribbons should not be worn on the Red Blazer, unless you are in the formal attire, Tuxedo trousers, and shirt, bow tie and cumber bun or vest. Only 2 lapel pins are allowed on the Red blazer, or 3 large medals ( of your choice) can be worn on the Red blazer. A short question and answer session was held, and the council was adjourned till 1200 for the Department Meeting Minutes of the Department Meeting, January 17, 2016 Meeting opened in due form at 1205 by Commandant Prince
Commandant Prince recognized Past NEDIVVC Tony Modzelewski and also PNEDIV Vice Bob Swain, also Past Department Commandants, Rich Basile, Bill Wilson, Bob Swain, Rosemary Flemming and Tony Modzelewski. Also recognized were NEDIVCDD Bernie Scott Paul Taylor and PNEDCDD Bobby Ann Swain National Toys for Tots, Phil Uecker Rich Basile, HDC Jim Bastine. NJPL Tim Rohan The Charter was Draped for Bob Hatton and John Bosco All officers accounted for. Roll Call of officers: Reports Minutes, the minutes were e-mailed out to the Detachments, Motion to accept minutes by Bobby Ann Swain, second by Mike Matkowski, vote carried. Correspondence: None Paymaster: Report is on the Table, and passed out Sick and Distressed Jr. Vice Commandant Doug Ratazzi, had surgery and is now home healing, Jim Brady, hip replacement, Mike( Last name inaudible) charter member in Florida, Jim Winkler, healing from cancer. LTCOL Mark Schaffer, USMC is bed ridden. Officers Reports Commandant: Would like to thank the District Vices for working to get the Detachments to get their 990 s, Life Membership and EIN s Marine of the Year, any Detachment that has a candidate for Department Marine of the Year, get the nomination me, follow the by-laws to see how to nominate someone for Marine of the year. If you do not follow the by-laws, the nomination will not be accepted. Distinguished Service award, I need two names from each Detachment of two members who have done a outstanding job in the Detachment. Send the two names to me and I will forward them to Bill Wilson. Once the names are submitted, you cannot change the name.
Get these names into me ASAP Recruiter of the Year; get the candidate s name into the Jr. vice ASAP, and send a copy to me.( Harry Prince). We also need the names of any members who have been in the Marine Corps League, 50 or 60 years.vavs send to Bill Wilson. Thank you Senior vice for your report on Uniforms. Senior Vice Commandant: Report has been passed out to the Staff, and there are copies on the table. Send your 990 s to me. My information is on the Department web site. From here on the New fiscal year is from July 1 st to June 30 th. To get the EIN s in to me. This way we match with National.I would like to commend the 1 st District for their support and the honor that went out to Bob Hatton. Junior Vice Commandant: Is absent, but he has put on the web-site, all the forms needed for the Department Convention in June. Judge Advocate: Report is submitted and on the table, The National By-laws have been updated and put online. If you have not read it or printed it out, I suggest you do it, paying attention to section 900 for charges, that have been updated, Look at it and look at the procedures for filing charges. Committees Chief of Staff; Any e-mail that has 0ptium on their e-mail are getting kicked back to me.it seems that someone has chosen to put down a e- mail as Spam, so the e-mail s are getting kicked back. If you are getting optium kick backs, notify Bill Wilson or Tony Modzelwski, and he will gtt you off the list.if you have AOL as your carrier, and have optimum in your e-mail you need to contact your server. If I send out a e-mail, I don t have any more information than is in the e-mail itself, so please don t call me for any additional information, contact the author of the e-mail. Chaplain: To date we have 56 Death notices, but none for Bob Hatton. Someone from his Detachment should be sending out the Death notices. Quartermaster: Report is on the table. District vice Reports The following Districts have submitted a report District# 1 Michael Waluk District# 2 Al Frater District# 3 Tim Daudlin District # 4 Dan Bradley District # 5 Joseph Patrick
District# 8 Robert Matkowski All Districts vice reports are on file with the Department Adjutant, they are available by written request. Toys for Tots: National Toys for Tots is requesting that a Detachment or Organization take over the toy distribution in Southern Ocean County. Cape Atlantic Detachment was tasked with the handling of Toys in Ocean County, while also doing Atlantic County. Junior Vice Commandant Doug Ratazzi, was very helpful with the added County. Membership: Last meeting I reported that transmittals were moving along nicely, but now they have to be sent back because they are once again not being filled out correctly. Tell your paymasters to read over the form a few times and fill in all pertinent information. Follow the instructions, Check, is there a Social Security number or Service number? Fill in all the information. Once again, National will no longer be mailing out paper forms, they are going to be on line! Marine Corps license plates : The last plate issued was 4515. We are presently doing an audit of the license plates. We have been talking about a decal for the MCL license plate. The new plate is DONE, and will go into print soon. Replacement plates, same number will be $20.00, new plates from $35.00 to $40.00. Leadership School: Will be on March 12 th 2016, we have 19 signed up so far, the class fills up quickly, so get signed up now for Sea Girt. We still have room for 10-11 more students. Scholarship We have $16,653 in our account, and at the present time we are receiving donations in the name of Robert Hatton. As of this date we have received $310.00. The new application for scholarship request is online. No report for North or South. Chaple of Four Chaplains
Scouting Ray is attending a Eagle Scout Court of honor, as of June 2015, he has issued 150 Certificates. Lyons Report has been passed out, getting ready for their concerts, and Bingo. There will be a live concert at the Bitter End in New York on February 16 th, if you needed directions you needed to see Don after the meeting. Homeless Veterans The count of homeless veterans was announced at the last meeting, officers were nominated and installed. 150 jackets and 60 vests were purchased for this year s stand down. YPF Will be held on Saturday, March 19th 2016 at Colts Neck High School, Helpers please report by 0730, start will be at 0800. There are 5 schools committed to the competition. There will be one marine in charge of each competition. None Unfinished Business New Business It was asked if anything special would be done for Bob Hatton, and John Bosco. Good of the League Bio Cpl. Visnu Gonzalez Project
Visnu was born in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic on January 3, 1983. On September 10, 2001 at the age of 18 Visnu joined the United States Marine Corps. After completing basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina he went for additional advance infantry training (ITR) at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, he was assigned to Echo Company, 2 nd Battalion 1 st Marines, and 1st Marine Division as a Machine Gunner (MOS 0331). In April 2003 Visnu was deployed to Iraq, (First Deployment) where he participated in Shock and Awe. In December of 2003 Visnu's Battalion returned to Camp Pendleton. In February 2004 Visnu received orders sending him back to Iraq (Second Deployment) and Echo Company 2 nd Battalion, 1 st Marines was assigned to clear out, Fallujah Al-Anbar Province in Iraq. On April 21, 2004, then 21 year old Cpl. Visnu Gonzalez was wounded in action and was paralyzed from the chest down when a sniper s bullet tore through his cervical spinal cord in Fallujah, Iraq. A second round hit an artery and nearly ended his life. Cpl. Visnu Gonzalez earned the following Awards, Purple Heart War on terrorism Ribbon Marine Corps Expeditionary Ribbon Armed Forces Expeditionary Ribbon National Defense Ribbon Iraq Campaign and Service Ribbon Marine Good Conduct Medal. After 5 years of rehabilitation treatment, Visnu moved to his new home with his Mom, Maria Baez in November 2009 in Hillsdale, NJ. Since 2009 Visnu has undergone many more surgeries and is happily married to Melissa. After many years of therapy Cpl. Visnu is now living in his own home with his wife and mother. His challenges are ever present. For over 10 years the Corporals life has been either lying in his bed or sitting in his wheelchair. This in itself creates additional challenges and other medical issues. Being a quadriplegic he is forced into a life of inactivity which brings on continuing medical issues. Because of this the Corporal constantly suffers from Urinary Tract Infections. He has developed what is commonly called bed sores from being stationary in either his bed or his wheelchair. Due to the inactivity imposed upon him he continues to lose bone density and strength to name just a few issues.
Please take a few minutes to learn of the challenges outlined in this medical opinion. https://vimeo.com/37314860 Detachment 744 of the Marine Corps League has accepted the challenge to purchase a Robotic Mobility Device from TEK-RMD which will greatly help and improve some of the medical issues Cpl Visnu faces each and every day. The device as you will see is a revolutionary device which will cost $22,000.00. http://www.innovationshealth.com/tek-rmd/ Below you will find 2 videos that will explain the benefits of having and using this device. https://youtu.be/p53zwauxqly https://youtu.be/_gb5potdumg As you might imagine, we can use all the help we can get. We look forward to talking with you about our project for: Cpl. Visnu Gonzalez Respectfully, Edward Korek 973-835-4388 201-317-1678
Announcements I want to thank all my District Vive Commandants for all their hard work. We really appreciate all of your hard work. 50X50 Ron Vauric Closing Ceremony by Ritual