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Hi All Trojans,
The survey results are in. The 2012 reunion will be in Mrytle Beach, SC,
21-24 Jun 2012. Preliminary investigation reveals there are alot of fun
things to do. Activities being considered are a golf tournament, evening
on a floating casino, lunch with wounded warriors and banquet night. The
reunion committee will be looking for a hotel that will meet most if not
all of our needs. More to come. |
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First let me thank Andrea for
allowing me to post this on her site.
This to update you on several issues related to the Zweibrücken Alumni
Association. ZAA became a non-profit agency in 2006. As a result of Linda
Irvine’s death, I am now responsible for the association including
handling the agency’s legal business. ZAA will have to go about business
in a different way as Linda used the resources of her meeting planning
business to provide pro bono services to the association. We no longer have
this advantage. As ZAA is a voluntary organization, we will have to be more
creative and flexible as we continue to encourage members to be meaningfully
engaged in association activities. I am still sorting out legal and
financial issues.
Given past controversy and credibility issues, a survey website has been set
up for re-voting on reunion location, dates, and the location of the Zwei
memorial. It is also my intent, in the near future, to propose amended
bylaws which will include restructuring of the organization.
Please be aware that our webmaster is active duty military and is being
deployed again so we will have to figure out how we will manage the website
(which is down at this time). In the interim we will utilize available
social networks.
There are two exciting possibilities for the memorial that I would ask
everyone to consider:
The United States Air Force Museum, Dayton, Ohio
The museum does not have an exhibit about military children. We can submit a
proposal, offer some funding and coordinate with the curator to have a Zwei
exhibit. There are strict guidelines about displays as well as possible
maintenance fees, so more to come on that. I am an honorary member of the
Vietnam Security Police and will be going to the USAF museum in Oct with the
group and I plan to meet with officials about their interest.
National Army Museum, Washington, DC
This new museum is being built in D.C. I have spoken with Donna Musil, the
Director of the Brats Our Journey Home documentary film, and she reports she
has been approached by the curators to use her film as part of their
military child exhibit. Donna is looking for funding to do more than just
have an exhibit there. She wants to create a military brat exhibit that can
be rotated to all of the national museums. If Zwei offers up some funding we
would get a prominent feature in the exhibit.
It is my hope that we can use the survey service to get feedback/ numbers
from visitor census, or a counter turnstile or somehow capture how many
people visit the exhibit to support our non-profit status. (We were awarded
non-profit as the association is considered education related.) The Berlin
Brats use the number of visitors at the Museum of World Wonders in Kansas to
support their mission of education. There is a piece of the Berlin Wall and
various artifacts on display and with each group that visits, the numbers
are reported to them.
The memorial will not be built in Zwei for various reasons to include
instability overseas, cost of maintenance, difficulties related to
accessibility by members and security concerns.
Updates
We are planning a reunion for 2012. Please go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B22FCPS
to take the survey to vote on the reunion location and dates and the
location of the Zwei Memorial. The AOSHS museum has never been able to get
the required funding so this location is not feasible.
New initiative
•Brats Giving Back-Ask that members bring items to the reunion to ship to
our troops overseas. We will set aside a time to pack the boxes and then
mail them from the reunion location. Additionally, dependent on the reunion
location, plan a luncheon with wounded warriors and/or active duty soldiers.
In Zwei spirit ...
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Friends, I have inherited
legal and ethical responsibility for the Zweibruecken Alumni Association as
a result of Linda Yetter's death. I would ask everyone to be patient as
legal issues are sorted out and plans for redefining the Association's
structure and activities are formulated and implemented. Most importantly, I
want to inform everyone that the reunion in Zweibruecken has been cancelled.
The committee will revisit the memorial issue and try to come to an amiable
compromise that will hopefully be pleasing to all stakeholders.
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