75th Anniversary of Battle for Iwo Jima!

We're in Washington DC for the VFW Legislative Conference.  Coincidentally, this is also a reunion of Iwo Jima survivors as it is the 75th Anniversary of Iwo Jima in World War II.  There is living history walking around this hotel!

I have a suite and small hospitality room here.  Last night there was some knocking at the door and several of the Iwo Jima Marines wanted to know if we had any bourbon inside!  We couldn't invite them in fast enough and what a night we had.  Even at their age, let me tell you these guys know their way around a glass [or two] of bourbon and they can go well into the wee hours!

 I spent a lot of time with Fiske Hanley, 100 years old, and a B-29 Bomber engineer in WWII.  He's written a book and I ordered it from Amazon a few minutes ago.  Fisk was in college and in 1943 was drafted.  He became part of a bomber crew and participated in several WW II battles in the Pacific.  He bombed Iwo Jima, "along with a whole lot of other bombers" before the Marines stormed the beach.

Fiske said their instruments were off and 80% of their bombs hit the ocean killing tons of fish.  The remaining 20% missed the Japs by a mile and landed on the beach. He thought they had failed.  Later he talked to the Marines who made the landing on the beach.  They said the coral was so hard in places they couldn't dig in and they were being killed by the dozens just getting off the landing craft.  The only thing that saved them were these huge craters dotting the beaches....it was the only place they were safe and they didn't know why they were there.  Yes, it was Fiske and his misguided bombers who cratered the beach head that saved thousands of lives!

Fiske went on to engage in bombing runs on several islands as they worked their way toward Japan.  On a mission to drop sea mines near the coast, they were shot down by the battleship Yamato.  Only he and another of his crew survived while some other crews of the other planes survived.  He was captured and taken to Tokyo.

In Tokyo, he and thousands of other air crew were put on trial for war crimes against Japan.  They were sentenced to death and many, many of them were beheaded. Fate intervened and the war ended before they got to Fiske, but it was pretty close.

Why do I love this country? Because of amazing guys like Fiske willing to risk it all for a noble cause!

A Fiske Selfie

Fiske explaining how things really got done

BONUS PIC:  Senior Vice CIC Hal with Iwo Jima Medal of Honor Recipient Woody Williams!

SARA at Reagan Washington National Airport DC

Interesting design. I guess you could do recall work if you got bored in the airport!  😃

Post Meeting - Sparta 2698

On the rare occasions when I’m home and a Post meeting is scheduled I like to stop in and visit.  It’s great to see friends and catch up on what’s going on.

What I like about my Post is that we truly leave the “petty jealousies and trivial personalities” at the door. Of course we have them, that’s just life. But when it comes to doing the things we do as a veterans’ service organization, it truly is about serving veterans and the community!

Mama enjoys visiting with all the folks she knows and she loves to wander around the meeting talking to everyone. Just prior to the meeting, she decided that our Quartermaster Jeff B. needed some special attention!

Country Update: Chile

Welcome readers from Chile!

Here's the alpha list of countries following our Blog.  I'm still uncertain where "Unknown" is, but there are a lot of hits from there!

Afghanistan

Argentina

Brazil

Bulgaria

Canada

Chile

Costa Rica

Czech Republic

Djibouti

France

Germany

Grenada

India

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

Mexico

Netherlands

Philippines

Puerto Rico

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States of America

Unknown

Vietnam

International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day

And also National Dog Biscuit Day, by the way!

Mama sends a shout out to all dog biscuit lovers to enjoy this special day!  As you can see, she certainly is!

Decision Making and Leadership

How do you make your decisions as a leader?  Some people are in the “knee-jerk” reaction camp, some have the “I’m the boss” style, others in the “what’s in it for me” area, and still others are the “paralysis by analysis” type.  There are many kinds in between of course.  I’m sure the experts will tell us that there is no one right answer to the question posed, and I’d have to agree.

Futurist Stowe Boyd has written that there is an enormous lie underlying business decisions, wherein people think they are made rationally, logically and with expertise and evidence.  All this is then carefully weighed against alternatives and then THE DECISION is made.  That’s the lie.  According to many scientific studies, decisions are usually made using our own biases, limited knowledge of the situation, and a belief that we know more than anyone else.  Ouch.

As leaders I think we all need to assess ourselves honestly and think about what type of decision makers we are.  Once we have faced that hurdle, and then take our own egos out of the equation, we are better prepared to be leaders who make decisions for those who have entrusted us with the title of “Leader”.  We need to start making the lie the reality!

The Harvard Business Review developed a checklist for decision making.  I’ll paraphrase it for brevity, but it’s a good checklist to use if you truly want to get a decision that is best for the organization:

1.  Write down a few business goals that will be impacted by the decision.

2.  What are a few realistic alternatives to your problem?

3.  What is the most important information you are MISSING?  Recall Donald Rumsfeld and his “known unknown” speech.  He knew that factoring in things you know you don’t know will help you make a better decision.

4.  What is the likely aftermath of the decision you choose?  Can you live with the consequences?

5.  Involve a team to help make the decision.  Ultimately the call is up to the leader, the decision-maker, of course.  But there’s no reason to make a decision in a vacuum especially if you’ve checked your ego at the door.  Strong emotions can derail prudent decision making.

6.  Check for buy in from your team.  If it’s six to one, and you’re the one, it may not be the right decision for the organization.

7.  Last, schedule a meeting for an after action discussion at a later date. Track decisions that have been made.  Learning how you can do things better in the future is a valuable thing.

I’ll admit that following these steps could be pretty difficult, but I’m going to try to incorporate them into my decision-making in the future.  I’m just one person and I need to be surrounded by professionals and confidants that I trust to help me succeed.  Yes, the decision rests with me.  As President Truman said, “The buck stops here.”  But there’s no reason smart people can’t help me get there.  I don’t want to be a good leader; I aspire to be a great leader.

I read this once before and wrote it down.  I no longer have the attribution, so I’ll just say the following is not my quote:

“Great leaders understand how to balance emotion with reason and make decisions that positively impact themselves, their employees, their customers and stakeholders, and their organizations.”

Country Update: Afghanistan

Welcome to the Blog viewers from Afghanistan!  We appreciate your time and hope you enjoy the travels!

SARA St Louis Lambert East [Outdoor Site]

Mama previously showed you the Lambert East Terminal SARA after you get past TSA security.  This SARA is outside the baggage claim area.  Perfect first stop while you're waiting for the checked bag to come off the plane!

Welcome readers from the Czech Republic!

This humble blog just picked up a few new visitors from the Czech Republic!

Thank you and we hope you enjoy our travels!

VFW: The Movie

We are at VFW HQ for a few days, preparing some prospective by-law changes for National Convention. That's VFW business so I won't discuss it here of course.

However, on lunch today we watched a pre-screening of "VFW", a movie making its premier on Valentine's Day.   It's an action packed "B" movie that most likely won't win any Oscars. Some of you will like it; some of you won't. They did use an actual Post in Irving, Texas for filming.

Here's the official trailer note:

"A typical night for veterans at a VFW turns into an all-out battle for survival when a desperate teen runs into the bar with a bag of stolen drugs. When a gang of violent punks come looking for her, the vets use every weapon at their disposal to protect the girl and themselves from an unrelenting attack."

VFW Commander Class 122 Voice of Democracy Scholarship

As the National Junior Vice Commander in Chief, I have Junior Vice Commander counterparts at each Department in the VFW, 52 in all.  After discussions at our Junior Vice Commander's conference a few months ago we decided we wanted to leave a lasting legacy of our collective time in office....we chose to create and fund a Voice of Democracy Scholarship.

We will be installed as Commanders in the VFW's 122nd year, if all things go as they should.  Since the positions aren't about us as individuals, we chose to call ourselves the VFW Commander Class 122, and that's the name of the scholarship.  We hope to raise enough to fund a $1,000 perpetual award to be added to the prizes that our outstanding Department winners receive at the National level.

I believe in leading by example.  Today I had the pleasure of making my personal donation to the fund, in the amount of ten thousand dollars.  That will get the ball rolling and many of my fellow commanders and their departments have already pledged their support.  I know we will succeed!

North Carolina VFW Mid-Winter Conference

I'm not sure what's going on, but when I was in Green Bay last week, and now in North Carolina, the hotel power went out for a long, long time.  I hope it isn't a sign!

Commander Craig and his team are on their game and are poised to be an All American State once again.  Everyone was motivated to perform, and the Membership Seminar put on by Youther Eaford and Tim Woods brought out even more.  Even I wanted to know how I could sign up to be a member!  If you could bottle the energy these two had you could make a fortune.  Tim was also my guide this weekend and he kept me laughing the whole time.  He's running for Department Junior Vice Commander and if he wins I know the state will be in great hands in the coming years.

What are some of the great things the state is doing?  They have instituted one new post and two new rider groups in the last few months.  Last year the Foundation funded 20 of 36 slots in the Guitars for Veterans program designed to help veterans with PTSD.  Realizing what a great project it is, they are fully funding all 40 slots this year and have pledged to fund all the slots next year!  Speaking of PTSD, it was a North Carolina veteran who started the push for a PTSD postage stamp.  Sadly, he passed on but his daughter picked up the mantle and now the stamp is a reality!  North Carolina cares!

How about this for innovation?  Tim Woods created and builds POW-MIA table kits that have everything you need to set up a table.  It's portable, easy to use, and gets the message out wherever you want to go.  Readers, feel free to think about this!!

A festive Voice of Democracy Banquet...the Cooties were well represented!

Past Commander in Chief John Smart

Tom Baker, Student Veterans of America Legislative Fellow and State Surgeon David Wagoner represent the Cary Post.  They have embraced technology and the needs of current conflict veterans and have turned things around.  So proud to see newer veterans taking charge!

Friendship Forged in the Fires of Viet Nam

We attended the North Carolina VFW Mid-Winter conference this weekend and a lot of great things happened, but more on that later. This is a story that will tug at your heart and make you smile until your face hurts.

After the Voice of Democracy banquet, Roland Rochester came up to me all smiles and tears. I had to meet someone. Nothing new, right? Well this someone served in Viet Nam with Roland.

They had not seen each other since 1972, in Viet Nam!  They glanced at  each other at the banquet and after the usual “don’t I know you” looks quickly realized their shared past.   Tom Wolfe was Roland’s squad leader 48 years ago!  Where else but the Veterans of Foreign Wars can a friendship be made once then renewed almost half a century later?  These two spent the evening together. I can only imagine the stories they shared!

Roland (left) and his squad leader Tom Wolfe

SARA in Raleigh NC [with a bonus!]

Well, it was a crazy travel day on Thursday.  Storms and tornadoes, delays and cancellations!  But with the tremendous help of Bonnie at Veterans Travel Service we were able to leave St Louis.  We made our way to Cincinnati but only had a few minutes to get to the next gate.  No SARA to show you from there.

We did make it to Raleigh eventually and while we were waiting for our bag we decided to find a SARA.  We were told that, sadly, there is no indoor one here yet, but you can go outside, down the walkway, past the smoking stand, and there is some grass.  Mama was ok with that so off we went.  She wasn't impressed but didn't complain!

To make up for this one, your bonus SARA of the day comes to you from Albuquerque, New Mexico!

Raleigh....in the rain...but they did have a SARA sign!

Albuquerque International Sunport

[PS:  this is for Marcy--SARA, SARA, SARA!]

Magic and the VFW

Last week at the Texas Voice of Democracy banquet a truly magical thing happened. 

Ms. Ramona H., Department Auxiliary Senior Vice President, said she listened to my bio and learned of me being a magician. She had a wonderful story about her grandfather Roman Maximilian Vetter and the Houdini family!  Harry Houdini was a founder of the Society of American Magicians, of which I am a member. 

Roman studied magic under the tutelage of Houdini. Ms Ramona said she had a photo of Roman with Mrs. Bess Houdini, Harry’s wife. Today I received a copy in the mail and I’m thrilled!  It’s even signed by Mrs Houdini!  The inscription reads:

“To R.M. Vetter, Best Wishes, Mrs Harry Houdini”

Roman is the third man from the right, standing behind the man sitting next to Mrs Houdini.  I’m going to get this photo to the Society as a part of our magical heritage. Perhaps they will be able to identify the other folks in the photo. 

My heartfelt thanks goes out to Ms Ramona for sending this to me!

Wisconsin VFW Council of Administration

Wisconsin VFW:  Cold snow, warm hearts!  I had a great time visiting in Green Bay with some very dedicated friends from the Big Ten.  It's always home week when I get to visit within my own conference.  Command Sergeant Major Kerry was my escort and she kept things going to the minute. She took care of everything, down to a nice comfy bed in her car for Mama as well as treats waiting for her.  Hands down Kerry, even with the great accent, you rocked it!

We visited Lambeau Field for dinner, where I also got to see a three story statue of the Lombardi Trophy.  I don't think I made any friends when I mentioned it was going to be Kansas City walking away with that on Sunday!  Fun fact, the stadium isn't in Green Bay.  It's actually in Ashwaubenon.  I asked Kerry to say this many times until she realized I just liked the way she said it!

Commander Don kept all of the meetings moving and ensured they were informative, relevant, and on time.  The program was very full and it only came off because of this attention to detail.  The department is on track to become All American again this year and their Foundation is doing a fantastic job of bringing funds and dispersing them to worthy causes.  It is a model of success.  Commander Don and his team really understand what it means to be VFW!

The afternoon luncheon for Patriot's Pen, Voice of Democracy, and Teachers of the Year brought in well over 200 attendees.  One of the most interesting items was a project by the High School Teacher.  Tired of all the attention high school kids get when they sign on to a college athletic department, he instituted a Military Signing Day!  All of the students who were entering the military get their day, the school and parents show up, and the military recruiters are present too.  What a great way to honor students who have chosen to serve their country instead of serving an athletic program.

The Red Carpet Awards Banquet was the Wisconsin way of honoring Posts that have gone above and beyond in membership and programs.  The theme was the "Groovy Sixties".  People dressed up and it was an enjoyable atmosphere.  It's important to honor those who have gone above and beyond, but it's great to recognize you can have fun while you're doing it.

A really big Lombardi Trophy!  [Go Chiefs!]

Past Department Commander Metz attaching the All American Streamer to the Department VFW Flag

Past National Commander in Chief Tommy Tradewell still serves on the Department Color Guard

Final instructions before the Red Carpet Awards.  This Color Guard is hands down the best I've ever seen.  Their precision, attention to detail and style makes any event they are in shine.

Commander Don in a lighter moment with Mrs. Wisconsin.  She's a former Marine and currently in the National Guard.

Mama was OK with the groovy glasses but drew the line at beads and peace signs!

Oneida VFW Post 7784 - Wisconsin

Had the opportunity to visit this Post one evening while in Wisconsin and I'm so glad I did!  Technically called the Robert Cornelius Post, it is commonly known as the Oneida VFW Warriors.  The post resides on Oneida Indian Reservation land and certainly pays homage to its roots of the Oneida nation from the East Coast.  The members that turned out are very proud of their heritage and the VFW.  All potential members are welcome with open arms and they work hard at not being a "closed" post for Native Americans.  That notwithstanding, there is clearly a proud history of Native Americana in this post.  The post home was recently rebuilt about nine years ago and is a center of the community.  And, this being Wisconsin, the draw isn't a fish fry or chicken dinner:  Brat Tuesday brings out them out!

The post was chartered in November 1946.  They are planning a big 75th anniversary celebration in 2021 and I've been invited.  I will do all I can to honor that request as I am really drawn to this group.  Being Native Americans, they have federal dispensation to use eagle feathers in their ceremonies and accouterments.  The Native American comrades all have eagle feathers in their caps. Chaplain Ken told me the history of the tradition, going back to the old days when coming back from battle a feather was bestowed upon a warrior.  In our modern times, when one comes home from their military service they receive the feather.  It is attached to their VFW cap with a beadwork clasp.  The beads are woven into a representation of whatever service medal they received.  You can tell at a glance the war in which they served.  Commander Cletus sports two feathers, one for Viet Nam and another with beadwork representing the Purple Heart he received there.

There is pride here.  Pride in America, pride in the VFW, and pride in heritage.  I'm am awed by this group. Chaplain Ken is in the process of writing a book on the history of the Oneida as he recalls it being passed on to him by elders back in the day.  He's promised to send me a copy and I can't wait to read it.  I was given a post pin and it has metallic feathers dangling from it.  I'll cherish that!

Commander Cletus and the Eagle Staff.  You can see the Purple Heart beadwork on one of his two cap feathers

Chaplain Ken.  Remarkable and caring man, I had to take a LOT of pictures and it was finally Mama doing something that got him to smile!

A large, new facility that is drawing in members and community alike

Outside flags

Main building entrance

Country Update!

This week we welcome more friends from around the world:  Argentina, Djibouti, Ireland, and Puerto Rico.  Readers in 24 countries are now enjoying this humble blog!

Argentina

Djibouti

Ireland

Puerto Rico

SARA in Detroit

Your SARA of the day at Detroit Wayne County Airport.

Private stalls!

Automatic sprinklers too!