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Greetings Voyagers,
By December, I will be just about half-way through my term as Grand Chef de Gare. It certainly a high honor to serve
as the Grand Chef de Gare for the Grand du Maryland.
Many
of the Locales within the Grand have made efforts to ask qualified veterans to become Voyagers. On Dec 5th, we
will Wreck at least 7 new Voyagers into Locale 265.
As an Honor Society it is our duty to find the best and brightest and ask them to join us. I would like to remind my
fellow Voyagers that it is our solemn duty to nominate worthy veterans to become members of La Societe.
To that end I charge
all Voyagers to nominate at least 1 new member of La Societe. A nomination form is in this newsletter. For many all that needs
to be done is ask.
According to the MD Department
of Veterans Affairs there are 444,000 veterans in Maryland. The Grand’s membership
at the end of 2009 was 474. That is .001 of the veteran population who are Voyagers.
I ask that you look around
your community and nominate deserving veterans for La Societe. They do not need to be members of The American Legion, they
must however be honorable discharged.
I would like to echo Mike Wood's comments in "Set the Record Straight," that all veterans are honorable, not just the veterans who served during a war era. Does serving stateside during
Grenada make someone less of a Legionnaire. Some could argue it was barely a conlict. So why are so many against those who
served outside of this period. So step up with me and accept these individuals as what they are Veterans!
Bob Ouellette
Grand Chef de Gare
Salute Voyagers,
When I became your Grand Chef de Gare there was alot of back story that
I don't know. We are seeing the Grand and Nationale slowly shrink. Maryland has slipped to 19th place with 59.49%. The
Forty and Eights dues are not expensive. I would like you to make an effort to collect outstanding dues by December 7th. Hold
a dues party, call the Voyager or visit them and collect. Let's "Just Do It"
I am sure those of you who are active are not interested in seeing the
Grande die. Niether am I. The slide stoped last year when the Grand made 100%. This year need to reach 105%.
I feel like we are in a rebuilding period. For too long many Voyagers did nothing to bring in new members. At 122 Martin Price
has been traversing the SE Shore putting up posters. Posters are the start, the next step is to talk to potential members
1 on 1 or in groups, like at Legion, VFW or DAV Functions. Talk to potential Voyagers any where you see veterans. Carry
my invitation. Tell them that I have directed you to seek out outstanding Veterans for membership in the Forty and Eight.
In writing this, I am determined to increase the membership in the Grand,
not for just this year but for some time to come. This is certainly an organization worthy of your time and effort. Since
2006, I have recruited 594 new members for the AL. I understand that our recruiting is different, but there is not reason
that we can't do some good numbers and get some good Voyagers out of it.
Also, I would like to have at least 2 more Locale Chefs for the Wounded
Warrior lunch on November 29th. Pat Hauke has volunteered and I am the Chef for 265, so any others.
To get membership and the Grand moving at a faster pace
here is my revised travel schedule for November.
6 November VL 1297, Harve de Grace
10 Nov 09 VL 122,
Salisbury, MD 7:30 p
13 Nov 09 Mid-Atlantic, Dover,
DE
19 Nov 09 VL 1230, AL Post 175,
Severna Park, MD 7p
20 Nov 09 VL 651, AL Post 42, Hagerstown,
MD 7:30p
24 Nov 09 VL 155, Carroll Post
31, Westminster, MD 7 p
Salute Voyagers,
I hope this finds you well. We have lose a few Voyagers so far this year.
As I stated in September there is a large untapped source of members at most of our American Legion Posts. They are the SAL
and Auxiliary members, who because of the Legion's restriction on dates of service they are not eligible for membership.
If they are suitable and are eligible for membership in La Societe.
All you need to do is ask. I am hope that you are exploring these members along with our traditional base. While performing
my other duties with the AL I will continue to promote La Societe.
Below is my anticipated travel plans for November. I will be at these Promenade's
barring illness or other catastrophic events
~ 13 Nov 09 Mid-Atlantic Cheminot, Dover DE
~ 19 Nov 09 VL 1230, AL Post 175, Severna Park, MD
~ 24 Nov 09 VL 155, Carroll Post 31, Westminster, MD
~ 29 Nov 09 Wounded Warrior Lunch, Bethesda Naval Hospital, 11 am (by Invitation
only)
~ 5 Dec 09 VL 265, HSE Post 86, Rockville, MD Wreck 3 pm, Holiday Party
6 pm
Bob Ouellette, Grand
Chef de Gare
October 21, 2009
Voyagers,
Membership while moving slow should improve by the end of the year. I
am aware of at least 10 PGs (7 with 265 and 3 with 1230). Hopefully all will be Wrecked by December. There are a few more
after that in the works (at least at 265). I have attached a "fillable" version of the Membership Nomination Form, when you
enter the information, duplicate info is automatically entered.
During my visit to voiture Locale 651 a question was raised on the eligibility
of National Guardsman and Reservists. The key is Active Federal Duty. I received the information below from Nationale. It
is essentially verbatim from the eligibility requirements of the Legion.
The National Guard and Reserves are required to meet the same 40&8 membership eligibility requirements
as the full time federal active veterans. To be eligible, the National Guardsman/
Reservist must have served at least one day on federal active duty, and either have an honorable discharge or currently be
serving either in the Guard/Reserve or on federal active duty. The key to determining if a Guardsman/Reservist has been on
or is currently serving on federal active duty is the “Authority Line” on the activation orders of the Guardsman/Reservist.
In both cases “Title 10, Subsection 672 or 12301” are orders from the Secretary of Defense and are federal orders.
The authority the Governor uses to activate the National Guard as an individual or unit is “Title 32” orders,
i.e. Weekend Drills and Annual Training. These are not federal orders. The Reserves have similar reserve orders, which are
“Title 10, Subsection 270.” This authority code gives the reserve component the authority to activate the reserves
for Weekend Drills and Annual Training. Use the chart below when determining eligibility for National Guard and Reserves.
This information was taken from Military Law Chapter 39.
ELIGIBLE
NON-ELIGIBLE
National Guard Title 10 Subsection 672 or 12301*
Title 32
Reserves Title 10 Subsection 672 or 12301* Title
10 Subsection 270
*This Subsection was created following Desert Storm to replace
672.
Note: A DD-214 will be issued for the time on federal active duty or a DA-1059 for a completion of a school will be
issued with a character type of discharge. All Reserve components send their service members to “Basic Training”
using Title 10, Subsection 672/12301 orders.
Etiam Servis,
Bob Ouellette
Grand Chef de Gare
Grand du Maryland
Oct 14, 2009
Salute Voyagers & Dames,
It is with great pleasure that I
inform you that La Societe will
present a lunch at the National Naval Medical Center in Behtesda, MD
on November 22nd.
Arrival time will be 11 am. Security details will
follow in a seperate email.
Regulations prohibit providing food
prepared at home. Essentially we
will be hosting a catered lunch. The restauraunt has not been
selected.
We will
provide lunch for inpatients from primarily OEF/OIF and thier
families. After they have been taken care of the staff may
be served
provided we have enough food.
I will gladly take donations to cover expenses, the total is not known.
Please
send me an email if you would like to attend. I will confirm,
security information closer to the dates.
Etiam Servis,
Bob
Ouellette
Grand Chef de Gare
Grand du Maryland
24 September 2009
Salute Voyagers,
I hope this finds you well.
First, There is a large untapped source of members at most of our American Legion
Posts. They are the SAL and Auxiliary members, who because of the Legion's restriction on dates of service they are not
eligible for membership. If they are suitable and are eligible for membership in La Societe. All you need to do is ask.
I have invited two SAL members to become Voyagers. They could not join
the Legion because their service was between eligibility dates. They joined the SAL because they wanted to be a part of a
Veterans organization. They were both excited that they could be members of La Societe based on thier own service. I was also
talking to an Auxiliary member who expressed the same interest. Let's get out there and work these veterans!
Second, these are my anticipated travel plans for October. I will be at these Promenade's
barring illness or other catastrophic events.
~ 28 Sep 09, VL 671, Post 71, Oakland
~ 4 Oct 09 3rd
Cheminot, AL
Post 70, Easton, MD Lunch 12 noon, cheminot 1 p m
~ 9 Oct 09 VL 1297, AL Post 47, Havre de Grace, MD 8 p.m.
~ 13 Oct 09 VL 122, AL Post 64, Salisbury, MD 7:30 p.m.
~ 16 Oct 09 VL 651, AL Post 42, Hagerstown, MD 7:30
~ 27 Oct 09 VL 155, AL Post 223, Sykesville MD, 7 p.m.
Third, thanks to Grand Chef de Gare (Passe) Norm Covert for an awesome newsletter. I hope that
we can encourage more of our membership to turn out.
Fourth, It was suggested by Pete Esker that we talk to local Posts about being receptive
to Voyagers using the Post as guests. Not withstanding the Past bad blood, most are not aware of this. The benefit for the
Post is more income and this provides a tangible benefit to the Voyager.
Still in Service!
Bob Ouellette
Grand Chef de Gare
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