Our Reunion is now less than 10 months away. Your Reunion Committee continues to fine tune the "Training Schedule" for the four day event. All of you should have received a large post card in the mail in late October which shows the Reunion Hotel, the Hilton New Bern/Riverfront, and a number of aircraft of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. In addition to touring Cherry Point, we will also visit Camp Lejeune and the MARSOC Headquarters. Hopefully, everyone received a phone call from a Committee member in November or December encouraging you to try to attend your event.

The Hilton is now prepared to accept reservations for our Reunion. You may call the hotel direct at 252-638-3585 or the toll free number, 800-326-3745. Be sure to mention our Group Code: 38 OCC. You may also reserve online at www.newbernriverfront.hilton.com.

The room rate single/double is $109 per night plus tax. Again, those dates are 5-9 October 2011 (4 nights: 5, 6, 7, 8).

We will have the Class Reunion Registration Form completed in January and will then make it available for everyone to use.

I hope everyone has visited the Class Website: www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com . There is a wealth of information on that site about classmates, reunions, platoon photos and all our legal documents and administrative policies.

I ask that each of you review your individual profile and if you find something to correct, please notify Dave Mellon or Terry Cox. Their phone numbers and e-mail addresses are contained in their profiles. We have pictures with each profile of most classmates who have attended recent reunions. If your profile is missing a current picture you can forward one to Dave or Terry to update your profile.

Speaking of photos, as you can see on the website, we are still looking for a OCC Platoon Photo for B-3. If anyone has that Platoon Photo, please forward it to Dave or Terry. Also, as you can see, about half the photos have our names with the photo and half do not. If any platoon member or team of members would like to take on the project of identifying the Marines in their platoon photo, we would really appreciate it. Please contact Dave or Terry so that they can coordinate this project and thank you for volunteering.

One more website item: There is a section on our site dedicated to our KIA Classmates. As you will see, various people have written comments and memories regarding our fallen Classmates. If you have comments you would like to share about any of these Marines, please forward them to Dave or Terry, so they can be added to their respective profile.

Speaking of fallen Classmates, Dave Mellon has asked me to include the following in this Newsletter:

The Class of '67

Dave Mellon is recommending that you consider buying a copy of LtCol. Jack Wells recently released book, "The Class of '67". It is a well researched and written tribute to those members of his Basic School Class (6-67), who died in Vietnam. It has received an excellent review from "Leatherneck Magazine" (December 2010 issue). Dave suggests that it sets a new standard in the depth that can be incorporated into the individual tributes Clasmates can submit on our KIA's at the "Remembrance Project" page that is found on our Class website (www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com). Go to the website and click on Members/Classmates (Voting Members)/Vietnam Deaths. We lost 33 Classmates in Vietnam and we are trying to post similar tributes to all of our Classmates, who were taken from us "too young". The book is available from the Marine Corps Association for approximately $42 or at Amazon.com for approximately $36. Please get a copy of Jack Wells' book and get familiar with what is indeed possible. Jack spent about 6 years developing the tributes to his 43 Classmates who died in Vietnam. Once you have seen what is possible, you are encouraged to select one of our Classmates to research and write about. It would be good to let Dave know which of our Classmates you decide to concentrate on, so he can ensure, for the first effort, there is no duplication.

Dave has just completed a tribute on Raymond G. Potter, who was a member of our OCS Class.

Please get Jack's book and then do your own tribute! Thank you.

Again on our website, please check out the pictures from our 2009 Reunion in San Diego. Terry Cox did a great job and you can expand any single picture by clicking on it. We hope you find your website to be one you will add to your favorites.

As I have mentioned before, the Marine Corps Birthday serves as our kickoff for our annual voluntary dues campaign. These voluntary contributions help fund the organization and provide the funds for our annual Charities Contributions. This year I may not have done an effective job of communicating the importance of this campaign because we find ourselves behind our prior years' collections. If you have not contributed this year and would like to help, we would greatly appreciate it. The various levels of support remain the same:

Nominal - $25
Incentive: Anchor - $50
Globe - $100
Eagle - $150

Again, dues are strictly voluntary and contributions will be recognized on our website. The check should be made out to "38th OCC/BC 3-66 Alumni." Dues payments should be sent to our Treasurer, Chuck Sooter, at: Chuck Sooter
11932 Yearling Street
Cerritos, CA 90703

We are still searching for missing classmates. In fact, there is a partial list of these Marines in the Member section of the website. Jack Sheehan and Jim Conklin have done a fantastic job of tracking down members of our Class, but we still have many more to find. I am looking for anyone who would like to join this "Sleuth" Committee and help us find missing Classmates. Anyone who joins Jack in this effort has to be willing to make 'Cold Calls' in order to locate these Marines. If you are interested in helping, please contact Jack or me.

Lastly, Dave Wall and I will probably be leading another trip to Vietnam for Military Historical Tours in May 2011. The tour will include all of I Corps, from Chu Lai to the DMZ. If you are interested, please contact Dave or me.

Best wishes to you and your families.

Semper Fidelis,
Sam

Our Reunion is now 11 months away. Your Reunion Committee had a very productive meeting at Cherry Point in mid-August and we are fine tuning the "Training Schedule" for the four day event. All of you should have received a large post card in the mail in late October which shows the Reunion Hotel, the Hilton New Bern/Riverfront, and a number of aircraft of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. In addition to touring Cherry Point, we will also visit Camp Lejeune and the MARSOC Headquarters.

The Hilton is now prepared to accept reservations for our Reunion. You may call the hotel direct at 252-638-3585 or the toll free number, 800-326-3745. Be sure to mention our Group Code: 38 OCC. You may also reserve online at www.newbernriverfront.hilton.com.

The room rate single/double is $109 per night plus tax. Again, those dates are 5-9 October 2011 (4 nights: 5, 6, 7, 8).

I hope everyone has visited the Class Website: www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com. There is a wealth of information on that site about classmates, reunions, platoon photos and all our legal documents and administrative policies. Over the years Jack Sheehan, Dave Mellon, Terry Cox and our Webmaster, Sam Patel, have done a fantastic job of creating, maintaining and enhancing this site.

I ask that each of you review your individual profile and if you find something to correct, please notify Dave Mellon or Terry Cox. Their phone numbers and e-mail addresses are contained in their profiles. We have pictures with each profile of most classmates who have attended recent reunions. If your profile is missing a current picture you can forward one to Dave or Terry to update your profile. If you have one of your "Hard Charging" photos from Vietnam, you can also forward it for inclusion with your profile.

Speaking of photos, as you can see on the website, we are still looking for a OCC Platoon Photo for B-3. If anyone has that Platoon Photo, please forward it to Dave or Terry. Please check out the pictures from our 2009 Reunion in San Diego. Terry Cox did a great job and you can expand any single picture by clicking on it.

One more website item: There is a section on our site dedicated to our KIA Classmates. As you will see, various people have written comments and memories regarding our fallen Classmates. If you have comments you would like to share about any of these Marines, please forward them to Dave or Terry, so they can be added to their respective profile.

We hope you find your website to be one you will add to your "favorites."

As I have mentioned before, the Marine Corps Birthday serves as our kickoff for our annual voluntary dues campaign. These voluntary contributions help fund the organization and provide the funds for our annual Charities Contributions. This year I may not have done an effective job of communicating the importance of this campaign because we find ourselves behind our prior years' collections. If you have not contributed this year and would like to help, we would greatly appreciate it. The various levels of support remain the same:

Nominal - $25
Incentive: Anchor - $50
Globe - $100
Eagle - $150

Again, dues are strictly voluntary and contributions will be recognized on our website. The check should be made out to "38th OCC/BC 3-66 Alumni." Dues payments should be sent to our Treasurer, Chuck Sooter, at: Chuck Sooter
11932 Yearling Street
Cerritos, CA 90703

Again, we are still searching for missing classmates. In fact, there is a partial list of these Marines in the Member section of the website. Jack Sheehan and Jim Conklin have done a fantastic job of tracking down members of our Class, but we still have many more to find. I am looking for anyone who would like to join this "Sleuth" Committee and help us find missing Classmates. Anyone who joins Jack in this effort has to be willing to make 'Cold Calls' in order to locate these Marines. If you are interested in helping, please contact Jack or me.

Best wishes to you and your families.

Semper Fidelis,
Sam

Planning continues for our next Reunion which is less than 15 months from now. We are still negotiating the contract with the Hilton, New Bern and hope to have that resolved in the very near future. Once that is completed, we will notify everyone as to the reservation procedure with the rate and numbers to call.

Your Reunion Committee is hoping to schedule a "Planning Conference" at MCAS Chery Point sometime in August to work out the details for our upcoming event. We will do everything we can to make this Reunion a memorable experience.

I hope everyone has visited the Class Website: www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com. There is a wealth of information on that site about classmates, reunions, platoon photos and all our legal documents and administrative policies. Over the years Jack Sheehan, Dave Mellon, Terry Cox and our Webmaster, Sam Patel, have done a fantastic job of creating, maintaining and enhancing this site.

I ask that each of you review your individual profile and if you find something to correct, please notify Dave Mellon or Terry Cox. Their phone numbers and e-mail addresses are contained in their profiles. We have pictures with each profile of most classmates who have attended recent reunions. If your profile is missing a current picture you can forward one to Dave or Terry to update your profile. If you have one of your "Hard Charging" photos from Vietnam, you can also forward it for inclusion with your profile.

Speaking of photos, as you can see on the website, we are still looking for a OCC Platoon Photo for B-3. If anyone has that Platoon Photo, please forward it to Dave or Terry. Please check out the pictures from our 2009 Reunion in San Diego. Terry Cox did a great job and you can expand any single picture by clicking on it.

One more website item: There is a section on our site dedicated to our KIA Classmates. As you will see, various people have written comments and memories regarding our fallen Classmates. If you have comments you would like to share about any of these Marines, please forward them to Dave or Terry, so they can be added to their respective profile.

We hope you find your website to be one you will add to your "favorites."

Again, I want to mention our Voluntary Dues Drive for 2010 which many of you have already contributed to. These voluntary contributions help fund the organization and provide the funds for our annual Charities Contributions. The various levels of support remain the same.

Nominal - $25
Incentive: Anchor - $50
Globe - $100
Eagle - $150

Again, dues are strictly voluntary and contributions will be recognized on our website. The check should be made out to "38th OCC/BC 3-66 Alumni." Dues payments should be sent to our Treasurer, Chuck Sooter, at:

Chuck Sooter
11932 Yearling Street
Cerritos, CA 90703

Again, we are still searching for missing classmates. In fact, there is a partial list of these Marines in the Member section of the website. Jack Sheehan and Jim Conklin have done a fantastic job of tracking down members of our Class, but we still have many more to find. I am looking for anyone who would like to join this "Sleuth" Committee and help us find missing Classmates. Anyone who joins Jack in this effort has to be willing to make 'Cold Calls' in order to locate these Marines. If you are interested in helping, please contact Jack or me.

We have mentioned many times before about the importance of registering with the V.A. relative to Agent Orange. The V.A. has recently added three additional illnesses to their ever growing list of conditions that are connected to Agent Orange exposure. Anyone who served in Vietnam should check with the V.A. and complete their screening process.

Given the ongoing Health Care debate, those of us who are members of Tricare for Life should be alert to possible changes. There are many varied opinions as to what may or may not impact Tricare for Life. Not that we can do much about it, but we do need to pay attention. We do know that this month, July 2010, Doctors are experiencing a 20% cut from Medicare.

Best wishes to you and your families.

Semper Fidelis,
Sam

Again, I want to mention our Voluntary Dues Drive for 2010 which many of you have already contributed to. These voluntary contributions help fund the organization and provide the funds for our annual Charities Contributions. The various levels of support remain the same.

Nominal - $25
Incentive: Anchor - $50
Globe - $100
Eagle - $150

Again, dues are strictly voluntary and contributions will be recognized on our website. The check should be made out to "38th OCC/BC 3-66 Alumni." Dues payments should be sent to our Treasurer, Chuck Sooter, at:

Chuck Sooter
11932 Yearling Street
Cerritos, CA 90703

Skip Storey reported that a gold pen, in a black leather case, was found near his table following the banquet at our October Reunion in San Diego. If anyone lost this item please contact Skip at story2@cox.net. (Based on a discussion with Dave Wall, we have located the rightful owner of the pen and Skip Storey will return it accordingly.)

We have mentioned many times before about the importance of registering with the V.A. relative to Agent Orange. The V.A. has recently added three additional illnesses to their ever growing list of conditions that are connected to Agent Orange exposure. Anyone who served in Vietnam should check with the V.A. and complete their screening process.

Given the current Health Care debate, those of us who are members of Tricare for Life should be alert to possible changes. There are many varied opinions as to what may or may not impact Tricare for Life. Not that we can do much about it, but we do need to pay attention.

Lastly, Dave Wall and I will be leading another tour to Vietnam for Military Historical Tours from 7-20 May 2010. We will be covering all of I Corps from Quang Ngai to the DMZ. Dave and I have done a number of tours over the last four years and one of our last tours included some of our classmates: Fred Frey, Steve Hinds, Dave Mellon, Chuck Sooter and Mitch Vickers. I am sure they can give you an evaluation of our tour. If you are interested please contact Dave at 603-744-9661 or me at 724-625-8100.

Semper Fidelis,
Sam