The General Membership Meeting was held on Saturday, November 6th, Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. The meeting was coincidental with the 6th Bi-Annual Reunion of the ACA. A quorum as required by the Constitution was present for the conduct of business.

The GMM opened with a report on the State of the ACA from President Darrrell Beasley (published separately) Treasurer Danny Bridges reported that the financial balance is $16,942.65 and that an FY2011 budget has been prepared and submitted to the Board of Directors for comment/approval.

Secretary Fred O’Hern noted that a thank you from AFCOMAC for our contributions to the Gauvin Fund has been received; current active membership is 154 (102 life and 36 annual); the ACA is a 501 (c ) 19 tax exempt organization, incorporated as a Not for Profit Florida Corporation, and exempt from Florida Sales Tax.

A motion was made (FO, 2nd LD) to allocate $2,000 in the upcoming budget for the procurement and presentation of Ammo Memorial Plaques at the Enlisted Heritage Museum (Gunter AFS); and the Rocky Mountain Aerospace Museum (Denver, old Lowry AFB hangar). Approved AIF Note: originally $4,000 had been allocated for the plaques at the AF Museum and Armament Museum, $2,137 remains unspent and will be earmarked for these plaques.

Mike Curran motion, 2nd DB that we investigate outsourcing management of the web-site; Dwight Howard to action for the BOD. Approved with AIF Note: Rich McVey was thanked for his efforts at maintaining the site for the last 10 years. The site has recently had problems with virus infection, these appear to have been resolved as Google, Internet Explorer, and AOL now do not block access.

VP Rich Pennington made an appeal for inputs to the upcoming edition of the Shell and Flame; Note: the newsletter will only by mailed to those who do not have an e:mail address.

A proposed change to the Constitution was discussed at length.
The following motion (MG, 2nd MC) passed with all in favor: Extend the term of office the the incumbent President, Treasurer, Chief @ Arms, and two Directors to 31 December 2011 (from 31 December 2010). Thus all current incumbents terms of office will expire 31 December 2011.

A second motion (FO, 2nd DB) to change the constitutional terms of office was approved by majority vote: i.e. Amend the ACA Constitution by establishing the term of office fo all officers as four (4) years; all offices to be elected and serve concurrent terms of office; officers to serve a maximum of two (2) consecutive terms (for the same position). Note: All members are invited to vote and/or comment on the proposed amendment; please comment not later than 13 December 2010.

The floor gave a hearty round of thanks for the Reunion Committee and in particular to Big John and Doris for their efforts in making this the best Reunion ever.

Fred O’Hern, Secretary, IYA Ammo YAS

PS-All annual members are reminded that annual dues of $25 are payable by 31 Jan 2011.

My Fellow AMMO Chiefs, since the last stated meeting of the ACA, we have had a few events and actions that should be reported to the membership. Our Treasurer, Chief Bridges has done an outstanding job in keeping track of our finances. We currently have $16,942.65 in our coffers and the attached CY11 budget is submitted.

Our secretary, Chief O’Hern, has done an outstanding job in keeping the president straight and the current membership of active members is 153 Active Members in good standing; 101 Life (7 Associates, 9 Honorary); 36 Annual (7 Associates). One of our efforts is to continue to solicit membership from the active duty AMMO Chiefs. On a positive note we have had the European members of the ACA request a Chapter Charter but this has been put on hold until the European membership can meet and complete the prescribed documents.

Next, I would like to thank our Vice President, Chief Pennington , for re-energizing the ACA Newsletter, “The Shell and Flame” along with the help of Chief Matthews. This important document will help us keep in contact with our ACA membership and also spread the word of what we have done, can do and need to do to support the AMMO community. I would also like to thank Chief McVey for his continued support over the years to maintain our website…his efforts have been phenomenal and I hope we can find a replacement that can keep up the great work.

One significant event for this period is the establishment of the AMMO Memorial Plaques at the Museums at Wright Patterson AFB and the Eglin AFB, both dedicated to the “AMMO Troops…Past, Present and Future”. The work of Chief Gossett and Chief Long to make these events come to fruition is appreciated by the membership.

Our current challenge is to propose a change to our constitution to determine terms of office for our Board of Directors (BOD). Along with this change we will determine the elections of our next BOD. This proposed change is recommended to stabilize the BOD so they can provide the continuity to help the ACA provide the base for the development of new chapters and new membership.

Finally, I would like to ask each member to look at what the ACA needs to do and what we can do to continue to support of the AMMO Community.

The AMMO Chiefs Memorial Fund, which is the offspring of Grace Hamilton’s request to donate to the AMMO troops after Chief Hamilton’s passing, has provided funds for those AMMO troops who have passed and we will continue this fund with the help of donations from all AMMO Chiefs. We would like to thank Grace for generously supporting and starting the fund.

I want to thank all the BOD and membership for their support and hard work in keeping the ACA the organization it is that will support the AMMO community. We are AMMO and we need to support those who continue our long traditions…IYA AMMO YAS!

Darrell Beasley, President

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening All,

Straight from Chris…Hello Family and Friends!
   
    Good news…we are back home in Germany!
   
    First of all I would like to thank Chief Arnold for being our POC and keeping everyone updated on the status of myself and my family for past 2 months.  It made life a lot easier on Amoreena, she had a busy job keeping everyone posted.  Thanks Chief!
   
    All I can say is WOW!  Your thoughts and prayers worked!  We are back at home in Germany after 2 months of riding the emotional/physical roller coaster.  We arrived Frankfurt Sunday and have spent the last couple of days getting the kids back in school and getting our lives back to somewhat normal.  I am done with surgeries for now…I will eventually have surgery on my Achilles to repair/clean it up, but that won’t be for a couple months.  I will have to undergo radiation/chemo in about 6 weeks to make sure that the doctors got all of the cancer.  I don’t know if they will able to do that here at Landstuhl.  My doctor(the only military endocrinologist in Europe) is TDY to Serbia until 25 Sep.  If they can’t do the radiation/chemo here, they will send me back to Wilford Hall.  I am actually feeling pretty good…sore of course and tired…I have been in and out of the hospital bed a lot the last couple of months so my endurance is low.  The doctors said it would be about 4 more weeks before I can start working out again.  Right now I am spending a lot of time in the pool just trying to work out the soreness.  I am on convalescent leave until 10 Sep…then I am back to work!
   
    It is amazing how close the military family can be.  Our family was touched/overwhelmed by all of the cards, emails and donations we received!  Thank you all!    
   
    V/R,
    Chris

Ammo Chief (ret’d) Pat Adams has been appointed as editor of the Shell and Flame. He takes over from John Mathews who has been the editor for a number of years. The Board of Directors would like to extend our thanks to John for his long service and efforts in developing an excellent newsletter and we would like to welcome Pat to the ACA Team.

The next edition is planned for the beginning of August. If you have articles, information, or just comments that you would like to see included please email them to Pat Adams.