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TO PAUSE BULLETIN - PLACE MOUSE POINTER OVER THE SCROLLING MESSAGE BOX

Friday, September 18, 2009

BPMS Supports the Troops - Report to Date: 03/06 - 09/09

Our ‘Support the Troops’ campaign passed a significant milestone at the end of July this year when we shipped our 500th model to the Baghdad Hobby Club. That’s a lot of plastic, not to mention the over 1,200 modeling tools, bottles of paint, decals, magazines, and other miscellaneous items. The modelers at Forward Operating Base Speicher received our initial support as we responded to their request for donations in early 2006, but over the past four years, we have expanded our support to include: the central kit distribution point in Baghdad; modelers in the middle of the Indian Ocean at the U.S. base in Diego Garcia; and small units deployed in locations remote from the larger bases who now missed the support of the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation associations and turned to us.


As club members, we’ve donated in different ways. We’ve shown up at meetings with multiple boxes of kits and we’ve given steadily, kit-by-kit, over the past four years. Kits and tools won in a raffle have found their way into the donation bin by the end of the meeting. There’s evidence that the troops were in mind on that last trip to the dollar store when those small, but essential tools and supplies show up in multiples. There have been nights when the donations from members have only been limited by the carrying capacity of my car. A club that has few car modelers donated an air compressor, airbrush, and over 30 car models in seven months to support a special request from soldiers suddenly relocated from Baghdad to Basra. And no one has donated with the goal of being recognized for it, but simply because they wanted to show their support in a tangible way to the troops who have sacrificed so much since 9-11.


And the troops are grateful. We have received thank you messages from the following; doubtless many others also enjoyed the kits and supplies we donated as a way to break up the monotony or ease the stress of a deployment

  • SSGT Steve Demott
  • Commander Kevin Kincaid, USNR
  • Major Andrew M. Taylor, 3-2 SBCT Engineer
  • LTC George Salerno, coordinator for IPMS support, country-wide
  • MAJ Duke Samouce, founder of the Speicher club
  • MSGT Erick Gonzalez
  • SFC Paul Edwards, 793rd Military Police BN
  • COL Ted Martin, Commander, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division
  • Thomas Turner, Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division
  • Diego Garcia Modeling Club
  • MSG Brian Allen
  • SMSGT Jerry M. Sadler, Jr.

In closing this summary, I’d like to extend my thanks to the entire club for their support. Without your generous donations, this four-year run would not have been possible. Obviously, we’d like to see all the troops heading home, but until they do, we’ll continue to support them as only modelers can.


Hugh A, September 9, 2009

BPMS Supports the Troops - Report to Date

March 2006 to September 2009

Note that we passed the 500 mark in Model Kits shipped!

Thank you from Iraq via Hugh

Since I won’t be at a meeting till November at the earliest, I scanned this letter that came via snail-mail last month. I thought you could either copy into the newsletter and/or post it on the blog site...

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Bulletin: September, 2009

T H E M I N U T E S

by Bobby P.
August meeting allowed us the entire facility again. We had 24 members and 1 guest in attendance who brought in 21 models and their appetites.

August Meeting
THIRD QUARTER CONTEST: The third quarterly installment of the annual contest is done. We had a good showing of quality work throughout all the categories. Nice work, guys! The next and last chance to score some votes for 2009 will be in November.

BARBECUE NIGHT: It seems to be bad luck. We get rained on for all our BBQ nights, yet it doesn’t slow down the feeding frenzy at all. The group went through a pile of burgers, sausages and hot dogs like no one’s business. Special thanks go out to the cooking team, anyone who helped out, and anyone who brought in extra goodies to munch. We’ve seen bad weather for the August meetings since we started this activity, so the officers of think it would be a better idea to swap the dates of pizza night and BBQ night. June is generally cooler so it will be less brutal for grilling and pizza night can go back to its traditional night in August.

You can see pics from each meeting either at the Club Website or on Gordon’s blog: http://gmobile17.blogspot.com/

On the agenda: September
STRING THEME NIGHT: This is a theme WITH strings attached! It’s not a contest, but a theme display night. So interpret the theme anyway you like, but try to TIE it in with the STRINGS theme! (Sorry about that, I couldn’t help myself!) Use your imagination. Have fun with it!

SWAP NIGHT: Just what it sounds like. Bring in goodies to sell or trade. Also it would be a good idea to bring in some money in case the “grail” kit shows up at the right price!

TAKE A PART / LEAVE A PART: Gordon will bring in a big basin monthly for “Take a Part / Leave a Part.” Please feel free to toss your spares into the big bin too! Gordon will bring the club parts box back for each meeting for members to add or take away from. This is something we can all benefit from!

Meeting date: Sept 18, 2009
Same time, same place!