Julies After Action Report Page 2
The C Troop Reunion 2008 has come and gone. It was a fantastic time thanks to the monumental efforts of Keith Ball's daughter, Penne Funk and her husband, Hugh. Penne went to great lengths to accommodate everyone and we all had a great time. Hugh is a Col in the AF Reserves, so we were able to hold a BBQ at the 39th RQS Rescue Squadron on Patrick Air Force Base and see some of the men who will be deploying in a few weeks.
Our hotel was perfect. Every room had an ocean view. The beach was seldom populated and beautiful to walk on or swim near, with lots of seashells for the taking.
Some of the highlights included an airboat ride (if you're old enough you might remember the TV show, "Gentle Ben" with the boats that glide over the swamps that look like a huge fan in the back) - our boat saw a couple of alligators, the other one saw more! (Of course). We celebrated (Fred) Mother's birthday with dinner at a Mexican cantina and general silliness in the board room (hospitality room) at the hotel which was THE HOT place to be.
We had a VIP tour of Kennedy Space Center including a narrated bus tour around the grounds, seeing the various shuttle launch pads (at the time of a launch, only the astronauts are there, the rest of humankind needs to be at least 3 miles away) . . . the Shuttle Experience where you're strapped into a seat and feel what it's like to be an astronaut . . . extremely well done presentations that bring back memories of the various launches, the joys and tragedies of our space exploration to date. This was all "comped" for our group thanks to my niece, Tracy Anania who is Director of Human Resources at Kennedy (I get to brag a little).
The Kennedy tour was followed by a terrific hamburger/hot dog barbecue at Patrick AFB. We were joined by some of the Rescue Squadron personnel who explained their operations, showed some video presentations, and took golf cart loads of folks across the street to a static display of HC-130s and HH-60 helicopters.
The next day, a few folks went deep sea fishing and brought back loads of mackeral (?) for the following day's picnic - great eating.
Our banquet at the Radisson Friday evening was arranged perfectly. Penne had not left out any details. She had a bagpiper, a Missing Man table and a remembrance table with photos of some of our C Troop fallen whose families were there; had gotten a small wedding cake with "ball & chain bride & groom" topper to celebrate Galen & Ilah Rosher's 50th wedding anniversary coming up on Aug 16. Our speaker was Bobbie Keith, the AFVN Weather Girl in 1967-69. Bobbie shared memories of her days in Vietnam and the "Handshake Tours" she did throughout the country to bring a bit of cheer to the guys so far from home. Randy Zahn had sent the C Troop Quaiche (hope I'm spelling that right, Randy) to carry on the tradition of filling the silver vessel with fine Scotch and passing it around sharing our sentiments and remembrances. This is always one of the most memorable moments of any C Troop reunion, one that usually brings out a few tears mixed with smiles, thoughts of those who could not be there, and eloquent expressions of how each of our lives are enriched by being there together.
We discussed plans for future C Troop reunions. The suggestion was made to hold the C Troop reunions every other year, alternating with the Bullwhip Squadron reunions which are held every two years. So, because the Bullwhip Squadron isn't holding a reunion in 2009, there will be a C Troop Reunion in 2009, followed by one in 2011 and so on. Keith agreed to see if Mel Redcloud Sheldon may be able to make arrangements for our group to stay at his Tulalip casino resort in Washington State in 2009, provided he has help - so Penne Funk and Jeannie Anderson volunteered to help with the planning. No confirmed location or dates yet, but watch the C Troop web site for further details.
BTW, the C Troop web site, run by webmaster Jack Schwarz and supported solely by purchases made in the web site "PX," is a great place to share your photos and other news. The Charlie Troop yahoo group listserve is another way to stay informed - you can set it so emails come singly or in digest mode with all the recent emails. There are 99 members on the C Troop yahoo group. If you want to join, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ctrp9thcav/
Paul Davis took some excellent professional photos at the banquet which he put on a DVD. He may find a way for Jack to post some of those, too.
The next day some were leaving, some gathered at Pelican Park on the beach for a picnic of awesome proportions. The deep sea fishing trip had netted (poor pun) more than enough fish for us to grill, plus Penne had ordered 24 dozen oysters to put on the grill - everybody brought something, no one left hungry.
Below is where you can see my photos posted. You won't need to sign in to view them. The link below is one long string, no breaks, so copy the entire thing and paste into your browser. Once you get there, be sure to scroll down so the caption below the photo is visible on your screen. Then hit "PLAY" to see the slideshow.
As always, those of you who weren't there were thoroughly discussed. We missed you.
Thanks, Penne & Hugh, for a fantastic time!
Little sis,
Julie Kink
sister of WO David Kink C Trp 1/9th CAV KIA 8-3-1969
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