Plan until you drop… then plan some more

For those that follow me on a semi-regular basis, I apologize for being off line for a few weeks. The USS San Francisco SSN 711 2013 reunion is in the rear view mirror and plans for the 2014 event are now underway. The feedback from the participants was that things went pretty well so I am excited to see how we can improve and grow for the next one.

To sustain the momentum, I have started three things

First, a standing committee for future reunions. For the time being, I will chair the committee but once we are up and running we can talk about succession planning. I will be looking for a small group of advisors from various locations. The consensus seems to be to alternate between the east and west coasts (with an occasional dip into the heartlands as appropriate).

The selection process will be made using a balanced scorecard that is being developed. This scorecard will recognize interest in an area by participants, costs, things to do, support from the area and expressed interests. If you want the reunion in your specific location, please put together a proposal and be prepared to support if we come there (which will have a lot of weight in the final selection by the way).

Second, it would be great to have an organization that is uniquely committed to future needs such as information sharing, keeping track of shipmates, and creating a place where the history of the ship and its crew can be sustained. Back in the day, there was a CA 38 USS San Francisco Association that celebrated the memory of that great ship and crew.

Creating a non-profit organization such as the one that existed would allow us to better stay organized and use the benefits afforded to a non-profit association, I am working on the paperwork and will register the group in my home state in the coming weeks.

This will be a member supported organization (dues and fund raising) open to ship’s crew members and family of former ship’s crewmembers. Details will be announced shortly…

^{USS San Francisco SSN 711 Association}

Third, one of the suggested ideas was to start a newsletter which could serve as a way to keep connected. With modern electronics, its easy for a newsletter to be distributed to as many people as desired in a very efficient manner. I will be asking for story suggestions and writers who are willing to participate. The only question now is how often should we publish? Monthly, quarterly? Stay tuned.

A special thanks to those who participated and contributed in this year’s reunion. Your words of support helped me through some interesting days. We broke even financially thanks to some very generous sponsors and with the right planning will have an even stronger showing next year. See you on the west coast!