Dear Comrades and Auxiliary,
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.
We're wishing Joe Brunner a speedy recovery and hope to see him back at the Post soon.
If you haven't heard our bartender, Whitney, is leaving us. She is being transferred to Florida. We wish her the best on her new assignment and we thank her for her service.
I'd like to thank all who donated can goods for the food drive. We were able to help four
needed military families (two from the USS Michael A Monsoor and two from Mobile Security Squadron 3) with your support. The meals also included a turkey.
I also want to thank all those who donated toys for the Riders Group toy drive. I'm sure
there will be some smiling faces when they (toys) arrive.
Our Veterans Day at the Post was eventful with a BBQ for our Veterans. We were honored
with a military color guard and a cake cutting ceremony honoring the Marine Corps birthday
provided by our Riders Group. Thank you to our Post, Auxiliary and Riders Group for putting
it all together.
I'd like to thank John Anderson (who is an electrical engineer, ret.) for replacing the old
circuit board for us. He did it, only charging for materials which saved us thousands of dollars.
Again John, on behalf of myself and Post 2082 we thank you.
Our Breast Cancer Brunch fundraiser was a huge success. With your support we raised $3421.00. I'd like to thank all those who made monetary donations and those who donated gifts towards the raffles. I'd like to thank the crew for all their help, couldn't have done it
without your help. The crew: Angel, Tiffany, Sally, Marcy W., Monica F., Sheila, Pat A., Dennis, Mike S., Jay, Milan, Alfred, Kevin, Kasandra, Kara and a special thank you to Sandy and Vern.
The Riders Group will be having their first Bike night December 8th. Come down and join
the fun and karaoke.
Sandy, Vern and I will be doing tacos this TUESDAY December 6th.
Chapter 16
While waiting for my clearance to clear to be in the TOC (Tactical Operation Center) I
was put on guard duty and burning sh-t detail. Don't want to go into detail about that one.
Well, it finally happened. I was on perimeter walking guard that night. It was around
midnight and the Sergeant of Guards was waking us up for our shift to relive the other
guards when all of the sudden we were being hit with mortars and rockets. They (Charlie,
Viet Con) were walking them in (mortars). We were in the hooch and they were hitting so
close that I could hear the shrapnel ripping through the tent and sand bags surrounding
the hooch, I could smell the gun powder from the rounds. I was literally bouncing off the
ground. My ears were ringing from the explosions. I was so scared and not ashamed
to say I had tears, for I thought this was it. I was praying to God and could see my mother.
It was like my life going before me. It felt like my whole body was inside my helmet like a
turtle in its shell. After the mortars passed over we ran through the mud to our positions along
the bunker line. Mortars still dropping, flares, machine guns blasting away and guys crying
for medics. Chopper support and Medivacs coming in. When daylight came and all quieted
down we took the body count of the V C, pulling them out of the mud with rope incase
their bodies were booby trapped. I had never seen human bodies mutilated like this, it
reminded me of road kill. The Engineers came out with bulldozers and dug holes away from
the camp and scooped up the bodies and buried them. To see our dead and wounded being air lifted out brought hatred towards the enemy. I was only 20 years old and this was my first experience of real combat. Well Tony, welcome to Vietnam and you only have another 358 days to go.
On behave of myself and Sandy we'd like to wish everyone "A Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year" Also, let’s not forget our men and women in uniform who are protecting our Great
Nation.
Yours in Comradeship
Tony Bordine
Message from the Auxiliary President
To all my auxiliary members,
Happy holidays,
Well we have almost made it through the year. As we go through the craziness of the season, let’s not forget the true meaning about our season. That is giving and hopefully you can help a veteran out this holiday. Our auxiliary will be mailing Christmas cards to the National VA home.
We had a very busy and successful parking lot sale last month. Lots of vendors selling and
lots of customers. I helped and I see how busy it can be. A huge shout out goes to Rosie, Ernie, Mike, Dawn and Lynn for all they do to make it happen. We won’t be having a sale for
the month of December.
Our auxiliary also helped our community this holiday season. We donated to local families from our local schools with gift cards for food and toys.
Our VFW riders group is having an upcoming event next December 8 with dinner being provided.
Our Veterans Day barbecue was a huge success thanks to Kevin, Quinten and Linda for all the hours that were put in cooking all the food and preparing everything for this wonderful event it was very successful. We had a large crowd attend the event.
May everyone have a great holiday season stay healthy and may you have a great new year.
Thank you and happy holidays.
Sincerely,
Denise Swerdloff
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