KENTUCKY AIRBORNE CHAPTER 82ND Airborne Division...

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KENTUCKY AIRBORNE CHAPTER 82ND Airborne Division Association, Inc.

“America’s Guard of Honor” 4913 Flushing Way, Louisville, KY 40272-3175

(502) 937-8234

A Brotherhood Formed in Sweat and

Blood

“America’s Guard Of Honor” AFRICA SICILY ITALY FRANCE THE NETHERLANDS BELGIUM GERMANY

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC VIETNAM GRENADA PANAMA PERSIAN GULF OEF/OIF

5 November 2014

CHAPTER BULLETIN No. 75

1. MEETING SCHEDULE: Our next meeting will be:

Novembers'' Meeting:

1:00 PM on 15 Nov, 2014

VFW Middletown Post #1170, 107 Evergreen Road,

Louisville, KY 40243-1439

Decembers' Meeting:

1:00 PM on 18 Oct, 2014

VFW Middletown Post #1170, 107 Evergreen Road,


So mark your calendar and come on out for a little Airborne camaraderie and a good time.

2. WORD FROM THE CHAIRMAN: It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you of the resignation of

Chairman Randy Lusk. Randy has worked very hard for this chapter and was a valuable member of the team. It

came to the attention of the leadership that Randy had lied about his military service and by doing so has lost the

confidence of his fellow troopers. An investigation is still on going, but what we have found out to date is: Randy

is not a Ranger, SF, Suba, MFF (HALO), Did not jump into Grenada with 1/75, Does not have 5 Purple Hearts or

the DFC. We will have a briefing and election at the next meeting. You can now renew your membership, or register for the upcoming ‘Kentucky Airborne Reunion’, 5-8 March 2015,

online at: www.kentuckyairborne.org I highly suggest that you visit it. We also have a link on the site to our

quartermaster which is run by Military Marketplace, and anything you order on the chapter’s page we get a percentage

of. Plus there are some pretty sharp Chapter shirts, sweatshirts and jackets on there. Support Your Airborne Chapter! I

look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting! NOTE: PLEASE BE ADVISED, THAT NO MORE HARD

COPY PARAGLIDE MAGAZINES WILL BE PRINTED, OR MAILED, AS DIRECTED BY THE

ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS AT THE 68TH CONVENTION

‘Airborne, All The Way!’

Joe Steen

Secretary, Kentucky Airborne Chapter

3. KENTUCKY’S MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS: Enclosed are the membership statistics as of 15 Sep, 2014.

Comparison of veteran membership totals with previous years is as follows:

Total 2012 Total 2013 Current 2014 AAM’s Total Curr. Total Del.

Kentucky Chapter 129 130 16 117 133 42

Yes it is time to re-up in your chapter. If your membership card has year 2014 then your membership has expired.

http://www.kentuckyairborne.org/

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4. NEW, RENEWAL, REINSTATEMENT AND LIFE (AAM) MEMBERSHIPS: I’d like to thank these members

for renewing their memberships with the Kentucky Airborne Chapter or transferring their Life (AAM) memberships:

Charlie Fraley, Radcliff, KY Reinstated Member

Timothy B. Ward, Greenup, KY Annual Renewal

Bill McHaffey, Lebanon, TN Annual Renewal

*Note: WWII 82nd Vets, current, plus 20 years, annual membership will automatically become AAM.

5. LOUIE MANION MEMORIAL FUND: The Louie Manion Memorial Fund is one way we support our charitable

contributions to both the 82d Airborne Division Wounded Warrior Fund, and the Chaplain’s Paratrooper Pantry on Ft.

Bragg. If you wish to participate please send $12.00 (or as much as you feel comfortable with) to your Kentucky Airborne

Chapter. When complete, make checks payable to: Kentucky Airborne Chapter

Mail to: Kentucky Airborne Chapter

82nd Airborne Division Association, Inc.

4913 Flushing Way

Louisville, KY 40272

Contributors for Oct 2014: Lee Johnson, Louisville, KY $32.00

6. NEW PARAGLIDE EDITOR, NO MORE HARD COPY PARAGLIDE: Effective immediately, Justin &

Kimberly Holmes (Holmesteads) are the Paraglide Editors. They will produce an electronic Paraglide that

will be posted on the Association website at the Paraglide link. The new Deadline for the Summer-Paraglide

articles to Holmesteads is: September 30, 2014 and the point of contact is: Kimberly Holmes (317) 674-3717

[email protected]. Additionally, Highland Press will no longer edit our Paraglide, and the Board

of Directors decided that no more hardcopy Paraglide magazines will be printed or mailed to our members!

7. WITHIN THE DIVISION AND FORT BRAGG: Lt. Gen, Joseph Anderson, commander of XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg took command of International Security Assistance Forces' Joint Command, among other responsibilities in the Afghanistan Theater. XVIII Airborne Corps deployed in January 2014, as did 82ml Airborne Division Battalions in the months that followed. Recently, the 82ml Combat Aviation Brigade deployed and is ill Afghanistan; now totaling over 3,400 Airborne Troopers from the Division.

a. MG John W. Nicholson, Jr., relinquished command of the 82nd Airborne Division to BG Richard D. Clarke at a Change of Command Friday, October 3, 2014 at Pike Field, F01't Bragg, North Carolina. We bid MG Nicholson wen on his next assignment ill Izmir, Turkey as Commander, Allied Land Command, NATO. The Association welcomes BG Clarke and his family, whose last duty station was Commandant of Cadets at West Point Military Academy.

b. Paratroopers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 50lst Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82ml Airborne Division crossed the Thompson Bridge over the river Meuse near Grave, Netherlands, September 17, 2014. The company participated in a reenactment of the battle for the bridge that is called the most successful allied action of Operation Market Garden.

mailto:[email protected].

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NOTE: These articles and more can be read at http://www.paraglideonline.net/, the FT. Bragg Paraglide newspaper that is published weekly on Thursday. Also, please visit the 82nd Airborne Division website http://www.bragg.army.mil/82ND/pages/default.aspx , for past and current Division information. 8. 2015 NATIONAL CONVENTION: Planning continues for the 69th National Convention, August 12-15, 2015, in Orlando, FL. The Rosen Centre Hotel (www.RosenCentre.com) will host the Convention. The hotel room rate is $96.48 tax included (up to 4/room 3 days pre and post the Convention dates, additionally, a special rate will apply for active duty personnel (present ID at registration) that have registered to attend the Convention. Don't delay, make your Hotel room or Convention reservation early (see the Convention Registration page attached), mention the 82nd Association.

9. 75TH ANNIVERSARY -U, S, AIRBORNE & SPECIAL OPERATIONS: The 75th Anniversary of the United States Airborne & Special Operations will be held and celebrated on August 12, 2015 during the 69th National Convention in Orlando, FL. The date was incorrectly published as August 16, 2015 in the Spring Para glide. For more Information please contact Carl Bludau-Event Executive Chairman (361)575-8492, Allen Schoppe-Project Treasurer (281)814-2377, or Ron Rath-Executive Committee (919)803-4554.

10. ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS: It is imperative to remind our annuals that have not renewed, to do so now, and express that the Chapter is entitled to keep $1 for Early Bird members (paid up and current through December 2014, or later) whose application is postmarked no later than November 15 via the USPS. Chapters that forward annual dues ($25) keep (in their Treasurery) and send $16 to National.

11. ASSOCIATION ED FUND: NOVEMBER IS EDUCATIONAL FUND MONTH: Chapters Officers are encouraged to develop fund raising activities which will raise revenue for donation to the Fund. Also, local businesses should be visited or contacted at this time. This is our most noteworthy function to help our deserving-youth and former Paratroopers gain their education. It's our investment in tomorrow, Send donations to the 82d Airborne Division Association Educational Fund, Inc., P.O. Box 65089, Fayetteville, NC 28306-5089. 12. WOUNDED WARRIOR FUND: The Association WW Fund is 501(c)(3) tax exempt for ALL contributions.

WW contributions should be mailed to: 82nd Abn Div Assoc WW Fund, P.O. Box 87482, Fayetteville, NC 28304.

The most recent contribution list and form was published in the WINTER Paraglide and the next is forthcoming in

the Spring issue, also available at the WW link on the Association website.

13. UPCOMING ASSOCIATION EVENTS: Chapter publicity of and member attendance at these upcoming Association Chapter and Regional events is encouraged. Registration and hotel information for these events can be found on the Association webpage "Events" link, and also in the Winter Paraglide.

a. MID-WINTER WEEKEND GETAWAY, February 19-22, 2015, Hilton Head Island, SC hosted by the Ben Vandervoort Chapter. POC is Past-President Bill Eberle 843-682A171 [email protected] , hotel-the Marriott Hilton Head (888-511-5086) at http://cwp.marriott.com/hhhgr/82ndail'bornc/$100 room rate; Reunion registration/ hotel Ad is attached. b. KENTUCKY 5TH ANNUAL AIRBORNE REUNION, March 5-8, 2015, Lexington, KY hosted by the Kentucky Airborne Chapter. POC is Joe Steen 502-937-8234 [email protected] , hotel-the Campbell House 859-255-4281 http://booking.ihotelier.com/istay.jsp?groupID=1121207&hotelID=86099 $97.541'00111 rate (tax included) use event code AAD; Reunion registration/hotel Ad is attached.

http://www.paraglideonline.net/

http://www.bragg.army.mil/82ND/pages/default.aspx

mailto:[email protected]

http://cwp.marriott.com/hhhgr/82ndail'bornc/


http://booking.ihotelier.com/istay.jsp?groupID=1121207&hotelID=86099

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c. 25th Anniversary Just Cause Rendezvous: POC is Event Coordinator- CSM (Ret) Ron Rath (919)

803-4554, [email protected] ; 17-18 April, 2015, Fayetteville, NC; Registration is at

www.504thpirassociation.org/25th-anniversary.html

d. 50th Year Reunion Operation ‘Power Pack’: May 2015, in Fayetteville, NC; Event Coordinators John Urbach

(410) 282-0844, [email protected], Jim Drainer (904) 940-9150, [email protected].

e. Sun City "All Airborne" Fiesta VII: July 1-5, 2015, El Paso, TX; hosted by the Roy Benavidez-Robert

Patterson All Airborne Chapter, POC is Rick Trevizo (915) 562-9969, [email protected]

14. VETERANS UPDATE:

a. Court Rules Wearing Unearned Medals Is a Crime: Stars and Stripes | Oct 31, 2014, Lying about receiving

a military medal is protected speech, but there's no right to wear a combat decoration that hasn't been earned, a

federal appeals court said Wednesday. The difference, said a divided panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of

Appeals, is that lying is speech, but wearing a medal is conduct, according to a report in the San Francisco

Chrnonicle. The decision in an Idaho case returned the court to a controversy that led to a 2012 Supreme Court

ruling and a rewriting of the law by Congress in 2013. The defendant, Elven Swisher, served in the Marine Corps

from 1954 to 1957, the Chronicle reported. In 2001, he applied for disability benefits, claiming he had been wounded

in a secret mission to North Korea in 1955, after the Korean War ended. The Department of Veterans Affairs granted

the request in 2004 after Swisher submitted what appeared to be a military document saying he had been awarded

a Silver Star and other medals for his actions. But the VA learned in 2006 that the document was forged and ordered

Swisher to repay the benefits, the paper noted. He was later convicted and sentenced to a year in prison on charges

that included stealing government funds and wearing unauthorized medals at a veterans' event. The appeals court

upheld Swisher's conviction in 2009, but he filed a new appeal after the court, in a 2010 case, struck down a federal

law that made it a crime to lie about earning military decorations. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, agreed

with the Ninth Circuit in June 2012 that the law violated freedom of speech. But three months later, in another case,

a different Ninth Circuit panel upheld the ban on wearing unearned military medals. Congress has since rewritten

the law to prohibit lying about military honors for financial gain, while repealing the ban on wearing medals one

hasn't earned. But the repeal didn't help Swisher, whose conviction under the former law was upheld Wednesday.

b. Former Navy SEAL Probed Over Bin Laden Revelations: Sky News (UK) | Oct 31, 2014, A former member

of the Navy SEALs who participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden is under criminal investigation for

possibly revealing classified material, The New York Times reported. Matt Bissonnette wrote a first-hand account

called No Easy Day under the pseudonym Mark Owen. He landed in hot water with the Pentagon, who said he

disclosed classified information in violation of the nondisclosure agreements he had signed as a SEAL. He disputes

the charge, though he apologized for not having the book vetted by the Pentagon. Bin Laden was killed in a May

2011 raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan. According to the Times, the investigation will look into whether classified

information was disclosed in the book as well as in a series of speeches that Bissonnette gave to corporate events.

The newspaper cited federal officials and Bissonnette's lawyer. Bissonnette said at the time that he decided to

produce the book because details of the raid that were being leaked by others in government were wrong. Navy

SEALs, both active duty and retired, possess highly sensitive information about tactics and techniques that are

central to the success of their secret and often dangerous missions overseas. That is why they are obliged to sign

non-disclosure agreements when they enter service and when they leave. Separately, Fox News has announced that

b.




http://www.military.com/Community/Home/1,14700,MARINE,00.html

http://www.military.com/benefits/veteran-benefits

http://va.org/

http://www.military.com/special-operations/training-to-be-a-navy-seal.html

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it will reveal the identity of the man who pulled the trigger on the terror mastermind in an interview to air next

month. The hunt for bin Laden was fictionalised in the 2012 movie Zero Dark Thirty.

c. Navy Intelligence Official Found Guilty in Silencers Scam: Oct 30, 2014 | by Richard Sisk, A judge

convicted on Wednesday a Navy intelligence official and a struggling auto mechanic in a scheme to bill the

government $1.6 million for supposedly untraceable silencers that cost only $10,000 to make. U.S. District Court

Judge Leonie M. Brinkema rejected the defense argument that the contract for hundreds of AK-47 assault rifle

silencers had to go outside the usual channels because they were meant for secret missions, possibly involving Navy

SEAL Team 6. "I do not accept the argument that because this might have been covert, that somehow that excuses

the participants from playing by the rules," Brinkema said before ruling that Mark S. Landesman, the mechanic,

and Lee M. Hall, a civilian Navy intelligence official at the Pentagon, were guilty of federal conspiracy and theft

charges. Both defendants were free on bond pending a sentencing hearing on Jan. 30 at which Hall could face a

maximum term of 15 years in prison and Landesman as much as five years. The government paid $1.6 million for

349 untraceable silencers that were actually worth about $10,000, according to a Washington Post report. At the

trial, prosecutors portrayed Mark Landersman as a poor auto mechanic who lacked a federal firearms license. He

allegedly made the silencers in his garage and then went on a spending spree with his profits from the contract,

buying expensive cars and investing $100,000 in a microbrewery, the Washington Post reported. Mark Landesman

is the brother of David Landesman, who was Hall's superior as the senior director of intelligence at the Navy's

directorate for plans, policy, oversight and integration intelligence. David Landesman has been named as an

unindicted co-conspirator in the case and has not been charged. Hall allegedly told Navy officials that the silencers

were intended for Navy SEAL Team 6, the elite team in the raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden. However,

representatives for SEAL Team 6 told agents that they knew nothing of the silencers contract, the Washington Post

reported. Prosecutors said Hall's mentions of SEAL Team 6 were nothing more than a cover story for a fraud. The

case was an example of how seemingly outlandish schemes can get past the monitors at the Pentagon in the tense

security atmosphere since 9/11, said Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of Defense for personnel in the

administration of President Ronald Reagan. "Of course, it's possible that something like this could happen," Korb

said. "You say it's a black op' and it's needed for the war. The whole thing is we need it for the war," said Korb, a

military analyst at the Center for American Progress. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at [email protected]

d. Commissaries Respond to Drop in Sales, Week of November 03, 2014: Commissary sales fell by 4.3 percent

in FY 2014. The drop was due in part to commissaries closing for six days during a government shutdown last fall

and continued debate over cutting the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) budget. In response DeCA will launch

a "Value Brand" program this November. Shelves worldwide will be stocked with 350 brand name goods priced to

match or to fall below prices of generic or "private label" products being sold by commercial grocers outside the

gate.

e. Women Veterans Report, Week of November 03, 2014: The veterans' organization Disabled American

Veterans recently released a report on women veterans. The research reveals that America's nearly 300,000 women

veterans are put at risk by a system designed for and dominated by male veterans. The report paints a compelling

picture of federal agencies and community service providers that consistently fail to understand that women are

impacted by military service and deployment differently than men. The report is available on the Disabled American

Veterans (DAV) website at www.dav.org/women-veterans-study.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/10/21/trial-begins-over-navy-silencer-contract.html


http://www.dav.org/women-veterans-study/

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15. U.S. COMBAT JUMPS NOVEMBER:

Date Unit Operation Pers Country A/C Type Jump

8 Nov 42 509th PIB Torch 556 Algeria C-47 Day/CE/Mass Tac

28 Nov 70 MACV/SOG 9 Laos HALO

29 Nov 44 187th P/GIR Tabletop 241 Leyte, PI C-47 Day/CE/Mass Tac

16. CONTACTING CHAPTER HQ: For whatever reason you would like to talk with us, please do. We always love

hearing from follow troopers. We try and make it as easy as possible, and here are all the ways to do it:

KENTUCKY AIRBORNE CHAPTER

82nd Airborne Division Association, Inc

4913 Flushing Way,


Phone: (502) 937-8234

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: https://www.kentuckyairborne.org/

Kentucky Airborne Chapter is on Facebook

‘AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY AND THEN SOME!’

Kentucky Airborne Chapter

82nd Airborne Division Association

Encl: 4

OFFICIAL:

Joe Steen

Secretary


https://www.kentuckyairborne.org/

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