Updated: 11 MAY 2020 | 173d Airborne Brigade Association Welcome to your Sky Soldiers website |
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Welcome Home Sky Soldiers!
Our website is devoted to those who have served, are currently serving and will serve in the future with the 173d Airborne Brigade.
Our mission is to provide a means of communication among Association Members, offer transparency of the Association's operations and report the current status of our Association.
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Announcements
09 May 2020MEMORANDUM FOR 173RD ASSOCIATION MEMBERS
SUBJECT: State of the Brigade
1. Over the course of the past few months our world, in many ways has been turned upside down. I
would like to start by saying that during these challenging times the Sky Soldier Spirit will be needed to help our many of our brothers and sisters through this rough patch. The purpose of this memorandum is to provide our members with the most current updates regarding the overall status of the Association. This memorandum should answer many of the questions that individual chapters may have with respect to where we are heading as an organization.
2. Background: On 04 April 2020 the 173rd Airborne Brigade Association (ABA) Board of Directors
conducted a meeting via a live conference call. During the meeting the Board voted on three items. First, the board voted unanimously to cancel the 2020 Reunion due to the COVID-19 threat. We also voted to postpone this year’s election for VP and Secretary until the 2021 Reunion in Arizona, we will cover that more in detail in this memorandum. Lastly a vote to move the Mid-Winter Conference from October 2020 to January 2021was unanimously passed.
On 11 April 2020 the 173rd ABA Executive Board conducted a conference call to discuss the
financial status of the Association. During this meeting our Treasurer Mr. David Williams provided a
fiscal update that was less than positive. Mr. Williams outlined that our biggest expense is the Quarterly Sky Soldier Magazine. The Board voted to postpone the Spring and Summer issues of the Sky Soldier magazine and to actively seek Volunteers to act as a Sky Soldier Magazine Committee.
3. Postponing this year’s election for VP and Secretary until 2021 accomplishes two critical
requirements. First, this action will allow the Association to maintain continuity at the executive level. It will keep in order the Association by Laws of conducting elections every two years. Secondly, and more importantly it will provide interested candidates the opportunity to prepare and campaign for the desired position. 2021 VP and Secretary candidates will make his/her candidacy known to the Election Committee Chairman in writing, with their qualifications to hold office. The Candidate will do so via email at domwakoc1@gmail.com or via regular mail to Waco Cotoney PO BOX 616, Prosperity, SC 29127-0616, nominations must be received NO LATER THAN 01 November 2020. This will provide the Election Committee the necessary time to publish the information in the Winter edition of the magazine “Sky Soldier” prior to the distribution of ballots.
4. With regard to the Association finances, our expenditures have far exceeded our income for years. Our largest expense is the quarterly magazine, which costs about $7,000 to publish and $2,500 in postage fees. That amounts to about $9,500 per quarterly publication and the Association makes no where near $9,500 a quarter. We are exploring different options like creating the Sky Soldier Magazine Committee to work to reduce costs by bringing in advertising and other sources of income for the magazine, raising membership fees, conducting raffles more frequently, and other measures. One way you can help now is by making a monthly or single donation to the Association. If every member contributed $5, this would make a huge difference. You can make a contribution by going to www.skysoldier.net and scrolling down the left column to Association Donations and opening that link. Click on the Association Donate button and follow the simple instructions. You may use your debit/credit card or PayPal, whichever you prefer.
5. Due to the expense of the quarterly magazine we all agreed that something must be done in order to keep the magazine published while not financially destroying the Association. We are looking for one volunteer to act as Chief Editor of the magazine along with another volunteer to work the marketing aspect of the magazine. These individuals will be appointed by the President and report to the Secretary. By adding to the team, we hope that we can provide a better product that is cost effective to the association. If anyone has a skill set that fits this description please send your nomination to tom173sky@aol.com . We are looking to implement this immediately!
6. The Point of contact for this memorandum is the undersigned at tom173sky@aol.com
Thomas McMahon
Thomas McMahon
President
173rd Airborne Brigade Association
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