USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680) Familygram: 20 NOV 2024

Back in June we first announced REGROUPEX 25 as the next USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680) reunion.

What I expected was not what turned out. Things got complicated.

It had been over seven years since our last REGROUPEX reunion. The bell has tolled for some of those who were with us in Orlando in 2017. All of us are seven years closer to ‘shipping our own oars’. Yet there are still things to do, sights to see, places to go, and sea stories to be told.

Time and tide wait for no man, it is said, and we cannot afford to miss an opportunity for shipmates to gather. Deliberation over the where, when, and what regarding a reunion led us to an unexpected conclusion - that one is not enough!

As a result, 2025 will bring us not one, but two reunions.

The first, to be held in early May, will be organized simply, much in the fashion of REGROUPEX 09 and will take place in Las Vegas, NV, just off the strip and the excitement that is Las Vegas!

Designate contact LAS VEGAS 25!

The USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680) West reunion for 2025, LAS VEGAS 25,  is coming together and we need your action and feedback.

First, the critical information.

WHEN: 5 - 8 MAY 2025 - only 167 days away as of today!

WHERE: Tuscany Suites & Casino, Las Vegas, NV

WHO: You, of course, and as many SSN 680 shipmates as we can convince to join us!

Early May should allow us to miss the searing southern Nevada heat. The hotel is located off the strip, so we won’t be bombarded by the bulk of the tourist traffic, but within a relatively short walking distance (15 minutes) for those who wish to take the unique sites, sounds, and smells of Las Vegas in all its glory, and ground transportation is available for those longer trips.

We are not planning activities for this reunion expecting that, given the wide range of entertainment available, group activities will emerge spontaneously. That doesn’t rule out a reunion dinner and the traditional tolling of the bell ceremony, but we will await your feedback before we get carried away.

So, what to you need to do?

Upload your images to your profile and Shipmate Galleries!

• Photos you uploaded to ssn-680.org becoming available on coldwarboats.org.
• All photos to date available at HOMEPORT >> SHIPMATE GALLERIES.
• Your photos are also visible on your user profile.
• Uploading photos can be done by any registered and logged in user.

Having never heard a discouraging word from my shipmates, I suspect many of you haven’t noticed. But surely some of you eagle-eyed observer types have been wondering where the photos you uploaded back in 2009-2011 went. 

The good news is, they were never lost, just hiding away in the bowels of our server. During our conversion to Cold War Boats, starting back in 2018, and our last big software upgrade back in 2022, the software that supported displaying those images got left behind. The vendors that supplied those tools were having a hard time making them work under the new content management system upgrades, and still, to this date, haven’t been able to provide a reliable working model.

So, as experienced during our extended training missions with limited supply support, we had to find a work-around, and I’m pleased to announce that all those images you uploaded, and we are talking thousands here, are now (or soon will be!) accessible in our Shipmate Galleries.