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SSN 680 FAMILYGRAM: 01 JUN 2019

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SSN-680 familygram: 01 JUN 19
	THe uss William h. Bates (SSN 680) Association
REGROUPEX 20 On THE Calendar! Time to update your calendars, Visitor - REGROUPEX 20 is nailed down! Sorting through the feedback from the REGROUPEX 20 planning survey, the 19th - 21st of June, 2020, seems the way to go. Hotels in the Silverdale/Kitsap/Bremerton area are available and interested and the only critical issue remaining is getting a commitment from the USN for a tour of an operational boat that weekend. Mark your calendar now. We’ll have a window before and after for hotel reservations if you want to extend your stay. I’ll plan on arriving Thursday evening, and departing Tuesday AM, as has become my practice, unless one of you can convince me otherwise. Speaking of tours, I need a volunteer to be responsible for arranging said event, a genuine Boat Tour Coordinator. You don’t need to reside in the Bremerton area, though it might help. Just contact the Bremerton chapter of the USSVI for help if you need it, get in touch with the PAO at Naval Base Kitsap, as Subase Bangor is now called, and determine what they need from us in order to make it happen. I will handle gathering all the necessary security information from those who want to participate through the website - as Boat Tour Coordinator you will only have to handle the arrangements. So let me know if you are interested - we are on the clock. I’ve been told that we may need as much as a year’s advance notice - that’s less than three weeks to initiate contact. Look for a Familygram shortly in your email - I’ll include more details on registration, costs, help needed, reunion sponsors, etc., as we get things organized. I can’t wait to see us all together again!
REGROUPEX 20 Volunteer Call! One year out from REGROUPEX 20, and there already isn’t a moment to lose!  A reunion is only as successful as the efforts of volunteers make it. Without your effort, REGROUPEX 09 and REGROUPEX 17 would not have been possible. REGROUPEX 20 depends on those of you that can step forward and pick up the load. This is our first call for the volunteers that will form the REGROUPEX 20 Tiger Team. I have attached a list of responsibilities that we will need to address in order to successfully pull off REGROUPEX 20. Somebody, either me or you, has to take on these activities for others to enjoy the privilege of sitting around trading sea stories, memories, and bad jokes with shipmates from decades past, which, interestingly enough, turns out to be a lot of fun! These positions/responsibilities form the REGROUPEX 20 Tiger Team. If you want to have some input into REGROUPEX 20, taking on one or more of these responsibilities guarantees it! Stepping up here gives you a voice in most of the decisions made regarding the reunion, so if you want in, just say so. An email to me (use the Contact Us link on any page of the website) or Private Message (through my User Profile) to me will add your name to the list. While we are on the subject, these are all volunteer positions. Short of a fleeting moment of glory with your name listed as an organizer of REGROUPEX 20, there’s not much in it besides the personal satisfaction of watching dozens of your shipmates from back in the day reconnect as if we stepped off the boat yesterday. Having been a part of organizing REGROUPEX 09 and 17, I will say without hesitation that the ‘Thank Yous’ of my shipmates and friends made it more than worthwhile! Here’s the list, in no particular order: Reception Coordinator: Arranges reunion guest reception activity for location. Designs, produces, and distributes Name/ID badges. Coordinates with Registration Coordinator for current attendee list. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Hotel/Resort Coordinator: Acts as hotel/resort Liaison. Coordinates occupancy of hospitality suite/facility. Handles suite related emergent issues. Provides information regarding hotel/resort to www.ssn-680.org members through the Website Coordinator. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Alternative Lodging Coordinator: Identifies other lodging opportunities for RV/travel trailer attendees, and for those seeking lower cost alternatives to the hotel/resort. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Food & Beverage Coordinator: Coordinates with resort/hospitality suite manager to determine costs, limitations, and other restrictions on hospitality suite food & beverage service. Communicates same to Tiger Team for decisions. Coordinates with Ground Support Coordinator to arrange pickups and deliveries. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Transportation Coordinator: Coordinates transportation for group events and individuals arriving and departing, where necessary. Coordinates with Ground Support for resources. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Boat Tour Coordinator: Coordinates with Navy PAO to schedule and arrange tour of an active U.S. submarine. Determines access and security requirements and communicates those to the Tiger Team. Receives tour members access and security information from Website Coordinator and confirms tour member access through the US Navy point of contact. Coordinates with Ground Support for resources. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Event Coordinator: Arranges events and activities for the www.ssn-680.org membership, which might include tours of submarines in port where applicable (coordinating with Boat Tour Coordinator), other Naval or military sites of interest, dinner(s), shopping/sight-seeing for spouses, etc. Coordinates with USSVI Event Manager to minimize schedule conflict and take advantage of USSVI scheduled events, where applicable. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Sponsor Coordinator: Coordinates sponsors within www.ssn-680.org membership. Develops sponsors outside www.ssn-680.org membership as necessary when determined by the Tiger Team. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Ground Support Coordinator: Coordinates local volunteers for logistical support. Coordinates with Food & Beverage Coordinator to transport food and beverages to the hospitality suite. Coordinates with Transportation Coordinator to arrange group transport to events as necessary. Coordinates with Transportation Coordinator to arrange individual transport to and from airport as necessary. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Ground Support: Provide ‘boots on the ground’ support at the request of the Ground Support Coordinator. Public Communications Coordinator: Manages all promotion outside the www.ssn-680.org website. Writes articles for website and public reunion information sources. Includes various websites, publications, newspapers, etc., that publish reunion information. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Ball Cap/Challenge Coin/Gift Bag Coordinator: Coordinates with Tiger Team to determine ball cap design. Arranges manufacture and delivery of ball caps. Coordinates with Tiger Team to determine challenge coin design. Arranges manufacture and delivery of challenge coin. Coordinates with vendors willing to provide gifts for gift bag, if necessary. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Disconnected Shipmates Coordinator: (2 or more needed) Uses information in the www.ssn-680.org database to contact shipmates previously registered but with inactive email addresses. (Those on the dink list!) Will have special access to phone numbers and addresses. Communicates with membership/attendees through the Website Coordinator. Website Coordinator: Brad Williamson Manages all communication using www.ssn-680.org website. Communicates with membership/attendees through website posts, Facebook, newsletters, membership mailings, etc. Registration Coordinator: Brad Williamson Records and posts registrations Collects money from registrations. Treasurer: Brad Williamson Maintains checking account for REGROUPEX 20. Maintains accounting records of all financial transactions regarding REGROUPEX 20. That’s it in a nutshell. We may need more, we might need less. Regardless, we need your help to make this a success. Let me know what you are willing to do. Time to go big or go home!
Website SITREP 01 JUN 2019 Work on the www.ssn-680.org website is always on-going.  There is always something that requires attention - software updates and upgrades, troubleshooting bugs, managing security, and adding new features to make it easier to use. We have added to the ability to view the Master Sailing List by division - you could always search by division, but now you can simply select which division from the menu - should be much easier to find divisional shipmates from back in the day - no searching required. It's not always good news. One of our vendors that provides the template software for the site was purchased by a competitor, and in their upgrade to our template, managed to disable our normal login, and disable the main menu on the mobile version of the website for phones and tablets. There is a a menu item work-around for the login feature, but the mobile version is broken until I can coordinate with them to resolve the issue. In the meantime, you are stuck with the desktop version of the website, though I will work to get this resolved within the week.
Expansion in oUR Future? Having the premier 'Cadillac' submarine website among all the boats of our fleet may be a little noticed blessing.  While updating links to websites of the other boats, I have always been pleased by how the Bates website stands out, but this time I realized how many boats don't have websites at all or whose websites have gone dark because the shipmate that managed it has passed away or moved on. For some time, I have been thinking about expanding to accommodate all Cold War boats, at least from the US Navy, while allowing each to maintain their own Association, if they desired. Based on conversations I've had with submariners from boats besides the Bates, I'm considering making this available to all boats if I can do so without adversely affecting our own Association.  I'd like to hear what you think. Do you find yourself wishing that your other boats were represented on the web in the same manner as www.ssn-680.org? Would you like to find all the boats you served on at the same base, so to speak, allowing you to reconnect with shipmates regardless of boat? Would you like to see a concerted effort to document the unclassified history of US Cold War submarines? What are your thoughts?
	The USS William H. Bates (SSN 680) Association exists in service to former crew-members of the Sturgeon class nuclear powered fast-attack submarine, the USS William H. Bates (SSN 680), their families, friends, and associates.   © 2019 USS William H. Bates (SSN 680) Association
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