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SSN 680 FAMILYGRAM: 25 JUN 2019

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SSN-680 familygram: 25 JUN 19
	THe uss William h. Bates (SSN 680) Association
...Of Mice and Men Visitor - REGROUPEX 20: Dates have changed! Robert Burns, Scottish poet and lyricist, may have known something when he wrote those oft quoted words, “The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry!”. Those of us that served in the boats were more than aware that “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” So it should come as no surprise to you when I tell you we have to change the dates of REGROUPEX 20. What!!! I can hear it now. I hope that nobody has purchased plane tickets that can’t be rescheduled, because believe me, if there was any other way to deal with this, I’d take it. But there’s not, or so it seems, so here we are. It turns out that today’s Navy is not the Navy we left years ago. Today’s Navy doesn’t work weekends, at least when it comes to providing tours of in-port submarines. I recently got off the phone with the Kitsap Naval Base Public Affairs Office, and they politely reminded me that boat tours at Kitsap are only scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays! I understand the scheduling concerns, but I’m highly suspicious that the Saturday and Sunday duty sections just want to sleep in! So, that means we have to adjust. To improvise, to adapt, to overcome. After wrestling with the options and contingencies, the core dates for REGROUPEX 20 have been changed to Monday through Thursday, the 22nd through 25th of June, 2020. Why mid-week? Because the tour can only accommodate 35 visitors at a time, which means we will need two tours, and therefore two days, to allow all our shipmates and families to visit an active duty boat. Now before you get your socks in a knot, or anything else, this isn’t your ordinary boat tour - this is an all day affair that involves a bus ride to and from the base, a bit of security paperwork, a visit to the Trident Training Facility on Delta pier, a tour of the Missile Maintenance Shop, a little time in the Control Simulator (full motion!), a tour of the Torpedo Maintenance Shop, a specially prepared lunch in the Base Dining Facility, and a two-hour Ohio-class submarine tour in groups of 4-5, as well as an opportunity to support the boat’s Rec Fund by shopping in their Ships Store. So the change will be worth it. Much better than traveling to the Northeast and not having a boat tour at all. I’ll follow up with more details and and opportunity to reserve your spot on the boat tour list. So update your calendar. The core dates will be June 22-25, 2020, with extra days available to tie into either weekend, and make sure your email and phone numbers are current on the website so we can keep you in the loop. Stay tuned!
Update Your Phone Numbers! I know I keep ragging on you to keep your profiles on the website up-to-date, but there is method to my madness.  Your profile is the mechanism by which the USS William H. Bates (SSN 680) Association keeps you informed using the Familygram newsletter, and now, by text message. We have just upgraded the website to allow us to send you periodic SMS text messages for notifications of major events or to track you down when your email no longer works. Don’t expect many - it does cost us about 3/4 of a cent for each message that goes out, so don’t expect more than one or two a month. Once everybody has a few days to update their profiles, I’ll send a couple of texts. One will allow you to opt out, if you desire to not be bothered, but I’d encourage you to stay with it and let me use texts to keep you in the loop. After that, they’ll be relatively infrequent, unless your Familygram bounces, and of course, your phone numbers, like your street address, are never revealed to anyone without your permission. All this means that it is more important than ever to keep your profile information up-to-date. So get hot, or get dink, and watch your phone for text messages from the USS William H. Bates (SSN 680) Association.
	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
	Visitor | WWW.SSN-680.ORG | CONTACT US
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