You are not connected. The newsletter may include some user information, so they may not be displayed correctly.

SSN 680 FAMILYGRAM: 23 SEP 2019

view it online
SSN-680 familygram: 23 SEP 19
	THe uss William h. Bates (SSN 680) Association
LIFE IS A CHOICE... Visitor - and I choose life... Some of you may have noticed I haven’t been around much the last two months, and if you have, I’m grateful. If you missed the updates on Facebook (about all I’ve had the time or strength to do), the second of August brought horrific news. At the time, Margaret and I were headed into Canada to celebrate our 35th anniversary, when a phone call turned our world upside down. At lunchtime that day, my sister Melissa, her husband Bob, their 22 year-old daughter Landyn, and my youngest brother Kent were killed instantly in a collision with a drunk driver here in Michigan. In that moment, five children lost their parents, my sister-in-law Karen lost her husband, her six children lost their father, and I lost two of my three siblings. The next two weeks was a whirlwind of frantic and painful phone calls, hurriedly arranged travel, a funeral and three burials in Michigan, one funeral and burial in Virginia, and many challenging questions. It has been a difficult and painful time, endured and sustained simply by the grace and mercy of God. If you haven’t seen the stories on Facebook, you can find them on my timeline if you visit my Facebook profile. I don’t mean to reproduce them here, but if you are interested, you might find a unexpected narrative, and maybe a different way of looking at life and death. For those of you that agonized with me and my family, thank you for standing with us. Your thoughts and prayers were a constant reminder that we did not stand alone, and helped buoy us through many a dark day. Each comment, each “like” on a Facebook story, and the unknown number of prayers offered on our behalf was an encouragement and a measure of hope. For all these, I am in your debt. In the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption”, Tim Robbins’ character Andy Dufresne contemplates his life sentence one afternoon in the prison yard along with Morgan Freeman’s character ’Red’. “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really”, Andy reflects, “get busy living, or get busy dying.” Perhaps it’s really as simple as that. One foot in front of the other. One hour and then the next. Life is, at one level, simply a choice. So I’m back at my desk again after a long absence with a to-do list a mile long. Getting a Familygram out to my shipmates is number one on the list, and will follow the writing of another two or three articles. I can’t say yet that I’m back in the game, but I am back at it, making the effort, and facing the challenges that each new day brings. REGROUPEX 20 is still on, the www.ssn-680.org website needs attention, and to do those things for you gives me another reason to get up each morning. I choose life... Thanks for being there, shipmates. It is a pleasure to be at your service.
CHRIS PIPKIN ET2(SS) CROSSES THE BAR Chris Pipkin, ET2(SS), Nav ET - Operations Electronics, served with us on the Bates from 79-83. I was just informed by his step-son, Christopher Radke, that Chris passed away on the evening of September 22, succumbing to injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident earlier that morning. Fair winds and following seas, Chris. You were our brother. You will be missed. I will post funeral service information for those of you in SoCal that might want to attend, and Chris’ Honors page will go up shortly. If you have photos or or information that we can use, please email them directly to me at admin@ssn-680.org. More to follow…
REGROUPEX 20 STATUS REGROUPEX 20 - June 22-25, 2020 in Silverdale, Washington, is a go. You can put it on your schedule, and as soon as we sign a contract with the hotel, start making your travel arrangements. At this point, it looks like we will be contracting with the Best Western Silverdale Beach to host REGROUPEX 20. As soon as we have a contract signed, we will know the final room cost and be able to start making reservations. That should happen the first week of October, but it does depend on you! You need to complete the survey on the www.ssn-680.org website so we have an idea about how many rooms we need to block out at the Best Western. There will be details about the survey in the Familygram that will be mailed to everyone on the 23rd or 24th of September. This is not a commitment one way or the other. It’s just a good guess about whether you are attending or not - you won’t be committed until you pay the registration fee, which should be around $100.00, plus a bit more for your spouse, but we haven’t nailed that down yet. I’m expecting the reunion to be similar to REGROUPEX 17 in Orlando. We will have a hospitality suite (and an outdoor patio) for check in and a ‘mixer’ on Monday night. Name tags and hats will be provided, and we’ll have a big screen TV with a continuous slideshow of photos of the boat and crew from back in the day. Refreshing beverages and snacks will be provided, with ample opportunity for you to meet everyone attending, and start swapping sea stories. Tuesday will be the first planned boat tour at the Trident Refit Facility. Given the location, I’d expect an Ohio-class boomer, but remember that even planned tours are subject to the needs of the Navy (liberty ports confirmed through Hobart!) so we’ll have contingency plans in place. The tour will include not only a boat (schedule allowing) but the Trident Refit Facility itself, including training, weapons maintenance, and, the crown jewel, the ship’s control simulator! Lunch will be provided for tour guests as it will take much of the day. There is plenty to do in the area for those not on the tour - two different Navy museums, one specializing in undersea history! Scenic sites and local shopping opportunities abound as well. We will arrange a ladies day out with lunch and maybe something similar for those not interested in the boat tour. Wednesday will be an open day, with a manned hospitality suite, at least until the evening, when we will arrange a Celebration Dinner to get all of us in one place at one time. A guest speaker or two, a good meal, and we will probably end the day remembering our shipmates and wives that have crossed the bar with a Tolling of the Bell Ceremony. Thursday will be a day for some to head home, though some of us will stay for another day or two. If sufficient demand exists such that we can’t accommodate everyone on the Tuesday boat tour (there is a 30 person limit), then we will repeat the tour so everyone gets a chance to see the inside of the boat, ship’s schedule and individual mobility allowing. That’s a quick snapshot to give you an idea of what you might be missing if you don’t make REGROUPEX 20. So start making plans to make the trip. There won’t be another reunion until the 2022-23 time frame, and it will be in the New London area. Whatever your thoughts are - get to the website and complete the short attendance survey so we can start making plans! There’s not a moment to lose!
REGROUPEX 20 - ARE YOU ATTENDING? We are conducting a short survey to assist us in making hotel arrangements for REGROUPEX 20, the next major reunion scheduled for crew-members of the USS William H. Bates (SSN 680). Scheduled for June 22-25, 2020, we need your input to negotiate the best rate with our target hotel, the Best Western Silverdale Beach, in Silverdale, Washington. It is expected this survey will take about 2 minutes, and you can only take it one time. You are encouraged to reach out to other Bates shipmates and invite them to log in to the website and take the survey for themselves. Take a few minutes to complete it right now - I was hoping to have this to the hotel by 1 October, but that depends on the response. I’ll extend it if necessary, but each day puts our window at risk, so take the few minutes necessary to log in and let me know if you are going to attend. If that’s too much work, send me an IM, email, text, or contact me thru Facebook! I need to know! If you know someone who does not have internet access, or would rather complete the survey using pen and paper, printed copies are available on request. Please contact Brad Williamson bradwmson@ssn-680.org or 269.426.1880 if you have trouble or questions. Click the link below to go to go to the survey page. You will need to be already logged in, or navigate to:   REUNIONS >> REGROUPEX 20 >> REGROUPEX 20 ATTENDANCE PLANS Confidentiality Notice: This is NOT an anonymous survey. Your identification details are captured during this survey response. The details may be used in the future to contact you or for statistical purposes. Your responses will be kept confidential from general public and are available only to the manager(s) of this survey.
	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
unsubscribe

0

Shares

• Love
• Share
• Tweet
• Share
• Pin
• Share
• Email