VVA Chapter 1069 Meeting Report for: March 3-11-2020
[posted on:3-12-2020]
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The meeting was held at Mikeska’s BBQ, (located on Hwy 59) El Campo, TX.
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Total attendance at the meeting was 35 - pretty good! Thanks to everyone who attended.
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The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag was recited and a prayer was said.
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President, Frank Laitkep then recognized all those members who were having
birthdays in March. There were 4 members who had birthdays in March.
Frank sang Happy Birthday to them.
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Frank then introduced guests and potential new members.
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The meeting was then recessed for the evening meal (Mikeska's BBQ).
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Frank then re-opened the meeting open at 8:00 PM.
The following chapter business was transacted.
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Vice President, Leonard Sternadel, presented some information we received from another
chapter, regarding the anti-malaria pills/tablets that have been given to the military
and government personell. The information came from an article in the March/April 2020
issue of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) magazine. Use the link below to the article
on the DAV website.
CLICK HERE to read the Article
The focus was on the key drug used in the pills called Mefloquine. Although the article did
not specifically say that these same anti-malaria tablets were given to Vietnam War soldiers,
it may be possible, because the new drug was being developed in the Vietnam era time period.
See quote below...
"Mefloquine, a pill taken weekly, was developed in the 1960s and 1970s by the Walter Reed Army
Institute of Research after a drug-resistant strain of malaria sickened troops in Vietnam. It was
widely prescribed to U.S. service members from 1989, when it was approved by the Food and Drug
Administration, until 2009, when the Department of Defense issued directives effectively making it
a last-choice drug for troops."
As it turns out, the Mefloquine drug has since been found to be a pretty bad drug and can cause
some very bad side effects that can last a long time. For example, one exerpt from the article
says the following...
“It was clearly known that some people became psychotic and some people became very violent, but
at the time, it wasn’t appreciated just how serious these neuropsychiatric effects could be in terms
of causing lasting disabilities.”
It does appear that the Mefloquine drug was being developed in the late 60s, so it could be possible
we (the Vietnam soldier) did NOT receive that particular drug - but who knows? We (the Vietnam soldier)
may have been the guinea pigs for that new drug's field testing! It was known that at the time of the
Vietnam War, anti-malaria tablets contained another drug called Chloroquine. However, it was found out
that the malaria bug was becoming resiliant to Chloroquine, so thus, another drug was developed.
If you find out more information on this subject, please let me know and I will pass it on. Most likely,
we will never know which drug was in the anti-malaria pills we were given during that War, especially
during the latter period of the War.
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Bob then presented some information about recent emails we have received from our TSC regarding the VVA
future plans for transitioning the organization. Note that Kerwin Stone is the current VVA Texas State
Council (TSC) President. Bob presented 3 items of interest...
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Item #1: We received an email from Kerwin in December of 2019 as a response to our concern over an
open letter to the VVA membership written by VVA President John Rowan. Our concern was that John
Rowan and the VVA National BOD had been given the authority at the 2019 VVA Convention to (1) change
the name of the VVA organization, and (2) open up the membership to all veterans. In brief, Kerwin's
response was.
"First and foremost, that Resolution directs the Officers and Board of Directors to INVESTIGATE a possible
name change, and to INVESTIGATE opening up VVA's membership or somehow merging with a younger veterans group.
It is far from being a "done deal". At this point, only the Officers seem to be working on this, and John's
thinking is that the officers will lay the groundwork before involving the full Board of Directors. In any
event, the Officers and BOD will, at most, come up with RECOMMENDATIONS with regard to changes in the name
and/or membership. Those RECOMMENDATIONS will presumably be put before the delegates at the next National
Convention for a vote, as you noted; however, the vote will be whether to ADOPT the changes, rather than
whether to RATIFY the changes, since the changes have NO authority until adopted by a vote of the delegates
at a National Convention. Lots of our members share your concerns, but please note that no action will be
taken on implementing any changes until the next National Convention."
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Item #2:In January of 2020, Kerwin sent out a email to all Texas VVA chapters.
The subject matter included information regarding a recently held VVA National Board of Directors (BOD)
meeting. Note that Kerwin is a sitting member on that Board. His email contained information about
discussions at the meeting pertaining to a resolution that was passed at the 2019 VVA National Convention,
GA-21, which was titled, "Changing the name of the Vietnam Veterans of America". Kerwin's entire email is
shown below...
TO ALL TEXAS VVA MEMBERS: At the meeting of the VVA National Board of Directors last week, substantial time
was devoted to discussing the future of VVA. The national officers have been contacting and visiting with
organizations comprised largely of the younger veterans, including Student Veterans of America and Combined
Arms, with respect to how to continue the good work of VVA. It appears that those other groups are just now
awakening to the realization that the benefits which their members are receiving are due in large measure to
actions, including lobbying Congress, initiated or supported by VVA.
It is important to recognize that NO ACTION will be taken as to VVA's future without approval of its membership.
The VVA Constitution provides that VVA's membership votes ONLY through action of delegates to VVA National
Conventions. The next convention will be in summer 2021 in Greensboro, North Carolina, so that allows each
chapter ample time in which to raise funds for sending its delegates to the convention, where they should vote
as directed by the chapters on any issue coming up as a proposed amendment to the VVA Constitution, or as a
proposed Resolution.
The Resolutions adopted by the membership at the 2019 National Convention only authorize VVA's officers and
directors to INVESTIGATE (1) a name change to entice younger veterans, (2) ways to open up membership in VVA
to newer veterans, and (3) present any proposed changes to the membership in the form of amendments to the VVA
Constitution, to be voted upon at the 2021 National Convention. At last week's meeting, the National Board of
Directors voted for the following clarification: "Resolution GA-21 simply states that VVA's officers and board
of directors are directed to look into what procedural and legal steps would need to be taken to change the name
of the organization and to open membership to include newer veterans." VVA's Constitution Committee has been
charged with the task of looking into those procedural and legal steps.
Again, none of our chapters needs to be concerned with the prospect of something happening to VVA without your
knowledge and an opportunity to vote on it at a National Convention. This investigation and the surrounding dialog
are healthy and necessary steps. Your comments and questions are always welcome. Kerwin Stone, President,
VVA Texas State Council.
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Item #3:In January of 2020 there was a Conference of State Council Presidents' (CSCP)
meeting. Kerwin attended that meeting and has now forwarded an email to us from another attendee, Bob Seal, President
of the Idaho VVA State Council.
The subject matter of the email was about the GA-21 Resolution (also titled as: "Changing the Name of Vietnam Veterans
of America") that passed at the 2019 VVA National Convention (see the actual text of the GA-21 Resolution below). The
email decribes CSCP's desire to publish 2 articles about the Resolution in the upcoming issues of "The VVA Veteran", in
an attempt to explain the resolution's real meaning. The first of the 2 articles will explain what the GA-21 Resolution
IS NOT. This article will appear in the March/Apri issue of "The Vietnam Veteran" publication. The second of the 2 articles
will explain what the GA-21 Resolution IS.
The email also stated that the 1st article draft will be sent to all State Council President's, to be then sent to all
state chapter Presidents to be distributed to the membership for review and comment. They want feedback from all the
membership about that article, BEFORE their next CSCP meeting, being held in April of this year. We will be sending out
that article to our membership as soon as we get it.
I assume the VVA State Council President's want to try and explain the GA-21 Resolution to the entire VVA membership,
especially trying to get out the latest information as to what the John Rowan and the VVA National BOD are planning.
I'm sure all the State Council Presidents are getting many questions and concerns from the each State's membership,
asking them what the VVA National BOD (headed up by John Rowan) is planning to do with the authority given them by
the passing of the GA-21 Resolution, passed at the 2019 VVA National Convention.
For your reference, I have included the entire GA-21 Resolution below, as it was presented, voted on and approved
at the VVA National Convention that was held in Spokane, Washington in April of 2019...
Resolution GA-21 - CHANGING THE NAME OF VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA
Issue: Require VVA's leadership (BOD) to investigate what is required to change Vietnam
Veterans of America's name and then open up membership to include all veterans after the Vietnam-era.
Background: There has been much discussion over the last 15 years about VVA being a last
person organization. But no formal vote has been taken. A NO vote on this Resolution (GA-21) would make it official.
Resolved That: Require VVA's Officers and Board of Directors (BOD) to investigate the
requirements to (1) change the name of Vietnam Veterans of America to a name that would entice Post-Vietnam era
veterans to join the renamed organization and (2) then open up membership to these newer veterans. These two proposed
changes would be presented to the delegates at the 2021 Convention for voting ratification (YES) ... or not (NO)
If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding this whole issue of the "VVA Transition", and the fact
that the VVA National BOD is in charge of continuing with the planning of the GA-21, you should contact Kerwin Stone,
the President of our VVA Texas State Council (TSC), and let him know how you feel. And since he is a member-at-large
of the VVA National Board of Directors and member of the CSCP (Conference of State Council Presidents'), your comments
and concerns will be carried up the VVA chain of command, and so they will better know how the lower membership feels
about this issue. Kerwin's email address is: (tscpres@vvatsc.org)
And, you can always visit the VVA TSC website for more contact information for all the TSC officers:
Use the link below to visit the TSC website.
CLICK HERE to visit the TSC website
Leonard then presented some information about our chapter possibly forming a coalition with several other VVA chapters
in our surrounding area. He had been approached by a President of another local VVA chapter with the idea. The idea was
to form a better relationship with our fellow VVA chapters in order to better express our concerns about various issues
dealing with VVA National. The coalition could also perhaps also be used to organize and plan some sort of annual Vietnam
Veterans celebration that included all members of the coalition. Leonard did stress that nothing had yet been put in place
and was just asking those attending the meeting for a show of hands to see if the idea should be further pursued. Everyone
thought it was a worthwhile idea and that he should continue to pursue it and report back at future meetings with any new
information.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Our Next chapter meeting is Wednesday, April 8, 2020
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