|
April 17, 2004 Minutes
INDIANA CHAPTER
DINFOS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 26925
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA 46226-9001
The twenty first meeting of the Indiana Chapter of the DINFOS
Alumni Association was held on April 17, 2004, at ll:00 am at
The Garrison at Ft. Harrison State Park. Attached is a
listing of those who attended.
The meeting opened with introductions by all in attendance.
During his introduction, George Hobbs mentioned his son is in
Iraq, and he asked for prayers for his safety.
Dr. Rubak extended regards he received from Colonel Ed
McDonald, Colonel Robert Bentley, BG John Carlson, Dean Farr,
Myriam Rath’s family and several others. He mentioned a phone
call he got from Dave Briggs, a former DINFOS Broadcaster.
Dave was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) three years
ago, and he expressed a desire to hear from those who remember
him. His phone number is (317) 848-4903.
Further, Dr. Rubak mentioned he had heard from Pat McKeand,
former Chief of the DINFOS Editors Course. Pat asked him to
tell everyone how touched and grateful he was by the
contribution made under the Scholarship Fund established for
him at Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis.
Additional items
Memorials for deceased members of the DINFOS Alumni
Association were discussed. These proposals were made:
 |
Establish a scholarship in their names. |
|
Provide money for enlisted DINFOS
instructors to attend national PRSA courses or conferences. |
|
Establish an Alumni Association book
collection in the DINFOS Library |
|
listing deceased members. |
|
Quality certificates for life members.
Jan Walton volunteered to prepare a |
|
Certificate with wording furnished by Tom
Conrad. |
|
Awarding a one-year free membership to
all graduates. These can be included in the graduates’
diploma packages with a postcard or flyer to be filled out
and mailed when they arrive at their next assignment. At
the expiration of the first year, they will be billed. Jan
Walton said she would also design a certificate to be mailed
to any who renew. |
Next, Tom Conrad introduced the Guest Speaker, CW2 Reginald
(Reggie)
Barney, to relate some of his experiences in Afghanistan. An
overview of his speech is as follows:
|
He has been a member of the National
Guard for 17 years and was in a comfort zone doing his job
as Commander of the 433rd Personnel Detachment
until he was mobilized at Camp Atterbury. He was told to
get his troops together to go Afghanistan to fight
terrorism. |
|
A hard job was talking to the parents of
some of the young troops telling them he would do his best
to ensure they returned home safely. |
|
He instilled in his troops a team
spirit. They left for Afghanistan in February 2003 and
returned in August 2003. |
|
Surrounded by the mountains and the snow,
they huddled while missiles and firearms went off, and
didn’t move until “all clear” was declared. They all abided
in the shadow of the Almighty. |
|
While over there, they were surrounded by
land mines placed earlier when the Russians were there.
These killed many of our soldiers. Every other week there
were bodies being sent home because they stepped on land
mines. |
|
The merchants controlled much of the
country. When we stopped paying them, they were not
supportive of us. |
|
Smoking or drinking was prohibited. If
caught doing either of these, the punishment was pretty
severe. |
|
Because of the altitude, one SFC suffered
a heart attack. |
|
CW2 Barney said he was a changed man when
he came out of his comfort zone. If he was asked to go over
there again to fight, he said, “of course, he would.” He
would fight for this country any time and loves the freedom
we have. |
|
Although he could call home everyday, he
was so glad to be home, particularly to “flush a toilet.” |
|
He stressed the need to send letters to
the soldiers over there. There is something special about
getting a letter and holding it. |
He finished his presentation by saying he joined the service
for education, but now he sells patriotism.
A question was asked him if he felt the picture of the war as
presented by the US media is fairly accurate, and he responded
he felt it was.
Ms. Caryn Smola, the Lawrence Campus Manager for the Community
College of Indiana brought those present up-to-date on what
has been happening in the building at Ft. Harrison where
DINFOS was once located.
|
She stated that the building once known
as Gates Lord Hall is now known as the Richard M. Fairbanks
Building for Health Professionals. |
|
When the Community College first opened
at the Lawrence Campus in 1997, there were about 80
students. Now there are approximately 4,500 enrollees. |
|
Ivy Tech now owns the building as well as
a Public Safety Building that trains about 250 firefighters
each year. |
|
One tenant in the Fairbanks Building is
the National Guard that has a l0-year lease. |
Ms. Smola then discussed the items on the enclosed chart
showing what has been done and what the future plans are.
Chuck Ricks, former Deputy Mayor of the City of Lawrence, gave
a presentation. He talked about the progress that was made in
Lawrence prior to the election of the new Mayor. When asked
about the rumors of a National Guard Armory being built at Ft.
Harrison, he indicated the rumors are probably true.
The Alumni Association’s Membership Chairman, Dave Mossbarger
gave an update on memberships. We currently have 115 lifetime
members. He recently received 20 renewals to include several
three-year memberships.
Dr. Rubak gave the highlights from Colonel Hiram’s update on
DINFOS at Ft. Meade. A copy of Colonel Bell’s “What’s
Happening at DINFOS” is attached.
Dr. Rubak also reported that Colonel Larry Icenogle and Bob
Dittmer were contacted by Colonel Bell to help in renewing the
Alumni Association at Ft. Meade.
The last item of business was the election of new officers of
the Executive Council. The following were unanimously
approved to serve for two more years:
-
President – Jack Rubak
-
Vice President in charge of Public
Affairs – Bob Dittmer
-
Assistant Vice President for Public
Affairs – Craig Ito
-
Vice President in charge of Programs
– Tom Conrad
-
Vice President in charge of
Memberships – Dave Mossbarger
-
Historian – Mike Davis
-
Secretary – Helen Stritt
Since there were no nominees for Treasurer, it was felt that
Perry Brandt would be a good candidate. Dr. Rubak will
contact him to see if he will accept the position.
The meeting adjourned at 2:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jack Rubak, President
Helen Stritt, Secretary
Attendees:
Hal Barron
Dick Cassin
Susan Cheeley
John Cheeley
Tom Christy
Col. John Christy (USA- ret)
Tom Conrad
Maggie DeHaven
Bob Dittmer
Betty Galbreth
Dolys Gelke
George Hobbs
Col Larry Icenogle (USA-Ret)
Craig Ito
Mike LaBonne
Sandra Lord
Ken Lord
Eula Mallery
Richard Mallery
Dave Mossbarger
Jack Rubak
Helen Stritt
Jan Walton
Alverta Keith
Winnie Withers
Guests:
CW2 Reginald (Reggie) Barney
Chuck Ricks
Caryn Smola |
