USSVI National Commander | August 2, 2022 

Shipmates,

On this year’s national election ballot, we have a “PA” (Proposed Amendment to our National Constitution & BY Laws). It appears some of you have heard or developed the false belief that if this PA is implemented, it will  impede the creation of additional bases.

I would like to explain why the National BOD’s and Constitution & Bylaws Committee felt it necessary to include this proposal on the ballot.

Everyone knows that trying to please everyone all of the time is an impossible goal.

In light of this, each of our Bases has occasionally had to deal with the ire of a small number of members who don’t agree with the majority.
In some cases, this has led to the disgruntled campers splitting off and asking their District Commander for permission to establish another base quite near their original primary base.

We know from previous experience that allowing this new Base charter to be issued without additional review by more than one person (District Commander) has resulted in some very unpleasant and unneeded issues, especially for the affected Regional Director.

Both bases enter with a competition goal of persuading the individuals in the near vicinity of the original Base to defect and join the new group.
Regretfully, in some instances the fierce rivalry reached a point where it was necessary to cancel one of the Base’s charters and shut it down.

Folks, this is not a National power grab. At the National level, we’re all working hard to build more Bases, but we want them to be solid, dependable Bases that don’t suffer from internal conflict.

This PA is primarily intended to develop a process that extends the scrutiny and permission of multiple parties before a Base is chartered, nothing more.

All the best to all of you,
Wayne Standerfer
NC