USSVI News | November 27, 2022

Shipmates,

You are invited to attend the 60th Annual USS Thresher Memorial Service that will be held on April 15, 2023 to honor the memories and SUBSAFE legacy of the 129 men lost aboard USS Thresher on April 10, 1963. 

Please RSVP promptly via the following Google RSVP form no later than December 15, 2022. https://forms.gle/WvU5jw57U37WRA4o7

The number of RSVP’s received will determine the location of the event that will be held at either the Kittery or Portsmouth High Schools.

Please forward the Google RSVP form link to all those who may want to join with us. 

In addition, we will be providing a link for live stream broadcast from the facility for those who are unable to attend in person.

With respect,

Kevin Galeaz, USSVI Thresher Base
Chairman, Annual USS Thresher Memorial Services

Bowfin News | November 18, 2022

Shipmates,

Please welcome our newest Bowfin member John Chilcott, former ET2(SS).

John qualified in 1989 onboard USS Omaha (SSN 692). He lives in Honolulu with his wife Susan.

John also served onboard USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN 624).

Brett Kulbis
Secretary

USSVI News | October 4, 2022

Shipmates,

As you are aware Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on the state of Florida and the Carolinas last weekend.

What you may not know is how that has impacted over 1,000 Florida USSVI members and their families. In the southwest part of Florida alone, we have over 150 members who were in Ian’s path of destruction. At the time of this email, there are still almost 600,000 Floridians without power.

We are already aware of some who lost everything! Many more will incur significant out-of-pocket expenses to meet deductibles and help with cleanup efforts. Officials are predicting total damage costs from the hurricane could top $60 Billion.

What we’re asking is for you to help these shipmates, your Shipmate by making a tax-deductible donation through the USSV Charitable Foundation. All donations will go directly to those affected by hurricane Ian.

Donations can be made by going to https://www.ussvcf.org and clicking on the “Hurricane Ian Disaster Relief” button.

Thank you for your help in this critical time of need for our shipmates; it’s times like these that we pull together and demonstrate why the Brotherhood of the Phin is “a brotherhood like no other.”

Ken Earls
President
USSV Charitable Foundation
kenearls.ss@gmail.com

USSVI News | September 8, 2022

Shipmates,

The 2023 USSVI National Convention Facebook page is now online and will be a source of information on plans and events that will be of interest to all members of USSVI as we publish frequently.

The new convention website is currently being developed as a part of the new ussvi.org website and when launched members will be able to register for the convention and hotel plus inks will be established for convention magazine ads, vendors, and local information of interest much like the old convention site from prior years.  We hope to bring it online in the 4th quarter when Tim Carlisle’s team finishes up creating the website.

Please follow and like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/tucsonbaseussvi.  Google 2023 USSVI National Convention for the link or search Facebook when on the site.

Hold the dates of 28 August – 3 September 2023 for a fun filled event out West hosted by Tucson and Perch Bases.

V/r

Dennis Ottley
USSVI Western District-1 Commander
USSVI 2023 National Convention Chair

USSVI News | August 18, 2022 

Congratulations to Bill Andrea our newly elected National Commander.

Shipmates,

The results of our 2022 National Election have been posted on the website, ussubvets.org. To access them, go to ussubvets.org , then click on “Documents” and then on “Elections”. Our voter turnout was 11%. Thank you to all who submitted your votes either online or by mail. 

It has been my privilege to serve as your Elections Master. 

With best Regards, 
Tom Conlon, Past National Commander 

USSVI News | August 17, 2022 

Shipmates,

The link below should take everyone to the United States Submarine Veterans Charitable Foundation website page that has the current videos developed to acquaint our members with various programs that benefits our organization, members, and dependents.

There will be more videos to come in the future (a new video is scheduled for every Saturday), so please stay current and watch each of them as they are posted.

This link is a single source for all current and future videos – ussvcf.org/videos.html.

A well-earned BZ goes out to USSV Charitable Foundation Executive Director & Treasurer Ken Earls for the professional work he has devoted to produce these videos.

Hopefully, our system will transmit this link properly, if not copy and paste it into your browser. 

Thank you, 
Wayne Standerfer 
National Commander 

USSVI News | August 11, 2022 

Good Morning USSVI – here is the latest regarding the website.

Everything is going smoothly with the new website and database – we believe barring some out-of-the-box, unforeseen issues, we will complete the project and have the website ready to go just before the National Convention on August 23rd.

You will receive an invitation (we will send an email out at that time), and you will need to sign up. You will need to create a new password (will likely require a password with letters, numbers, symbols, etc.).

The one area where there will be a delay is the database or “Tools Menu,” as we referred to it on the old site.  We will need to get our training materials finalized and train our Base Commanders, Treasurers, Membership Chairs, District Commanders, and above. I anticipate that will take some time, with that portion fully utilized by October 31, 2022.

We are developing “tools” training for all Base Commanders, Membership Chairs, Treasurers, District Commanders, and above. We will start with “live demo” training on Zoom, which will be recorded and posted on Youtube, and we will also develop videos on the “how-to” aspects. I am familiar with this, having developed about $250,000 of videos for another organization – for free.

The new old reconstructed site http://ussubvets.org/home.asp, is working very well, both for reference purposes and the 2022 National Elections – we have repaired some minor issues, as is expected when rebuilding a site of this magnitude. Please bear in mind this site http://ussubvets.org/home.asp has been posted to serve as an interim Tools system until we have completed our Blackbaud Database training for all of our members.

If you find a bug, fill out this bug report – we will get to it. Gerry Smith, our webmaster for this site, may reach out to you to test the fix.  His email for bug fixes is ussvi@e911systems.com.

If you have questions, contact me at ussviwebsitequestions@gmail.com. I monitor the email and am happy to answer your questions. Talk to you next month!

Pride Runs Deep,

Tim Carlisle

USSVI VSO | August 9, 2022 

The PACT Act has some news for Submarine Veterans, primarily for Guam and surrounding waters from January 9, 1962 to July 31, 1980. 

The information on the expanded issue is contained in this LINK: 
What’s in the PACT Act for Toxic-Exposed Veterans (woodslawyers.com)

The information related to submarines in Guam are primarily for Squadron 15 which was established in Pearl Harbor on 1 September 1963 but transferred to Guam in October 1964 and ended on 30 September 1981 when it was disestablished onboard Proteus. It has since been re-established in 2001. 

The information listed for the approved dates listed above include a multitude of different SSBN’s, but many SSNs also were refurbished by the Submarine tenders in Guam which included the Proteus and Hunley. The SSNs are not listed in the article. 

The reference for Squadron 15 is –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_Squadron_15

The above is a start for you to review to see if Agent Orange has been expanded to the service you had in the Pacific Submarine Fleet between January 9,1962 to July 31, 1980. This also includes Tender personnel.
 
If you need to file a claim with the VA, please locate a local Veterans Service officer in your state to help with the claim. 

Also, there are about 30 states that use County Veterans Service Officers to help with your claim, so please find one of them if it applies to your state. 

None of these personnel will charge you for their help, it is a FREE service and a federal law that prohibits charging veterans for this service.
 
Good Luck with your Claims! 

Respectfully, 

John Dudas
USSVI Veterans Service Officer 

USSVI National Commander | August 8, 2022 

Shipmates,

We ask all of you to click on the two links below and watch the videos in their entirety.

The purpose is to acquaint all of you with our United States Submarine Veterans Charitable Foundation and all that it accomplishes for our organization.

There will be more videos to come in the future, so please stay current and watch each of them as they are posted.

Wayne Standerfer
NC

Congratulations George!!