Tim Brown – C.O. GPS
At our monthly meeting on 13 August we had as our speaker, LtGen David H. Berger, USMC, Commanding General of 1s t Marine Expeditionary Force. We received an excellent brief with a period following to ask questions of the CG regarding various facets of the operations of I MEF. General Berger touched on various challenges that face his command and the Marine Corps in general including aging aviation platforms and retention of NCOs who are so important to the modern Marine Corps fighting ethic. Another facet of the brief was the fact that MAJ Bruce Bender, USMC (Ret), who fought in most of the major battles in the Pacific during WWII was a guest of one of our members, Henry Phillips.
Henery Phillips, Lt Gen David Berger, Maj Bruce Bender
Also we had the opportunity to honor the Sailors of the Quarter from Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach and Navy Munitions Command CONUS West Division. The SOQs were individually introduced by CMDCM(AW) Jeff Reeder, Command Master Chief, NWSSB and NWC. The Junior SOQs were GM2(SW) Leland Larsen and MA2 Dominique Segura. The Senior SOQs were MN1(SCW) Mark Yancy and MA1 Christopher Smith. A special thanks to the local restaurants who support this program through contributions of gift certificates that were given to the SOQs: Crab Cooker in Tustin, CA, and Seal Beach Restaurants: Beachwood BBQ, O’Malley’s, Hennessey’s on Main, The Hangout, Athens West, and Yucatan Grill. Congratulations to the Sailors of the Quarter for their excellent work ethic.
Grampaw Pettibone Squadron remains active and vibrant. We are challenged to grow our membership but those who do attend our monthly meeting enjoy the camaraderie of old shipmates and squadron mates, good food and excellent briefings by active duty military personnel, authors, industry test pilots, and just plain folks who have interesting stories to tell relative to Naval Aviation and related subjects.
Sel Ramsay, MAC Armando Deleon, GMC(sel) Lindsey Troy,
MA2 Dominique Segura, MA1 Christopher B. Smith, GM2
Leland Larson, George DelGaudio, CMDCM Jeff Reeder
