July 2014 Meeting Notes

We started off the July meeting with Tolling the Boats lost in July, followed by birthday wishes for our members, introductions, and officer reports.

Old and New Business: 
Smokey Point Rest Stop Event – We had a fun time at the Smokey Point Rest Stop handing out coffee and telling sea stories. After tallying up the donations and deducting expenses, it looks like the Base made around $700 over the weekend. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped out and BZ to Steve Shelton for organizing and running the event. We will be getting pictures from the event up soon.

Kirkland Independence Day Parade – We had around 40 submarine veterans, including the Silent Service Motorcycle Club, at the Kirkland Independence Day Parade. The crowd was very enthusiastic, the parade organizers provided a pizza lunch for all the veterans, and everyone had a good time. You can see photos from the parade in a previous blog entry.

Seattle Base Tolling the Boats Ceremony – The annual Tolling the Boats ceremony and picnic is set for August 16 at the Kirkland Marina Park. Set up will start around 10 AM, with the picnic starting around 11:30 and the ceremony getting underway between 1:15 and 1:30. We will have more information on the start time as we get closer to the event, but be sure to mark it on your calendar.

August Meeting Cancelled – Due to the timing of the Tolling the Boats Ceremony, we voted to cancel the August business meeting. The next regular business meeting will be September 17.

2014 Holland Club Inductees – We added five new members to the Holland Club roll this year. Doug Abramson and Karl ‘Dutch’ Krompholz were at the meeting to pick up their certificates and patches. We mailed the certificates and patches out to Romeo Delarosa, Jim Kingman, and John Soth. Congratulations to all the new Holland Club members.

Karl 'Dutch' Krompholz and Doug Abramson receive their Holland Club certificates and patches from Base Commander Dick Gonzales

2014 USSVI Elections – Don’t forget that the last day to vote in the National USSVI elections is August 28 (paper ballots must arrive by August 28). The ballot was included in the latest issue of The American Submariner and can be filled out and mailed to the Election Master. You can also vote online through the USSVI website by clicking the Vote Nat Election button in the upper left, entering your login information (if you haven’t used the website before, just follow the on-screen instructions) and make your vote.

Challenge Coins – Ken Murray presented all the meeting attendees with a special Veterans Day challenge coin he received from a friend that works at Boeing.

July Program: 

Lt. Matt Boehm answering a few questions

Our speaker for July was Lt. Matt Boehm USN. Lt. Boehm is an assistant Professor of Naval Science at the University of Washington, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and the University of Texas at Dallas. Lt. Boehm qualified on USS Connecticut (SSN-22) and talked to us about life aboard a state-of-the-art attack submarine. He talked about life aboard Connecticut, including operations in the western Pacific and Arctic. He had some great sea stories and pictures to share from his time at sea. He also shared information about his current work at the University of Washington in teaching, with the ROTC unit, and trying to get new volunteers for the submarine service. After his talk, Lt. Boehm was happy to answer questions for us about his naval experiences and the current submarine fleet. The presentation and Q & A provided us with insight into today’s submarine force. Thanks to our shipmate Don Ulmer for facilitating Lt Boehm’s appearance.

Base Commander Dick Gonzales presents a Certificate of Appreciation to Lt Boehm at the July meeting.