Multimission capability resides in every aspect of our current Naval Aviation platforms, weapon systems, sensors and ordnance. And, if you attended Hook ’09 you know it took thorough flight planning to meet all mission requirements for each day’s events. The sight picture from the board of directors had the pipper squarely on the target, tracking the theme of “Operating at the Edge of the Envelope” at every turn. The program put together by our President, CAPT Russ “Gladys” Knight, was action packed, the events coordinated by Marc “Tag” Ostertag included the Blue Angels flight demonstration at NAS Fallon and our Executive Director, J.R. Davis, kept all our wonderful staff and volunteers on glide path and on centerline all the way to touchdown—it was another great reunion.
Your board of directors kicked off activities with our summer meeting on Thursday. Before citing a few key highlights of that meeting, I mention that we elected two new directors, CDR Willy Driscoll, USNR(Ret) and VADM Marty “Streak” Chanik, USN(Ret), who come to us with a wealth of experience and longtime dedication to the Tailhook Association. Also, replacing Willy as secretary, we are most fortunate to welcome CDR Neil “Cowboy” Zerbe, USN(Ret), who has volunteered to man this important post. Sadly, our new board members are taking seats vacated by RADM Jay Yakeley, USN(Ret) and CAPT Jim DiMatteo, USNR, both of whom reached their nine-year term limit, having steered a course that brought the association back to ceiling and visibility unlimited (CAVU) conditions after navigating through rough weather in the ’90s. We owe both of these gents our heartfelt thanks for giving so freely of their time and energy, and for providing sage guidance and support to Tailhook as a whole. I know we will be keeping them on the flight schedule in other assignments (not SDO) but wanted to recognize their contributions as they step down.
News from the directors and officers is all “in the green.” Our Executive Director and Treasurer have worked hard through this past year of economic downturn to keep us straight and level, and though investments are still down from historic highs, we have nearly recovered to original investment levels, down less than three percent overall and climbing.
J.R. is working the office management hard, keeping cash flow in the black throughout the first three quarters and surpassing budget expectations to date with higher income and lower expenses than forecast. Likewise, our editor of The Hook magazine, Denny Irelan, has found cost-cutting measures and encouraged more sponsorship and advertising to produce the highest quality publication for Naval Aviation, dedicated to telling the day by day tales of our membership and chronicling the heritage of our predecessors. In all, our finances continue to remain sound with a solid foundation and an upward trend. As reported by our team of Corporate Development vice presidents, we have sustained outstanding sponsorship from industry, without whom we would not be able to conduct our reunion and symposium on such a large scale and with so much focus on current and future capability. The displays on the convention floor bring the newest in aviation technology right to our members and their families, giving all a brief glimpse of the challenges facing our aircrews today as they continue to push the edge of the envelope.
The report from the Membership Committee was also very positive. Several initiatives during the year paid off in significant numbers, as we saw an overall increase in membership from the previous two years’ reporting periods. Our Strike Force is reaching out to all the active duty to create awareness and recruit those who are not yet members, and the efforts ongoing to include our budding aviators in the Training Command resulted in a very strong attendance at Hook ’09, complete with a packed admin suite on the second deck. We will continue this emphasis on the new generation with next year’s theme of “Naval Aviation Training” for Hook ’10. Another key initiative is directed at former Tailhookers who have, for one reason or another, allowed their membership to lapse. We are making direct outreach to bring them back into formation, and have had great success with the recent campaign.
Our final activity at the Board Meeting was to establish a select committee to focus on the upcoming “Centennial of Naval Aviation” in 2011. Directors Charlie “Cajun” DeGruy, Curt “Dozo” Dose, and Streak Chanik will be joined by our President Russ Knight and advisors Sterling “Sterls” Gilliam and Rodger “Crotch” Welch to coordinate with Commander Naval Air Forces and the Centennial of Naval Aviation Executive Committee to put together our 2011 Symposium and support other key events throughout the year. We look forward to the biggest ever celebration during this Centennial year.
That’s the report and outlook — we’re in tension, check of controls is good, engine instruments good, clear deck, hand salute … good shot!