2012-02 Commandant's Message

Here we are in February. I for one am glad we are through the holidays. As a detachment, we have a busy time in front of us. We need to elect new officers and form committees for the golf tournament and the Marine Corps Ball.

Larry Mineer has been working hard to form our color guard. He has had a number of meetings for members to practice flag folding.

We have received 2400 rounds of blank ammo and 100 clips from the Army at no cost to the detachment. We are still waiting for ten M-1's, but we are now sure our request has been approved. I will continue to follow up with the Army and we should have the rifles in next two months. Twelve members attended the funeral service for a Marine last month. But, the American Legion still had to handle the grave site service. We want and should provide this service at the request of families of Marines.

We are completing the sale of 2012 Dixie Direct Book which again has been a good fund raiser for the detachment. A number of members continue to step up to make it happen. The sales this year will be more than double the sales last year.

Our detachment brochure for recruitment of new members will be available at the February meeting thanks to the hard work of Clyde Johnston.

The big problem which continues to exist is our low attendance at monthly meetings and retention of members. We have at least five members who have not been sworn into the detachment. We need everyone to help in contacting these absent members to encourage them to attend meetings. We have had a number of outstanding speakers and we will continue to have interesting speakers. If you have ideas how we can improve attendance or if you have a service project we could work on, please come to the monthly meeting and speak up. I, myself am very proud to be a member of this detachment and I try to do what I can to make it grow.

I hope to see you all at the monthly meeting.

Carl Kulyk, Commandant

January Commandant's Message

Well, a new year is upon us! I guess we are all a little older and hopefully a little wiser.

We had a very busy December with Toys for Tots and selling Dixie Books. A number of members helped at Walmart and the Dixie Center. About eight members are working hard to sell Dixie Books. We sold sixty-four books last year and the number at this time is more than eighty. If you can sell or would like to buy a book, please contact the Chaplain at 435-656-2461.

Because of a few members working hard on the golf tournament, ad sales and the Dixie Book, we were able to donate more than $2,400.00 to worthwhile causes in the area on behalf of the league. As a reminder, our detachment only keeps less than five dollars from your yearly dues.

The final Marine Corps Ball 2011 report is in and we made a few dollars. We need someone to chair the ball committee for 2012. If you are willing to help, please contact me.

The color guard has been practicing flag folding and as soon as our M-1's arrive, drill practice will start. Larry Mineer still needs a few more members for the color guard. We are still waiting for the M-1 rifles but the Army has sent me the forms to obtain the blank ammo and the clips. They do not send out these forms until our request for rifles has been approved. As with the rifles, there will be no cost to the detachment for the blank ammo or the clips. I have submitted the forms to obtain the items.

Detachment members were at the Elks Club to do the set-up, cook and the clean-up for the Shop-with a-Cop event. Our long time member Joyce Thomas was there to help. After the event at the Elks, our color guard made up of Les Covey, Steve Ikuta, Clyde Johnston and Bill Toole assembled at the Saint George Airport to give a proper sendoff of the ashes of one of our detachment members who passed away a few years ago. Bill Feeney handled the bugle and our Chaplin D’Arcy Grisier did the final reading. Jack Stanfill provided his plane and a co-pilot for the spreading of the ashes. The wife of the Marine was present and very grateful for the service. It is our mission to support Marines and their families.

Our detachment has agreed to host the quarterly State Staff meeting in March. They will attend our regular meeting in March, then have their own meeting afterwards. Our next general meeting is on January 14, 2012 at the Abbey Inn at 8:00 a.m. I hope we can improve on attendance in 2012. Steve Ikuta will have another very interesting speaker. If you have noticed someone you know in the detachment who has not been attending the meetings, please call them and ask them to attend. We are also always looking for new members.

I do hope you had a great Christmas season. Thank you all for your support and assistance in 2011.

Carl Kulyk, Commandant



December 2011 Commandant's Message

Well, here we are. Christmas is nearly upon us, and 2012 is just around the corner. The Marine Corps Ball was a great success with more than 145 persons attending. Sunriver did another great job with the meal, and the band was again right on tune. A number of people enjoyed the dance music after the formal program. Pat Lisi, Dave Estrovitz, Ken Olsen and Tom Cover along with their wives put in numerous hours making it happen. The final numbers are not in but we are very close to breaking even. The ad sale, like last year, started out slow but Pat Lisi took charge and the faithful few went out and sold the ads. We should clear more than $1,200.00 after we pay the cost of printing and the certificates of appreciation that we present to everyone who purchased an ad. We also need to thank Cherry Creek Radio for running a spot for the ball on all their stations.

The dedication of the Veterans Memorial Park at Sunriver on November 11 was a success. Many of our members took part in the dedication of the park and the lunch thereafter. Tom Cover was the MC at the event. Also, on November 11, a number of our members marched in the St. George Veterans Parade.

The speaker at our November 19 meeting was again outstanding. We need to thank Steve Ikuta for finding these great programs. At the December 10 meeting the program will be on Life Flight unless they are in the air on an emergency flight. I do hope more members attend this meeting to show that we appreciate the speakers giving up Saturday morning to attend our meeting.

The Toys for Tots details are forming and, if you can help, contact Larry Mineer, Jim Haney or me for details. We will also assist this year with the Shop-with-a-Cop breakfast at the Elks Club once I obtain what help they need. I will send out an e-mail as soon as I have all the information on the event.

We are still waiting for the M-1 rifles from the Army and, as I reported before, they will not give me a shipping date. We have purchased the white rifle slings and I have started the request to receive the free blank ammo from another Army Depot. I think that I have dotted all the “i”s and crossed all the “t’s,” so now we just have to wait till they ship the items. The members at the last general meeting approved the purchase of a gun locker which was required to store the M-1's. Les Covey was brave enough to go out at 5:20 a.m. and fight the crowds on Black Friday to get us a great deal on the locker. A couple members are going to pick up the locker and take it to our storage shed.

Now that we have pictures of our members at a few different events, we will move forward to complete a brochure which we can use to recruit new members and promote the league. We may also send a package this month to the Marine unit that we adopted in Afghanistan as soon as someone contacts me to volunteer to set up a committee to handle this project. This is the second time that we tried this type project. It ended last time because no one wanted to help. They may only be deployed a few more months and at this time of the year it would be nice to show our support. I just don’t feel good about asking the same few people to step up each time to get things done.

I do hope to see everyone at our meeting on December 10 at 8:00 a.m. at the Abbey Inn. We need at least 25 members to attend to break even. Your spouses are invited to attend and hear the speaker. A couple wives attended the last meeting.

I do wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and/or a happy holiday season along with a happy New year.

Carl Kulyk, Commandant

November Commandant's Message

The month of November is here. That means another year has nearly passed. It is also time to celebrate the 236th birthday of our Marine Corps on November 10. Pat Lisi and his committee have worked very hard on planning for the ball this year. We had approximately 62 persons at the ball last year but this year it may exceed 100. The Olsens, Estrovitzs, Lisis and Covers spent many hours planning to make the event a success. They kept me out of it to insure success.

The honor guard at the ball will be handled by Larry Mineer, Les Covey, Jack Stanfill and Terry Hansen. The cake cutting will be handled by Dave Houston, Rick Massey, Bryan Butas and Alfie Deming. For the members who could not find time to attend or attended another ball, you will miss an outstanding event. The ad sales were a little less this year but we raised more than $1,300.00 for the league. The less than 10% who care stood up and got the job done again. It used to be the 10% were the screw-ups, but now it seems it is the 10% who really try hard to make the league a success.

On November 11, the Veteran's Honor Park at SunRiver will be dedicated. A number of our members will be there to raise the flags, fire the rifle salute, provide the drum and bugle music and march in the opening event. The members planning to assist are Bill Toole, Rick Massey, Bryan Butas, Dennis Cory, Les Covey, Clyde Johnston, Ken Olsen, Larry Mineer, Terry Hansen, Jim Haney and Tom Cover.

We were asked to be part of the St. George parade on November 11 after we committed to be at SunRiver. Larry Mineer, the Color Guard sergeant, put out an e-mail asking other members to step up for that task. The only member at time of writing this article was D'Arcy who stood up, and he cannot carry two rifles and two flags with the banner. I hope that before the due date a few more members agree to help. I would particularly like to see the members who had one-half their uniform costs paid by the league take part in this event.

We have received notice that we have been approved to have use of ten M-1 rifles at no cost. We hope to have the rifles in the next ninety days. The Army will also provide the clips and blank ammo at no cost. The only cost thus far is for ten white rifle slings at $8.50 each. We do intend to purchase a secure rifle cabinet when we find a good sale. It is now time to expand the Color Guard so, in time, we will be able to do a full military funeral. We did provide a presence at two funerals this month for Marines. One was with less than two hours' notice thanks to Bill Toole, Jim Haney, Pat Lisi and our Chaplain, D'Arcy Grisier.

Because of the ball and use of our meeting room, the general meeting for November will take place on the third Saturday, this month only, which is November 19. Steve Ikuta has arranged for another great speaker as he has done the last couple months. We will be learning about staying well from an expert. You are all welcome to bring your better half to have breakfast and hear the speaker.

At the meeting, we will be discussing our involvement with Toys for Tots in December. We have two members who will handle the assignments at the Washington WalMart, but we need someone to handle the assignments at the Bloomington WalMart. Jim Haney has agreed to assist if someone will agree to help him. We intend to cover the doors from 0900 hrs to 1500 hrs two Saturdays and one Friday at both WalMarts. We also will help one night at the Bloomington Walmart from 1700 until 2200 hrs.

And lastly, we have picked up the new Dixie Direct Books to sell. The cost per book is $35.00 and the league receives $15.00 for each book sold. A few members took part last year and we sold sixty-four books. We picked up sixty books on Thursday October 27 and sent out e-mail to all members. By that Thursday at 1600 hrs, Clyde Johnston had orders for more than twenty books from his friends. Bryan Butus took thirty books to sell and the other staff members took a number to sell. We picked up an additional sixty books on Friday October 28. We got the books last year late, but this year we are ahead of the other groups. The books are not hard to sell but you have to ask people to buy them. D'Arcy Grisler has agreed to store the books to pass out to members for sale. You can reach him at 435-862-8883. We will have books at the general meeting, but hopefully you have read the e-mails which were sent out and you are already selling books. You should have any check for a book made payable to MCL #1270 and immediately send to the MCL 1270, P.O. Box 553, St. George, UT 84790.

HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY MARINES!
Carl Kulyk, Commandant

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October 2011 Commandant Message

Well, it’s October and all the snow birds should be home. At our last two General meetings the attendance was nothing but very poor. We had 19 in August and 14 in September. Steve Ikuta and Colin Harrison worked hard in having very outstanding speakers at those two meetings. We had Washington County Search and Rescue in August and two police officers who spoke on gangs and drugs in September. For those who did not attend, you missed two very informative programs. Steve Ikuta has an outstanding program ready for our October meeting. We have more than 65 members so we can have a better showing of respect for the speakers who give up their time to provide us with great presentations.

We have ordered ten M-1 rifles from the Army at no cost to the detachment. If everything goes through the first time, we should have them in about two months. We will order the ammo and slings once we know the rifles are on the way.

We need more members to stand up to serve on the Color Guard. Some of us are a little older and we cannot march a long distance but we can march fifteen to twenty steps and be part of the Color Guard at funerals. The families appreciate it when we attend the service for a fallen Marine. We are it unless active marines have time to come from Las Vegas.

We have a number of things happening on November 11 for Veterans Day which we need to discuss at the general meeting. The Toys For Tots program will be starting some and I have requested Rick Massey advise us at the meeting as to what assistance he would like us to provide. If we have time to prepare, things work much better.

The Marine Corps Ball will be held before our next general meeting on November 19. The committee continues to work hard so the ball on November 10 will be a great success. It is sad that they have to take time to make calls to a number of members to determine if they plan to attend the ball. At this time less than 30% have purchased tickets even when the committee lower the tickets by $10.00 each. If you miss their call, please return their call so they can determine a count.

At present time there is a small group of members who work very hard to make our detachment a success. Without them, I could get nothing done. And then there is a group that likes to snivel about everything. I remember when it was always posted “no sniveling” but I guess Marines now feel it is proper. If you see things that needs to be changed step up and help make it right. It is sad when people stay away because there is something they don’t like but they won’t step up to make things better.

Hope to see everyone at next meeting and the ball.

Carl Kulyk, Commandant

September Commandant's Message

Well, it is now September. It is time for some cooler weather and the near return of our snow birds. The turnout at last general meeting was a little low but it was also vacation time. We hope to see the regular turnout at the general meeting on September 10. We plan to have a speaker from the Saint George Police Department.

The purchase of six M-1's was approved and we are in final stage of sending in the order. We still need a few members to step up to join the color guard. We attend a couple funerals this month and our attendance is appreciated by the families. We hope to be able to provide a full funeral service in next few months. It all depends on each member doing his or her part.

The Marine Ball committee is working hard to finalize the event. The tickets will be available at the meeting for $25.00 each. It would make it much easier on the committee if you would purchase your tickets at this time so they can plan on a member certain. There will be no tickets sold at the door. If you don’t plan to attend they also would like to know. You should be getting call from a committee member soon about tickets, please be sure to return their call if they miss you.

I have been advised that our ad sales are slow at this time. The cut off date in mid October so it is now time to get out and get ads. You should report any ad sales to Tom Cover. We will have the ad sale forms at the general meeting. We all have our own doctor, dentist, barber and car repair person, and you don’t know if they will support our program unless you ask. Only a few members worked on selling ads last year and we cleared more than $1,600.

I have been advised that the Dixie Direct Books may be available the first part of October so it is time to advise your friends that we will be selling them again this year. Everyone should be able to sell a few if you just try. We are hoping to have a schedule for work this year soon for Toys for Tots so we can start getting prepared. You can see there is a lot happening at this time and that we need your help to be successful.

See you all on September 10 at the Abbey Inn.

Commandant Carl Kulyk

UPCOMING EVENTS:

9/10    8:30 Monthly Detachment Meeting; Abbey Inn
9/09    MCL Departmental meeting in Richfield Utah.

11/10  Marine Corps Birthday Ball @ Sun River