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This is Howgozit
#11 for all ANA Wing Commanders, ANA Squadron Commanding
Officers and Membership-At-Large. It would be much appreciated
were you to pass this on to all your members and colleagues.
Along with Santa
Claus at this time of the year comes some good news for ANA and,
indeed, good news for all of Naval Aviation too.
First, for all
of you who donated to our end-of-year capital campaign I thank
you. We’re far from out of the woods financially just yet, but
we’re on the road to recovery.
Second, the news
from the Fleet is good. So is news about the execution of the
Naval Aviation Plan. The F/A-18 with the Advanced Electronic
Scanning Array (AESA) radar is in the Fleet and operating well.
The EA-18G Growler is being delivered but even as it is the
venerable EA-6B with ICAP II is doing yeomen’s work in
neutralizing IEDs in Iraq and more. The V-22 is also in Iraq
and apparently measuring up to what the Marines had hoped. The
E-2D made its first flights in August and will soon be at sea
working not only with the carriers and their air wings but with
the Aegis cruisers in missions as diverse as ballistic missile
defense. The MH-60R/S is replacing the SH-60B and SH-60F on
decks across the fleet. Last week in Wichita construction was
begun on the first P-8A fuselage, the initial step in an even
more capable and potent maritime patrol and reconnaissance
force. Look to the next issue of Wings of Gold for even
more good news on the P-8 and air launched weapons too. Of
course, with an election coming next year and the army and
Marines in dire need of reconstitution all this could change in
a heartbeat. That’s why your ANA has to keep on truckin’.
Black clouds on
the horizon aside, there’s still enough good news in the future
for ANA to keep us smiling.
Mark you
calendar for May 8 and 9 in Pensacola. That’s when the Naval
Aviation Museum Foundation will hold its annual symposium and
ANA will have a role to play. Three ANA awards will be
presented during the course of the symposium and on the
afternoon of Friday, May 9, we will have an ANA membership
meeting, our first since our reorganization. We hope you can
make it.
Then further
into the future, take note of the year 2011. That will be the
100th Anniversary of U.S. Naval Aviation. VADM Tom
Kilcline, Commander Naval Air, has taken the lead on organizing
for a year-long series of commemorative events and has appointed
a small element on his staff to do the planning. At the same
time Admiral Barney Kelly is chairing a group in Pensacola under
the aegis of VADM Gerry Hoewing to help with the planning
there. Our ANA staff is working with the Pensacola people to
help where we can and everyone is being supported wherever
necessary by the Naval Historical Center in Washington. Those
who recall the 75th Anniversary remember a gala year;
2011 bodes to be even better. More to follow.
Turning to the
more recent past, as we approach the end of the calendar year we
can note that we have also just passed the one-year anniversary
of the new ANA. That first year has seen a number of remarkable
milestones but it has also revealed how far we have yet to go.
First, the milestones.
Early on we had
to separate from the Naval Aviation Foundation (NAF) which had
been the caretaker organization from the disestablishment of the
earlier ANA. We had hoped to recoup certain assets from them
but it turned out they didn’t have much. Thus, except for some
office equipment and some out-of-date membership lists we had to
start from scratch.
To effect that
separation and to reconstitute under the law we needed the help
of an attorney versed in such matters. Through the great
generosity of our chairman,
ADM Jim Holloway and upon the
recommendation of Rear Admiral Tom McClellan, an attorney and
former ANA board member, we engaged the right lawyer from the
right law firm. Our separation form the NAF is now covered by
an Assumption and Assignment Agreement, the new ANA is now
incorporated as a non-profit organization and we have Articles
of Incorporation, By-laws and other necessary legal documents.
Because the
people who undertook to get the new-ANA up and running are so
few and the cost of establishing an office too much,
administrative help was sought elsewhere. Fortunately, our
colleagues in the Surface Navy Association (SNA) came to our
aid. For several years they had used Howard Associates for
their administration. With the help of SNA we were able to
contract with Howard at a reasonable fee and they have been a
strong right arm to us ever since. When you phone in to ANA or
send in a membership renewal you are actually dealing with a
Howard person, something your small Washington area staff
couldn’t do since they work out of their homes.
With some help
from Howard, our secretary/treasurer maintains the membership
rolls and the financial records, “the books.” Sorting out
membership has been a Herculean job largely because during the
hiatus period the rolls were not maintained, not all ANA members
belong to squadrons, people move and pass away and not everyone
has e-mail, among other reasons. Yet, progress is being made.
The steady decline in membership during the last two
years or so has stopped and our numbers are, finally,
increasing, albeit only slightly for now – we all need to work
membership!
We have a
Wings of Gold circulation approaching 9,000 and
almost 7,000 ANA members. Of that number, approximately
2,470 are “regular” members who renew and pay their ‘dues’ on a
regular basis (every one or three years); those members provide
the dues that we need to keep us “in the black”. The remainder
of the almost 7,000 members – some 4,500 to be more exact - are
Charter and Life members who paid a large membership
subscription some time ago and who no longer provide ‘dues’ to
our treasury.
The books are
solid, although a bit thin; money remains one of our most
serious and persistent problems, a problem ameliorated by those
of you who have responded with donations from time to time, but
a persistent problem nevertheless. At this point, the keys to a
more comfortable financial position seem to be to recruit more
members including corporate members and to increase Wings
of Gold advertising.
All of the above
notwithstanding, we are ever-mindful of the mission of the ANA,
“…to educate and
encourage an interest among the general public as to the
importance of Naval Aviation in the defense of the United States
and its allies….”
To fulfill that mission we must communicate
and this we have done in several ways. We have established a
website, http://anahq.org. We have launched two Blue Stripes
this year, eleven Howgozits counting this one, issued numerous
Bullhorns and written several letters to editors in attempts to
correct misinformation; but our flagship publication is, of
course, Wings of Gold.
In the past, ANA provided WINGS OF GOLD to
members and, as part of its education and outreach mission, to a
large number of other recipients, such as our Navy, Marine and
Coast Guard aviation units and air-capable ships, Members of
Congress, NROTC units and many other places. Unfortunately,
that part of WINGS OF GOLD distribution was stopped during the
financial crisis of a couple of years ago, stopping a large part
of ANA’s information program. We are now very happy to announce
we have been able to reestablish all of that distribution,
greatly enhancing ANA’s presence in all those vital areas.
Wings of Gold reaches far beyond ANA
membership and has an influence far beyond our rather narrow
Naval Aviation community. While in no way an official Navy
publication, time and again it’s content is cited in academic
journals, professional publications and legislative corridors
alike. You can be proud of your journal. You could be even
prouder through your own contributions, through soliciting more
advertisers and by causing one or more copies to be sent to high
schools, colleges and university libraries in your area or
whereat you might have a connection. On that score, we really
do need the help of the membership.
In any event, thanks for what you have done
and best wishes to you all for 2008. Sky anchors aweigh! Bob
Dunn. |
