Commandant's Message:
3 April 2008
From: Commandant, Department of Pennsylvania,
Marine Corps League
Subject: April 2008 Report
Those Detachment members that did not make the Spring Staff meeting missed out on a lot of good information. Our guest speaker was Dave Heiland from the Pennsylvania Department Military Veterans Affairs. He touched on all the benefits that are available to a Pennsylvania Veteran. Much of this information can be downloaded from the Department website.
We also had our internet dream team give a power point presentation on the Department website and how to use it. They did an excellent job.
I do not have the numbers for this quarter yet on Membership. We were just under the 6,000 number. The Department Paymaster has come up with a program that will bring in a few hundred Marines at one time. The program is called "Each One Reach One Active Duty Marine" and will work like this: Any Marine who is on Active or Reserve Duty will be eligible for a one year membership as a regular member in the Marine Corps League. In this case, the Department will waive Departmental Dues and will pay the National Dues if the Detachment submits the dues on a Dues Transmittal Form and delivers the form with the dues at the Department Convention. This offer is only good from April 18, 2008 to June 15, 2008. So let us get out there and talk to our Recruiters and Reserve personnel. For Active Duty Marines on Deployment you must use their home address on the Dues Transmittal Form.
How does one prove that the Marine is on active duty or active reserve? One way is to make a copy of their ID cards and submit it with the Dues Transmittal Form.
Before you know it, the Department Convention will be here. I hope to see many of you there.
Important dates to remember are:
Leadership School on May 3, 2008 at Headquarters building Fort Indiantown Gap. Please contact Bill Hackett at (610) 264-3193.
National Northeast Division meeting on 18-19 April 2008 in Woodbridge, N.J.
Central District on April 26, 2008, the same date that the Marines captured Tripoli. Contact Gordon Sheriff
Respectively submitted,
Tony DeGregorio
20 February 2008
From: Department Commandant
To: Membership
Subject: February Report
It is with deepest sorrow that I must inform all members of the passing of Past Department Commandant, John Moyse on January 21, 2008. John will be missed by many.
At Mid Winter Conference, the Department of Pennsylvania was represented by many Detachments. A lot of good information came out of this Conference. One being, that all Detachments should have their fiscal year ending June 30th and not the calendar year of December 31st. Reason being that it will make it easier for you to file under the new IRS regulations. The Department of Pennsylvania was recipients of many awards from the Postal Rifle match.
Now to get down to business, our webmasters have been working very hard on updating our Department website. They have added some new categories for you to look at. One is a link to the Pennsylvania State Veterans Commission meeting. On this link you will find a lot of benefits that are afforded to you as a Pennsylvania Veteran. The other link is the officer's and committee's reports. I would hope that you will take time before your Detachment meeting and go to the Department website and download the information for your Detachment’s members. In the near future, we will be doing one mass mailing to all our members notifying them of our Department web address so they can visit the site at their leisure.
Important dates to remember
March 28-29, 2008 Quarterly staff meeting at Fort Indiantown Gap, Department Headquarters
April 18-19, 2008 National Northeast Division meeting in Woodbridge NJ
June 11-15, 2008 Department of Pennsylvania State Convention in Carlisle PA
Semper Fidelis,
Tony DeGregorio
24 January 2008
To: Membership
From: Department Commandant
Subject: January Mail out
I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday, and your New Year’s resolution is to get more involved with the Marine Corps League. The January meeting went very well. We had new Detachments that attended the January meeting. A lot of good information was passed down at the Commandant’s council by the Detachments that attended. Some of the changes that were suggested are doing a mailing quarterly. So starting in February we will be doing a quarterly mailing to the Detachments. We also had a special guest Marine Corporal Derrick Sharpe, the third most wounded soldier to survive an attack in combat. Derrick has had a hard time since he has been back. We are asking that all donations to help Derrick be sent to the Anthracite Detachment and in the memo line write Derrick Sharpe. At this time, I would like to commend the members from the Anthracite Detachment on taking the lead in helping one of our own. This is what the MCL is all about Marines helping Marines.
With the new format that the Senior Vice and myself has implemented at the Commandant’s Council it is a huge success. We have more Detachments attending and expressing their concerns and ideas to the Department officers that are in attendance. So in the future we will maintain the format that we are using. We are trying to have a quest speaker at each staff meeting now. If everything goes right we will have a guest speaker from the Department of Veterans Affairs of Pennsylvania to explain what benefits are available to Pennsylvania veterans.
We just received the Department numbers, as of December 31, 2007 the total life members were 3,139, total paid members were 2,827 this gives us a total of 5,966 members. This number is up from September by 15. In our unpaid side, we are still carrying 812 members. I know that you are working very hard on these numbers to bring us up and over 6,000 that we carried in February 2007. In a conversation with our chaplain, we have lost a lot of Marines since June of last year.
Now for the internet, there has been a lot of time and effort put into our Department website. There is a lot of good information that is being updated on a daily and monthly basis. There has been a change to the license plate program, a link to the Pennsylvania Veterans Commission website, updated forms, and all elected staff reports. So I encourage all Detachments to designate a web sergeant adjutant or yourself to visit the Department website at www.pamcleague.org prior to your Detachment meetings for any changes in procedures and for updated news.
The leadership school will be on May 3, 2008 at the Headquarters building. Registration will be at 8:00 am.
Next Department meeting will be on March 28 and 29, 2008 at the Headquarters building. Hope to see all of you there.
Semper Fidelis,
Tony DeGregorio
Department of PA Commandant
09 December 2007
From: Department Commandant
To: Membership
Subject: December mail out
I hope that this newsletter finds everyone in good health and in the Holiday Spirits. The Department is still doing very well even though our numbers has dropped since previously reported. As of 9/30/2007, we have 5,951 Life and paid members. In our unpaid column this is where we are hurting. We have 829 members. This is a substantial increase since June 30th. I hope that the Detachment paymasters are keeping track of their membership rosters. The membership-at-large list has been passed out to the District Vices and the Detachment paymasters should have received their MAL list in their last National mailing. I hope that the Detachment officers do pass this information on to their members.
The Department website is being updated on a daily basis. All the forms that you need to do business with the Department and National are downloadable on the Department website. Hopefully this will be the last mailing that we will have to do. The Department Adjutant and the Executive Secretary have been working on a database for the Department compiling all the information so we can start sending this out electronically. We do know that here are some Detachments out there that do not have access and the information will be mailed out to them by snail mail. The Judge Advocate and his Assistant are working very diligently on getting the Department by-laws up to date. In the future they will be downloadable on the Department website.
The Winter Staff meeting will be on January 4th to the 6th at the Holiday Inn in Grantville. We had a lot great reviews after the last staff meeting. We will continue the same format with less reports and more time for the Commandants Council, and one or two mini schools.
Hope to see you all in January and have a Happy Holiday.
Semper Fidelis,
Tony DeGregorio
Department of PA Commandant
26 October 2007
From: Department Commandant
To: All Members
Subject: 2007 Marine Corps Birthday Message
I would like to wish all the Marines in our Department a “Happy 232nd Birthday”. The Corps has come a long way since our inception; many things have changed over the previous years. One thing that has not changed in all this time is the celebration of our beloved Corps. We are the only service that has had this instilled upon us in boot camp. We may forget our own birthdays and some of us our anniversaries, but as Marines we will never forget November 10th as the Corps birthday.
As we celebrate this day let us not forget those who served before us and those who are serving us today in the trouble areas. We must not forget those Marines who are sick, homebound, in hospitals, the VA hospitals, or homeless on this special day. Let us continue the tradition of taking them a slice of our birthday cake. Marines are a brotherhood that we all are proud to be a part of, because we care and are willing to help those in need.
Remember our motto “Once a Marine always a Marine”.
Semper Fidelis,
Tony DeGregorio
Department Commandant
19 September 2007
To: Membership
From: Department of PA MCL Commandant Tony DeGregorio
Subject: September Mailout
I hope this letter finds all in good health now that the heat wave is over.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the Detachments for the National awards that they won. The majority of them have been handed out at their District meetings that have already been held. We do have quite a few to be handed out yet. I do hope that all Detachments have a representative at the October Staff meeting, so that we can present these awards in a timely fashion.
In speaking of the October Staff meeting, you will be surprised to know that after quite a few years there will be changes in the format. Through the efforts of the Sr. Vice, a few Past Department Commandants and myself we will not be running a mini convention format. The only reports that will be given will be the ones pertaining to this quarter, which will free up more time for discussion, especially at Commandants Council, where the membership has the greatest input. Also, we are going to try to incorporate some mini schools for Detachments Officers.
With the changes in the new IRS regulations, it is imperative that we all know how to fill out the paper work to keep Uncle Sam off our backs. There are still Detachments that are not incorporated and do not have EIN numbers. It is important that this is taken care of as soon as possible. If the Department can help you please try to make this meeting to let us know.
As far as membership, I have not received the latest update yet. As of June 30th, the Department is sitting at 3,109 Life Members, 2,876 regular members that gives a total of 5,985 paid members. The unpaid members went up a little, they are at 785. I think that this is because the paymasters were holding back on their dues transmittal until the last minute. Hopefully, we can try to rectify this in the future. All Detachments paymaster or Commandants should have received the Member at Large list, there are quit a few names on this list, and I hope that the local Detachments have contacted these members to bring them into your Detachment.
Hope to see you all October 19th and the 20th at the Department Headquarters building Fort Indiantown Gap.
Semper Fidelis,
Tony DeGregorio
Department Commandant
19 August 2007
August 2007
From:
Department Commandant
To:
Membership
Subject: Convention Highlights
To the Members that did not attend the National convention, you missed a very good Convention in New Mexico. The Department was well represented by various Detachments, and the Department walked away with some prestigious awards. First off, I would like to congratulate Northhampton County for taking overall in the Americanism category. Northhampton County received the Gil Gray Award and an honorable mention goes to Ohio Valley. There were four Certificates of Participation in the National newsletter competition, and two VAVS certificates of Appreciation. There were three Marines recognized for the recruiter of the year award. They were Edward Forster, Robert Gilbert and James Mineo. We also had over half of our Detachments receive 100% awards.
The Bylaw changes were as follows; Bylaw 1, 4, 8, and 12 did not pass, and the rest were passed unanimously. There is still a strong push on to support HR346, which pertains to the name change to the Secretary of the Navy. This Bill makes a name change to read Secretary of the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Next years Convention will be in Orlando, Florida. I would like to see as many Detachments represented as possible. If you do not know, the Department of Pennsylvania will reimburse the Detachments their registration fee for delegates if they register 100% of their voting strength and have a representative at the Convention. With the airfares being low, we should have a good turnout. There are no overflow motels for this Convention because of the size of the motel.
The Department of Pennsylvania is doing well. I have scheduled a workshop for the District Vices and their Assistants, so the Department can better serve our membership.
With the changes that will be taking effect that were voted on by the membership at the Department Convention, in October we will be trying to go paperless. I have spoken to our Internet coordinator and the Department newsletter editor and they will be doing the best they can to accomplish this mission. Now since the National Convention is over we will be trying to put out a newsletter more often than in the past. More information will be passed on at a later date.
At the time of the Convention, our membership dropped below the six thousand-membership bracket by fifteen members. I hope this is because the dues were not submitted in a timely matter. Hopefully the Detachment paymasters can get this turned around. At this time all Detachments paymaster should have received the new member at large list. If they did not, please contact your District Vice for a copy. Please go over this list and contact them to transfer into your Detachment. Members at large do not and I repeat DO NOT benefit this Department.
Respectfully Submitted,
Tony DeGregorio
Department of Pennsylvania Commandant
9 July 2007
July 2007
From:
Department Commandant Tony DeGregorio
To:
Membership
Subject: Convention Report
I would like to thank each and everyone for
reelecting me to a second year as your Commandant. If you missed this year’s convention,
you missed the opportunity to see what six Detachments can do when everyone works
together.
I
offer congratulations to Mike White for receiving the Victor T. Fisher Award.
I also congratulate Dick Brown for receiving the Fred A. Agosta for the elected
staff and Neil Corley for the appointed staff. A
very hardy congratulation goes to Noel Haynes for becoming the Department Marine of the
Year.
We also have four new District Vices. They are SE District, Ray Devlin; NE District, Dave Pavey; NW District, John Moffett; and SW District, Ralph Ussack. There have been many new faces added to the Department Staff that the Department Roster will show. Congratulations Marines for stepping up to the plate. If you are interested in serving on a committee, please contact me as soon as possible. We do have some openings on the Toys for Tots Committee, the Americanism Committee, and the Scholarship Committee. I would like to have these positions filled as soon as possible.
There were many changes brought up at the
Convention that will be implemented this coming year.
Change 1: We are no longer using the word Division it is now District.
Change 2: After October the Department
will be trying to go paperless. What is meant
by paperless? The Department newsletter will
no longer be mailed out to the membership and will be expanded to four newsletters a year
via the Department web page. That address is
as follows http://www.pamcleague.org.
Also, there was much discussion on the payout
for the Veterans and Youth tickets. This
subject was turned over to a committee to study the feasibility of changing the current
method on how the tickets are handled.
I again want to thank everyone for their
support and confidence in your elected staff to take this Department to the next level.
Semper Fidelis,
Tony DeGregorio
10 May 2007
From: Department Commandant
To:
Membership
Subject:
May Report
Now
since the weather is getting warmer, I hope that all of the Detachments that participate
in the Veterans and Youth scholarship tickets are out there pushing the sales of these
tickets. This is the only fundraiser that the
Department does to finance the scholarships and the VAVS programs.
With all of your help this will be another successful year.
We
still have some issues that we need all of your help in getting the word out.
The first new issue is that we need all of your support in contacting the Honorable
Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense, in getting the Willow Grove Air Base turned over to
the Air National Guard and Army Reserve Units. The
second issue is in keeping the commissary open on the Western side of the State.
The third issue is getting the name of the Navy Secretary changed to Navy and
Marine Corps Secretary. These are still hot
issues and we need all of your support in accomplishing our mission in getting these
approved.
I
attended the Department Leadership School and Marine Hackett and his staff did a very good
job on the subjects that they taught. In the near future I would hope more members from our Detachments
attend these classes, because the old adage is the way we use to do it does not come into
play in the future. There are a lot of
changes that will take effect in the future that you must know to stay out of trouble.
I
hope to see you all in Cranberry Twp in June for the Department Convention.
You will not be disappointed.
Semper
Fidelis
Tony
DeGregorio
Department Commandant
17 April 2007
From:
Department Commandant
To:
Membership
Subject:
April Report
The
Department is still doing very well.
New membership rosters and MAL lists are now out.
These rosters and MAL list were distributed to all but one Division Vice at the
recent National North East Division meeting.
Our membership as of March 31, 2007 is 6,112 paid members.
We are down 107 members since December.
Since about half of these are deceased I feel that we are still holding true to our
goal. On the MAL
list we have 170 names that we must try to get transferred into our local detachments.
In the very near future your detachment paymasters will be getting this list and we
must make every effort at the local level to accomplish our mission to bring these
potential members into our local detachments.
The
Senior Vice has been communicating directly with the detachment commandants on getting
more detachments to show up for the division meetings.
He is doing a very good job because we see new detachments show up for the very
first time. Job
well done.
The
Junior Vice has been working very hard on the Calendar Program and the Veterans/Youth
tickets, but she still needs your help.
The convention is a short time away.
So sell, sell, sell.
On
the convention, the southwest division has been working long and hard to make this one of
the best conventions that you will attend.
I hope to see you there.
Semper
Fidelis
Tony
DeGregorio
Department Commandant
March 2007
To: Membership
From: Tony DeGregorio, Department Commandant
Subject:
March Mailout
I would personally like to thank
everyone for his or her understanding as to the rescheduling of our Spring Staff Meeting. First and foremost, this was done for the safety of our members.
With that being said, I hope to see all of our members on March 30 and March 31,
2007 for our next meeting.
The
Department is doing very well on staying above the six- thousand-member bracket.
However, we must not give up on our delinquent lists and continue to bring in
new members. Now is the time for all
Detachment Commandants to send in their Department level awards. For Detachments, they first must send them through their Division
Vices, and then the Division will forward them to the Awards Committee.
You must also, write up a short description as to why this person or Detachment
should receive this award.
Dates
to remember:
Staff
meeting March 30 to 31, 2007
Northeast
Division meeting April 13-15, 2007
Leadership
School May 5, 2007
Department
Convention June 20-24, 2007
Semper Fidelis, Tony DeGregorio
19 February 2007
From:
Commandant
Department of Pennsylvania
To:
Membership
I
am proud to announce that we are definitely over the 6,000-membership bracket.
As of December 31, 2006 we sit at 6,219 members.
The delinquent list has dropped 100 since September 30, 2006.
We are sitting at 494 unpaid members. A
job well done goes out to all the Detachments that have worked very hard on helping me in
achieving one of my goals for this year. We
are not very far behind the Department of New York in membership.
So let us keep up the good work.
I
attended the Mid Winter Conference.
The main thing that came out of the meeting was that we need total support for a
House Bill H.R. 346. For
the members that do not know what this is the bill proposes the redesignation of
the Department of the Navy to the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps.
Please let notify your Congressman and Senators in Washington that we are in favor
of this Bill.
Upcoming
events are that Marine Hackett is putting on a leadership class at the Department
Headquarters at Fort Indiantown Gap on May 5, 2007.
Classes will start at 0845.
You can contact Marine Hackett at 610-264-3193.
There will be some important information that is vital to your Detachment that will
be taught at this class.
I would like at least one member from each Detachment to attend to carry back this
information to their Detachment members.
The
Spring Staff meeting will be held March 16 to the March 17th.
This meeting will be at Fort Indiantown Gap Headquarters building.
Let us have a good turnout.
We
have the Nation Northeast Division meeting on April 13 through the 14th.
This will be held at the Clarion Hotel, Scranton PA.
The Department of PA will be hosting this meeting.
I would like to as many members as possible attending this meeting.
A
job well done goes to all the Detachments that participated in the Toys for Tots campaign
in 2006. By the
numbers that I have received from the Foundation the Department of PA still ranks number
one in the Nation.
Semper Fidelis,
Tony DeGregorio
11 January 2007
To: Membership
From: Department Commandant
Subject:
January Monthly Mailout
I hope everybody had a safe and happy Holiday and that everyone returned home safely from our Winter Staff meeting.
We
had a great Winter Staff meeting. Good ideas
that came out of the Commandant’s Council that were passed around to all the Detachments
that were present. I am pleased to say that we did
have more Detachments present at this staff meeting than in the past. For a lot of our Detachments this was the first staff meeting
that they had attended. I must apologize for the
meeting taking so long. I will be working with our staff on cutting down some of the
reports given. Of course, this has been said
by some of the Past Department Commandants too.
The Department has put together a leadership school for Detachment officers that will be conducted in the very near future. If humanly possible, please try to attend this school. The Senior Vice and Junior Vice are working very hard on their respective programs, and hopefully it will be another productive year for our Department. The next staff meeting if you would like to circle your calendar is March 17th at Fort Indiantown Gap. Commandant’s Council will begin at 0900. Regular business session will start right after.
I hope to see a very good turnout for the Department Convention to be held in June at Cranberry Township (near Pittsburgh). I can promise you that this will be one Convention that you will not forget. The Detachments in the Southwest Division have been working long and hard to make this happen.
Tony
DeGregorio,
