Opening Bell

Setting the scene ... the room was awash with black shirts with white lettering. The sense of the group was one of celebration and cheer! No, it wasn’t a 1970’s Black Sabbath rock concert. It was today’s meeting.

The shirts were from the Walk-a-Thon (WAT), and Jenny Andrews asked everyone to wear their shirts today to help thank the sponsors and celebrate the successful walk this past Saturday.

President Phil opened the meeting with a DING! He welcomed back former BBRCer Tony Banks. (Chuck Barnes yelled out to everyone to remind them that Tony Banks was a “former jar head.” Thanks, Chuck! I think?)

Invocation and Pledge

Scott Hildebrand offered today’s invocation and pledge. Scott’s prayer was a Rotary Prayer:

We are thankful for the life of Paul Harris and his work in starting the Rotary movement.

We are grateful that Rotary has given millions of people a vision of what life at best can mean.

God, grant blessings to all Rotarians around the world and help them to be true to the Four Way Test.

Increase the number of men and women who offer their lives as Rotarians.

Please guide us in our efforts to seek new members.

Let no one who wishes to be a member of Rotary miss the opportunity to join.

Grant that Rotary may help to raise up in our world generations of citizens who will live by standards of honor and duty.

May they be able to save humanity from hate and greed, and lay the foundation for a world in which all people are held to be brothers or sisters. Amen.

Visitors and Guests

Paul Chapman introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.

Paul asked everyone what club was their favorite one to visit! Wow, what a leading question! Today’s visiting Rotarians were from the Leavenworth, Emerald City, and Seattle 4 clubs.

Don Deasy Family Presentation

Dick presented the Major Donor Award from Rotary International Foundation in the name of Don Deasy. Dick noted that this presentation is an honor and a pleasure to make to the Deasy family. He offered some background on the Paul Harris Awards and the hierarchy of the awards that can be achieved.

Dick reminded us that Don Deasy was a passionate Rotarian, a charter member of the BBRC, and past BBRC President.

When Don left us, he was a few hundred dollars shy of the Major Award achievement. Dick sent an email shortly after Don’s passing asking for contributions to help Don achieve this honor. The contributions were quick to arrive and an amazing reflection on the BBRC. The gap was filled almost immediately and today Dick passed on the award to the Deasy family, including his children.

A standing ovation was offered upon the presentation! Fantastic!

April Rotarian of the Month: Chip Erickson

Chip Erickson is the recipient of the April Rotarian of the Month award! Chip was recognized for his environmental stewardship, working to organize clean-up campaigns, tree planting, etc. Way to go, Chip! You Da Man!

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Jenny offered some terrific thanks to everyone, but today was the focus on the sponsors of the WAT.

Recognized were:

• City of BellevuePratt Legacy Advisors
• Team Microsoft
• GLY
• Ben Bridge Jewelers
• Bradtrud Middleton
• Fast Signs
• Overlake Hospital
• Kornfeld Trudell Bowen & Lingenbrink, PLLC
• Peter Powell
• Alvin Goldfarb Jewelers
• Childrens’ Hospital

Jonathan Koshar talked about the sponsors and the importance of their role in the success of the WAT.

David Bohen of Brooks Running was recognized as the respresentative of our Major Sponsor of the WAT and provider of the shirts for this year's walk and also for the walk for the next three years (or more). Jonathan noted that Brooks Running has the same values as Rotary and the WAT, and that they are an excellent fit for our team!

Jonathan gave David a gift from the club, noted to have never been given before! With some suspense David opened the box ... and discovered a T-Shirt, yes, the one provided by Brooks! Very funny!

At the end of this ceremony, Jane was thanked and recognized by Jenny with a presentation of flowers. Without Jane’s effort the WAT may not have been as perfect as it was! THANK YOU, JANE, FROM ALL OF US!

PS: Dick Brown asked about the weather for the WAT!

Sergeant at Arms Corner

Cary Kopczynski was noted for receiving an award from McGraw Hill in recognition for the top 25 newsmakers internationally in the construction and engineering sector. Cary firm was one of the top 25 for last year. You can view the article from McGraw Hill here and there is also a video of Cary's acceptance speech here. Cary “volunteered” a $300 donation to the club! Thanks, Cary, and congrats!

Alan Bohling was recognized, with a little help from Andrew Face, when Andrew elegantly described how a Seattle Boat Company truck and trailer with beautiful boat S- L-O-W-L-Y drove by the walkers last Saturday. So, the Sergeant helped to “negotiate a contribution” with an auction-style approach and brought in $100 from Alan! Outstanding!

Announcements

Ken Battier of Emerald City was telling Norm Johnson about the Emerald City Rotary golf outing at Newcastle Country Club. More details are here.

Tom Smith reminded members about the new member committee meeting at Jitters! Also, Tom highlighted that the Scholarship Committee will be meeting and you should contact him if you are interested in participating.

President Phil reminded all of us to mark our calendars for Saturday, June 7th! The Water Spray Park is having its grand opening at 12:00 noon at the Crossroads Park! Please be there!

Friday's Program
Major Forrest Poole, Commanding Officer Marine Corps Recruiting Station

Introduced by Jim Gordon, Major Forrest Poole came to Seattle after getting a Masters at the Naval War College. His undergrad degree was from The Citadel. The Major has had two tours in Iraq. His wife is also a veteran Marine.

The Major began his talk noting that he’s spoken at other Rotary and civic clubs, and he teasingly said that the normal invite he receives is “Hey, Major, our scheduled speaker has backed out. Are you available?” Well, the Major noted that he is ALWAYS AVAILABLE! Hooya!

The goal for the USMC is to grow beyond 200,000 Marines. After the first Iraq war, the numbers dropped to about 175,000; but the new Commandant of the Marine Corps decided to focus on a growth to 202,000 by 2010. The Major said that they are ahead of their growth plan — over 190K today.

How can the USMC grow? Well, the response after 9/11 was rapid growth of patriotic enlistments. The Commandant has decided that deployments are kept to around 7 months max, with home tours around 13-18 months. This helps retain the current Marines.

The Seattle contingent consists of abut 100 Marines, with offices in Washington State and Idaho. Their focus is on education and exposure about the USMC and of course recruiting the best talent they can find.

The Major discussed the difference between the “All Volunteer Force” and the “All Recruited Force.” Essentially the focus is on the recruitment because most of the young men and women get educated first, then are recruited.

Disqualifications come into play relative to whether a candidate can even qualify to beome a Marine, including:

1. Physical disqualification

2. Mental disqualification ("We do have our minimun standards,” he teasingly said!)

3. High School Graduation (no more than 5% of the graduates are allowed to enter who are not graduates)

4. Moral issues that may prevent entry into the USMC.

Master Sergeant Sanchez also spoke to the geroup. MSGT Sanchez is a career recruiter who runs the Bellevue recruiting station. He has been a recruiter for 12 years, and in the USMC for 20 years, living the past 8 years in Seattle. He was born in Seattle and moved to California when his Dad retired from Boeing and relocated.

Sanchez compared his recruiting duty in Dallas versus Bellevue: the education level here is much more superior he noted with pride.

Sanchez runs a four-Marine office of recruiters. Their focus is to go out and educate the young men and women on the USMC, the options, the opportunities in the Corps, etc.

One focus by Sanchez is to work with new recruits to ensure that they are physically fit before they go to Boot Camp. They also work with the recruits to ensure they stay out of mischief and are getting prepared for entry into the Corps. In the Bellevue area, there are about 40 recruits ready to move to boot camp this summer

Major Poole summarized some key points about the delayed entry program. He reiterated that his recruiters do not force anyone into the USMC! They take the time to educate, orient and ensure that the person is the right fit for the USMC. It is the individual’s decision to sign up.

Question: What about school districts who ban recruiters?
Answer: The main focus is to ensure that the USMC has the same access rights to the students as everyone else.

Question: What kind of physical shape do you need to be in?
Answer: “That’s a great question! That will cost you $2!” He then cited one example where one recruit needed to lose 40 pounds. He entered the Recruit Depot at 248 and as of last week is 183 pounds.

Question: Where are the recruit depots?
Answer: The recruits can go to either Parris Island, South Carolina or San Diego.

Question: What is enlistment duration? What percentage are women?
Answer: Usually four year initial enlistment. There are also many women, almost too many for the current process pipeline.

Question: What about sending gifts to troops in Iraq? Suggestions for care packages?
Answer: It is HOT! (Actually he said “fricking hot!”) Nice gifts to get are hard candy, gum, sunglasses, nice small things that are really treats. Don’t send chocolate or those things that can’t tolerate the heat well.

Question: How do you train the recruiters? Are they sales people?
Answer: They train for seven weeks in San Diego then, then continuous training while out in the field. Yes, they are sales people.

Question: TV news highlighted some stories about vets returning from the military who are complaining about surprises with less than complete benefits for education.
Answer: The Montgomery GI Bill is up to $10K for training for up to 10 years and there are other education benefits available under certain circumstances.

Question: Besides going to Iraq or being in the infantry, what other jobs are available?
Answer: The biggest organization of the USMC is the aviation arm. The local recruiters are even looking for a trombone player for the marching band! (From the audience was the suggestion that we know someone who plays the harmonica!)

Question: Demographics for recruits?
Answer: Age range 18-27. Five percent are women.

Question: Why does the Master Sergeant have all the stripes on his uniform and the Major doesn’t?
Answer: The Master Sergeant is older than me! That’s why he gets the stripes!

President Phil closed the presentation by giving Major Poole our traditional thank you gift card denoting our contribution to Rotary First Harvest of 750 pounds of food in their names.

Web Fun

Courtesy of Ernie Hayden

A very loud, unattractive, mean-acting woman walked into Wal-Mart with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance.

The Wal-Mart Greeter said pleasantly, "Good morning, and welcome to Wal-Mart. Nice children you have there. Are they twins?"

The woman stopped yelling long enough to say, "Heck no they ain't! The oldest one's 9 and the other one's 7. Why in the world would you think they're twins? Are you blind or just stupid?"

"I'm neither blind nor stupid, Ma'am," replied the greeter. "I just couldn't believe someone would sleep with you twice. Have a good day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart."