Many of you know Marine Joe Vasquez, retired Warrant Officer known to us as "Gunner."  His generosity has continued with us for years, including providing the trucks and garrison flag at our recent birthday ball.

Joe owns SkyFrog Tree Service.  On December 28th he was involved in a serious accident on the job. It involved an oak tree breaking, which broke the cherry-picker bucket he was in.  He was thrown from the bucket, impacted a tree and fell twenty-something feet to the ground.  He was wearing safety equipment.

He has a number of injuries - broken bones in his face, ribs, hips, hand ... He is in ICU at the Shands Trauma Unit and I understand he was having a partial hip replacement surgery today.  His daughters are here and they have said he will be recovering from this, although it may be extensive.

I don't know that he can receive visitors yet, but if you are one who prays, now would be a good time to lift one up for Gunner.

UPDATES on Joe's condition will be posted on a new FaceBook page.  The name of the page is Joseph "Gunner" Vasquez USMC. We will have a link on the Gator 990 site so you can follow it.

As Joe will tell us:  Stay Motivated!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday break.  Even though we don't have any meetings in December, we can be thinking about our upcoming elections.

At the January meeting, we will accept nominations for the offices of Commandant, Senior Vice Commandant, Junior Vice Commandant and Judge Advocate.

Then elections will be held at the February meeting.  Installation may follow the election at the February meeting or be held at the March meeting.

If you want to help the detachment, have someone nominate you.  It is customary in the Marine Corps League to run first for Judge Advocate, then progress through the chairs as Junior Vice, Senior Vice and then Commandant.

If you have any questions, contact any of the officers.

On Saturday, 14 November 2015, Gator 990 hosted the celebration of 240 years of the Marine Corps.  After a social gathering, over 200 guests took their places in the ballroom to watch the traditional ceremony, comments and awards, a USO Show featuring entertainment in the 60's theme, inspiring videos and dancing to the music of DJ Tibbs.

Pictured above is the cake cutting featuring our Guest of Honor, LtGen John W. Bergman, USMC (Ret), our oldest Marine Bob Gasche who is an Iwo Jima veteran born in 1924 and our youngest Marine Stephen Carlisle who was born in 1987.

About 40 items were out for the silent auction which raised valuable dollars for our missions of supporting the Young Marines and Marines in need.

Also recognized during the evening was our selection of Forest Hope as our 2015 Marine of the Year.  Forest has been instrumental in leading our detachment's efforts to help veterans in need and our missions in the community with honor guards and color guards.  His proactive approach has forged some alliances with businesses in the community that help us accomplish these missions.  We say thank you to him and job well done.

Guests attending the event came from Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, and locally from Chiefland, Trenton and Ocala, in addition to our guests from here in Alachua County.

Thank you to the people who made this a successful event.  Jim Yakubsin and Sandy Golden did a lot behind the scenes in preparation.  Sandra Torres-Pintos orchestrated the entire traditional ceremony and served as our emcee. Fred Judkins ran the video portions. "DJ Tibbs" ran the music for the evening. Ken Beasock donated many of the auction items. Forest Hope, Vernon Kisling, David Nettles, Martha Brown and others were instrumental in the planning of this event.

To see a collection of photos from the event, view our 2015 Birthday Ball Page.

Mark your calendars now: November 5, 2016, Best Western, 5pm, be there or be square.

As I write this, I say to all Veterans: Happy Veterans Day.  

This year our Birthday Ball was sold out with over 200 guests purchasing tickets by early October.  I want you to know that as we get cancellations we have plenty of people standing by to pick up those seats.  As we plan the 2016 Ball, we hope you will all remember to get your tickets early - they really can run out.

The Birthday Ball preparation has been exceptional this year and I believe that will translate to a great evening of tradition, dining and fun. Our USO Show and entertainment helps us honor our Vietnam Veterans. Our sponsors make it possible for everyone to get a nice piece of glassware to keep.  And we replaced the raffle with the Silent Auction.  We look forward to everyone having friendly fun in bidding on the items you would like to have.  See our Ball Page for some of the items.

If you are attending the Ball, we will see you soon.  The Birthday Ball Committee and our sponsors hope you have a marvelous evening.

As previously announced, the Birthday Ball tickets were selling fast.  As of October 6, 2015, we have 216 reservations, so we are SOLD OUT.  We have reached our maximum seating capacity.

If you do not have a ticket or you have not paid for your ticket, and you have spoken to Jim Yakubsin about a reservation to attend, please contact Jim to see if you have a reservation.  He can be reached at 352-222-8837.

We regret that we had this limitation.

Scott DuPree
Chairman, GatorDet 2015 USMC Birthday Ball Committee

On September 22nd, the Gator Detachment met as usual.  We had a guest speaker, Stephen Dodd, who read a very touching piece about the American Flag.  Stephen also joined us as an Associate Member (served in the Army) and is active in the veteran community.  The recipient of three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts, we welcome Stephen to our group.

It was good to see our members doing business.  Commandant Jim Yakubsin ran the meeting with his officers - Senior Vice Vernon Kisling, Junior Vice Bob Gasche, Judge Advocate John Murdoch, Sergeant At Arms Bill Beck and Adjutant/Paymaster Martha Brown. Also attending was Junior Past Commandant Dick Lester, members Forest Hope, Sandy Golden, Paul Clendenning, Stephan Homewood, Ken Beasock, David Nettles, George Gibbs and yours truly, Scott DuPree.  

These people were glad to be at the meeting.  Everyone chatted it up before the meeting while enjoying a potluck dinner.  During the meeting, the mood remained light and everyone seemed to have a good time discussing the items that Commandant Yakubsin was bringing up.  In discussion it came up that next month, Stephen Dodd is taking 90-year-old Iwo Jima Veteran Bob Gasche skydiving!!  Yes, I said skydiving.  OMG!  I mean, Ooh-Rah!  Go get 'em, Bob.  During the meeting we also voted in two other new members and spent a good bit of time talking about details of the upcoming birthday ball. 

Well, if you have not been coming to the meetings, put it on your calendar and come join us.  You'll be glad you did. 

The Birthday Ball is bound to be a big event this year.  At a time when we would have only sold a couple of dozen tickets, we have already sold about 140 tickets. We can only sell so many (the number is being reviewed now) so don't be caught off guard - go ahead and get your tickets now.

Our Guest of Honor, LtGen Bergman, is locked on.  Our DJ and photographer are locked on.  Our glassware table gifts are being ordered. Our USO show is still in development.  This will be a great event.  Don't miss it.

We will have some hardcopy tickets at the general meeting.  But you can buy them online on this website.  Act now.

Scott DuPree
Chairman, GatorDet Birthday Ball Committee

Marines, we need some helpers.  Need to be able to lift 15 pounds.

Marine Forest Hope is leading us as we partnered up with Hitchcock's to provide food for the Veterans Standdown.  On Thursday September 10th, at about 9:00am, he will be at the Martin Luther King Jr Recreation Center in NE Gainesville, near Citizen's Field off of 8th Avenue near Waldo Road.  He will need help moving about 200 bags - about 15 pounds each. 

Time to show that your membership means something to you.  Contact Forest Hope to find out what you can do to help.  386-462-5400 or email to foresthope@usa.net. 

As Junior Vice Mike Stewart has stepped down, Department Commandant Bill Cona made the necessary appointments to keep the house intact.

George LaMont of Brooksville has moved from his position as Judge Advocate to serve as the Department Junior Vice Commandant.  Filling the position of Judge Advocate is Scott Westervelt of Middleburg.  Scott is an outstanding energetic Marine who currently serves as Commandant for his detachment and District 3 Vice Commandant.

Also, Janis Beale of Palm Harbor has been appointed Paymaster.  I have met Janis is she is a spectacularly pleasant person.  The Department's financial records will be in great hands.

As a detachment, we want to see our Department level staff managing the League with competence and confidence.  With these recent appointments, we have a good team in place going into the future.

- Scott DuPree 

Thanks to a handful of GatorDet Marines, our color guard (and honor guard) is back in action.  With Marines David Nettles, Forest Hope, Bill Beck and Bob Wright carrying out the duties on July 4th in Micanopy, the American and Marine Corps Colors once again fly in a parade route.  

Color Guard Commander Nettles says they are all proud to provide the service but they could sure use a few extra bodies for when one of them is not available.  These Marines also work as an honor guard, usually with Marine Dick Lester in the configuration.

If you are interested in helping out with the Color Guard or Honor Guard, contact David Nettles 352-442-2551 or Jim Yakubsin 386-462-0493.