Due to the Commandant and the Adjutant/Paymaster being out of state for a funeral at the time of the last general meeting, which would have been the installation of officers, the installation was postponed until the April general meeting on April 26th.

Attendance is encouraged to show our support for our detachment leaders.

RELAY FOR LIFE Contribution Opportunity

Our Detachment contributions to the local Alachua-High Springs Relay for Life cancer walk can be enhanced by the following activities.  The restaurants listed below will contribute a percentage of your bill to our team when you eat at their restaurant on the day specified below.  When you go to the restaurant tell the representative there which team you want your contribution to go to [our team is the Marine Corps League].  This offer applies to lunch or dinner (up to 7:00 PM).

Tony & Al's Italian Restaurant (Downtown Alachua)  /  March 16 (WED)

Bev's Burger-BBQ Café (High Springs) / March 22 (TUE - also our meeting date)

Great Outdoors (Downtown High Springs) / April 14 (THUR)

Brown's Country Buffet (Alachua) / April 22 (FRI)

 

RELAY FOR LIFE Event is on MAY 13 (FRI), 6:00 PM - 12:00 Midnight at High Springs Civic Center.  Come out and help us walk the event (does not require constant walking and you do not have to stay for the entire event - come early is best since one of the first laps is devoted to veterans and first responders).

 

RELAY FOR LIFE Contributions can now be made at :  relayforlife.org/alachuafl   

Search for our team [Marine Corps League] and then click the donate button/text.  Checks (made out to American Cancer Society) and money can be given to Vernon Kisling at our March and April meetings.

As of 15 January, Gunner is undergoing rehab in his home.  He has a few medical professionals that come to his house daily for treatment and rehab.  He still has pins in his hands but they hope that maybe they will come out in a few weeks.

For anyone who wishes to send a get-well card or other items, his address is 10125 NW 8th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32606.  

If you have questions, you can either ask them on his Facebook page here or send text message to Amy Alexander (the SkyFrog's Angel) at 352-328-9434.  

As of about 6pm, January 8, 2016, Gunner Vasquez is in Shands Rehab 4101 NW 89th Blvd Gainesville , FL, Room 1912B. If you've wanted to send flowers or whatever, now is the time.

Please honor Gunner's wishes and coordinate visitation with Amy Alexander. She will have the schedule for therapy and find opportunities for all to visit without being overwhelming and trying on him. Also, until he is stronger, they must limit the time of visits to 20 minutes and only 2 people at a time.

This is only here at the start. As he gets better, they may remove the restrictions altogether.  Text Amy Alexander at 352-328-9434 to schedule a visit.

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.