Andy Blenkle is busy organizing our next San Diego Reunion. The dates are October 16 - 20, 2013. The Crowne Plaza Hotel will begin taking reservations in December (619-297-1101 --- mention "38th OCC"). Andy has some awesome events planned, so mark your calendar and let your close Classmates know you are planning to attend. More details will be forthcoming shortly.

As you know, we start our Annual Contributions drive on the Marine Corps Birthday. So, we are now accepting contributions for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

We would like to encourage a nominal $25 donation from every member.

If you would like to donate at a leadership level, those are as follows:

Anchor $1 - $74
Globe $75 - $149
Eagle $150 OR MORE

All contributions are strictly voluntary, tax-deductible and will be recognized on our website. To view the Contributions Honor Roll, please go to the Class website, then click on: Info Library/Class Assn Info/Contributions.

In addition to operational expenses, we use these funds for a few charities including the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation (Children of Fallen Marines).

Checks should be made payable to "38th OCC/Basic Class 3-66 Alumni". On the memo line, please insert "Tax ID No. 54-2099257" and mailed to our Treasurer, Steve McComb, at:

Steve McComb
12904 Glenfield Road
Leawood, KS 66209

Thank you for your continued generous support of the Class!

I am sad to report Roger Probst passed away recently and was interred at Fort Rosecrans in San Diego on October 18th. Due to great co-ordination by Andy Blenkle, a group of 8 Classmates attended the ceremony. In addition to Andy, those attending were:

Terry Cox, Dave Mellon, Frank Schigg, Earl Wentworth, Gerry Phillips, Tony Lopez and Joe Robben

L/Cpl Michael Probst, Roger and Judy's younger son, who died in Iraq in 2006 was disinterred from Riverside National Cemetery during the morning and reinterred that afternoon with Roger in a very moving ceremony. Military honors were rendered at the Ft. Rosecrans shelter, where the service was presided over by the Senior Chaplain at MCRD, a Navy Commander. Most attended the reception/dinner at the Venetian Restaurant that followed and offered their condolences and those of the entire Class to Judy and her family.

While the group was at Fort Rosecrans, most of the group also visited the grave of our classmate, 1st Lt. Philip H. Sauer, who was killed April 24, 1967 on Hill 861, in the opening action of the Hill Fights at Khe Sanh.

Gone, but not forgotten!

We have a great website and I hope you have all visited and are enjoying it. Dave Mellon is currently doing the coordination with our webmaster, Sam Patel. When you have a few minutes, please go to the site and look it over:

www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com

Please dig out your favorite Marine pictures and send them to Dave at:

dave.mellon@att.net

Dave will have them added to the appropriate album on the website (OCS/Basic School, Vietnam, Active Duty Post-Vietnam or Reserve Duty)

Please send in your pictures for posting on the website.

The Marine Corps Birthday celebrated in November served as the kickoff for our annual fund raising activities. These voluntary contributions help fund the organization and provide the funds for our annual Charitable Contributions. The various levels of support remain the same as past years:

Nominal - $25
Incentive: Anchor - $50
Globe - $100
Eagle - $150

All contributions are strictly voluntary, tax-deductible and will be recognized on our website. To view the Contributions Honor Roll, please go to the Class website (www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com), then click on: Info Library/Class Assn Info/Dues Honor Roll.

Checks should be made payable to "38th OCC/Basic Class 3-66 Alumni", marked "Contribution" on the memo line and mailed to our new Treasurer, Steve McComb, at:
Steve McComb
12904 Glenfield Road
Leawood, KS 66209-1745

Thank you for your continued generous support of the Class!

We have a great website and I hope you have all visited and are enjoying it. Dave Mellon is currently doing the coordination with our webmaster, Sam Patel. When you have a few minutes, please go to the site and look it over:

www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com

Please dig out your favorite Marine pictures and send them to Dave at: dave.mellon@att.net

Dave will have them added to the appropriate album on the website (OCS/Basic School or Vietnam, etc.)

There is lots of interesting stuff on the website. Check out the Bereavement policy, National Museum of the Marine Corps Brick Program and the Archive of President's Newsletters.

The Marine Corps Birthday celebrated in November served as the kickoff for our annual fund raising activities. These voluntary contributions help fund the organization and provide the funds for our annual Charitable Contributions. The various levels of support remain the same as past years:

Nominal - $25
Incentive: Anchor - $50
Globe - $100
Eagle - $150

All contributions are strictly voluntary, tax-deductible and will be recognized on our website. To view the Contributions Honor Roll, please go to the Class website (www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com), then click on: Info Library/Class Assn Info/Dues Honor Roll.

Checks should be made payable to "38th OCC/Basic Class 3-66 Alumni". On the memo line, please insert "Tax ID No. 54-2099257" and mailed to our Treasurer, Steve McComb, at:

Steve McComb
12904 Glenfield Road
Leawood, KS 66209

Thank you for your continued generous support of the Class!

We intend to modify some of the bricks that we dedicated at the Marine Corps Museum in 2007. We want to add a brick for Corporal Ray Potter who died in Vietnam while serving with the 2nd Platoon, Lima Company 3/26 north of Cam Lo. Ray attended OCS with the Class. We also intend to correct some information with regard to two of our aircrew losses. Ed Fickler was flying A-6s with VMA(AW)-242 out of DaNang, when he was lost over the A Shau Valley. Bob Kent was flying F-4Bs with VMFA-314 out of Chu Lai, when he was lost over the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos. In both cases, we had the dates Ed and Bob were declared dead by the Defense Department on their original bricks, rather than the dates their planes crashed. We want to correct this omission and the incorrect dates. These three bricks will cost $900.

If you would like to contribute to this effort, please make your check out to "38th OCC/BC 3-66 Alumni" indicate on the memo line "Brick Donation."

Please send your check to Steve McComb.

Steve McComb
12904 Glenfield Road
Leawood, KS 66209

Dave Wall and Sam McClinchie are going to again lead a "Return to Vietnam" Trip for the Class, which will focus on the important Marine Battlefields in I Corps and a visit to historic Hanoi. If you have ever thought about going back and walking the ground you did as a young Marine, now is the time to do it. The Tour will cover all the important Marine enclaves and battlefields between Chu Lai and the DMZ. You can review the entire brochure by clicking on the following link - Brochure

If you have any questions after reviewing the brochure, please contact either Dave or Sam to discuss your questions:

Dave Wall (dfwirish@gmail.com) or phone: (603) 471-0655
Sam McClinchie (ammjm@consolidated.net) or phone: (724) 316-5201

If you have no questions and wish to sign up for the tour, you can access the Tour Registration form by clicking on the following link:

Registration Form

Those Classmate who have actually returned with Military Historical Tours has raved about the experience. We are not getting any younger. This may be your last chance to revisit Vietnam with a tour lead by your Classmates. You are encouraged to consider this opportunity.

Our Class Website is developing into a valuable resource. If you are not familiar with it or haven't visited it, plug the following link into your web browser:
www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com

I think you will like what you see.

We are in the process of upgrading the website by adding more pictures in four albums that have been created but we will need your help in populating. If you have pictures you would like to have added to the website, send them in digital form to Dave Mellon (dave.mellon@att.net). The desired specifications for the pictures would be:

• 72 dpi resolution
• jpeg format
• 1 to 1.5 MB

Please include with your digital pictures:

• Your proposed caption for the photo.
• Your rank at the time the picture was taken
• Last name, First Name
• Month and Year the photo was taken
• USMC or other location where the photo was taken (for example: MCB Camp Pendleton or North of the Rockpile)

The new albums we want to populate are the following:

• OCS/TBS Pictures (Other than the formal OCS Platoon Pictures that are already posted)
• Vietnam Pictures
• Other Active Duty Picture
• Reserve Duty Pictures

Initially, we would like you to limit the number of pictures you submit to four (4). We are looking for a great response to this call for pictures. Get into your memorablia trunk and pull out some good ones and convert them to digital format and specifications detailed above.

Thanks for your support of this project

As you probably know, our Class lost 32 men as a result of their service in Vietnam. Board Member, Terry Cox has agreed to coordinate the collection and posting of recollections of these Classmates on the website. If you have additional information which would add further texture to the tapestry of their lives, please follow the instructions on the website and submit your stories to Terry. He will ensure they get added to information already collected on the website.

To access the Remembrance Project, go to the website: www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com
Click on "Members of the Corporation" (The first item on the left side)
Click on "3. Vietnam Deaths - Site of the Remembrance Project".

There you can view what has been posted already and detailed instructions are available on how to add your recollections of each man to that already posted.

Recently, I noticed that little had been written about our Classmate, Wayne Hayes. Yet, I had read about the circumstances of his death in Keith William Nolan's "Operation Buffalo - USMC Fight for the DMZ". Accordingly, I wrote to Terry Cox for inclusion in the Remembrance Project. Check it out.

Thank you for adding your recollections to the histories of these "Warriors", who "gave all".

Steve Snyder
Secretary of our Class, has been elected Vice Chairman of the Board of the Marines Memorial Association, the parent organization of the Marines' Memorial Hotel and Club, located at 609 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94102-1027. The Marines' Memorial is a great location in downtown San Francisco to stay when you are visiting the "City by the Bay". You can make reservations by calling (415)673-6672.

Tricare for Life Beneficiaries
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has floated a proposal, "Budget Options: Volume 1, Health Care", in which over 100 ideas intended to reduce civilian and military medical care or charge more for service were recommended for the consideration by the Congress. The impact of the recommendation on Tricare for Life would require beneficiaries to pay for he first $525 of Medicare-eligible military benefits and then half of the next $4725 out of your pocket. It is recommended that you protect your interest by contacting your Congressional Representative and Senators and let them know that you do NOT the terms of Tricare for Life changed.

Vietnam Archive
A recent email circulated identifying the site of an excellent Vietnam Archive at Georgia Tech:

http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/fac/Thomas.Pilsch/Vietnam.html

Another excellent archive with a USMC Collection is the Virtual Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech. It can be accessed through the link below:

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/

Enhanced VA Mortgage Options Available
The Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, which was signed into law by President Bush on October 10, 2008 will help veterans with sub-prime mortgages to refinance into safer, more affordable, VA guaranteed loans. With the new law, loans may be made up to $729,750, depending where the property is located. For more information, or to obtain help from VA Loan Specialist, veterans may call 1-877-827-3702.