The June luncheon honoring the new cadets from GA will be Friday, 13 June. It will follow the Governor's send off, which is scheduled for 1100 - 1130, so it will be LATER - 12:30. As usual, the new cadets are our invited guests, and we hope for & anticipate a large crowd of them. Don't embarrass the Society by wimping out because your stomach cannot wait that long. Venue: Yaarab Shrine Complex on Ponce de Leon. Cost $15/$20. Speaker: Col Karl Reinhard, CDR, 71st Ord GP (EOD) at Ft Carson, CO, will talk about 15 mos of chasing IED's in Iraq. (Yes, he's our son.) Karl returned on 14 Feb, this year. His Gp HQ went over as a unit (all 24 of them) to control all Army, USN & USAF EOD assets in the country. That was about 1000 folks when you include the Intel & police type forensics assets. They racked up some 25,000 missions, dis-armed/blew in place approximately 9,000 IED's and did post-event investigation analysis of another 4,000 IED's that functioned before they arrived on scene. Their main goal was to protect the troops from the IED's, while developing data to identify the bad guys & put them out of business. The group was the first users of the controversial MRAP's. Karl reports that they suffered no KIA's from IED's being detonated by the MRAP, though they did suffer some WIA's. He will give you one user's take on that behemoth. Iraq is the first war wherein the EOD troops have been essentially in the front lines, and it showed in the casualties. At the annual EOD memorial event this May, they remembered about a dozen KIA's and several more troops who suffered significant life altering wounds. The unit received little (Call that none) publicity for their successes or actions. MOF, I looked all year at the names & units of casualties reported in the news. EOD units were never listed with names of casualties. In spite of the publicity over the IED problems & challenges, the war to defeat them was conducted in the shadows. The "Crest" for the organization in Iraq appropriately uses the two spies (black & white) from Mad Magazine to symbolize its continual back & forth measures & countermeasures with the bad guys. Location: Yaarab Shrine Complex, 400 Ponce de Leon Ave, NE, Atlanta, GA 30308. 1230 hrs or 12:30 PM, 13 June 2008. Cost: $20.00 per non dues-paying members and their guests; $15.00 per person for dues-paying members and their guests. (A reservation made is a reservation paid!) Pay by cash or check only at the door OR online. There will be no refunds. As usual, RSVP on line or by e-mail to Jan Heath or by phone to Jan; questions should be directed to Don Reinhard, author of this saga
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. This is going to be a catered affair so we need to know early that you are coming. *Early RSVPs and payment are strongly requested. RSVP NLT COB Wed, 11 June. *Late changes - Call Jan Heath, (404) 464-5351 or email:
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Don Reinhard '59 |
