MCL Dept. of North Carolina

MCL Iredell County Detachment #1097 Officer Installation on February 25, 2010

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:52:39 GMT

MCL Department of NC Commandant Dennis Brockland, Chief of Staff Pete Meletis, Aide-de-Camp Steve Wilson and Midwest District Vice Commandant Hank ‘Doc’ Kaczmarek installed the 2010 officer team for Iredell County, Detachment #1097. The installed officers were Commandant Buddy Hemric, Sr. Vice Commandant Luca Cotrone, Jr. Vice Commandant Joe Vallone, Judge Advocate Vic Horne, Adjutant/Paymaster Bill Stewart, Chaplain Frank Turner and Sergeant-at-Arms Todd Carter. This was a test for Dick Camery

(Updated) Our condolences to the family and friends of Tech Sgt Adam K. Ginett

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:31:00 GMT

Our condolences to the family and friends of Tech Sgt Adam K. Ginett

According to the Department of Defense, Ginett, 29, of Knightdale, N.C., died Jan. 19 near Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan of wounds from an improvised explosive device.

Adam is the grandson of Marine Corps League Member Jim Haslam of the Tar Heel Detachment in Raleigh.

An improvised explosive device killed the 29-year-old Jan. 19 near Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan.

The same type of explosives the Knightdale native was tasked with discovering and disarming to protect other members of the military.

Ginett was assigned to the 31st Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal flight at Aviano Air Base, Italy.

The heart felt gratitude of the Marine Corps League goes to all that make sacrifices for this Great Nation and especially to the family and friends of these brave heroes.

VISITATION:
Thursday, January 28, 5-8 p.m.
Thomas Funeral Home
401 N. Ennis St.
Fuquay Varina, NC 27526

Visitation and Decoration Ceremony will take place on Thursday evening between the hours of 5 and 9 pm at St. Bernadette Catholic Church, 1005 Wilbon Road, Fuquay-Varina. http://st-bernadettechurch.org/

FUNERAL SERVICE
Friday, January 29, 11 a.m.
St. Bernadette's Catholic Church
1005 Wilbon Rd
Fuquay Varina, NC 27526

BURIAL
Raleigh Memorial Park (with full military Honors)
7501 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC 27612

Cherry Point Detachment 1067

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:37:00 GMT

Thanks to the efforts of some really motivated Marines including Commandant Tom Ray Sr. and Sr Vice Commandant Owen Smith of the Cherry Point Detachment we are proud to report the Cherry Point Detachment met last evening and installed new Detachment officers.

This Detachment is now reactivated and fired up and will make a difference in the Department of North Carolina. I congratulate the efforts of Dept Jr. Vice Commandant Wally Darling and Dept DVC Ron Cooper in helping to make this happen, I also want to thank George Barrows for his assistance.

Detachment Commandant Tom Ray Sr. is looking forward to attending our upcoming Dept Quarterly meeting and meeting with many of you at the Commandant’s Council meeting on the 29^th at 7PM in Greensboro. In the mean time feel free to email your congratulations to Tom and his Detachment at raybomarine@ec.rr.com I am sure he would like to hear from you.

Marines this is a great example of not leaving any Marine behind, we are proud to be Marines and Marine Corps League members and while it is important to recruit new Detachments it is certainly just as important to keep the ones we have. Again I wish to thank all those involved in this matter and I look forward to seeing you soon. Semper Fidelis,

Dennis A Brockland
Commandant
Department of North Carolina

Veterans Day - Hooters in Burlington

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:42:00 GMT

The Hooters in Burlington, owned by a Marine (Orin Ealey; MOS cook [ooh-rahhh!]), wanted to do something for Veterans Day. This is the first time a Hooters has ever been involved with a Veterans Day recognition project. This Hooters Manager contacted his Corporate management and told him that he wanted to do something new and special for Veterans.

After discussing his ideas of having the National Anthem sung live, and having Marines present the Colors, Corporate was very curious about this and told this manager (Marine!) that they would approve his location only to pilot this program to see how it worked out. If it went well, they would consider going Nation-wide with the program next year. Well, needless to say, it went GREAT! We supplied the Colors and the rifles and had a great many Detachment members present, along with the Burlington Marine Corps Recruiters, some Airmen and Corpsmen in full uniform there for the presentation. The crowd was unbelievably receptive of the whole event and the manager could not have been more pleased. The camaraderie between all of the branches there was second to none as well. There was plenty of handshaking and hugging throughout the whole restaurant between the Veterans. It was a great event and we look forward to doing all we can next year as well. Also, this Hooters has promised to work with us with Toys for Tots as well.

In the end, a Marine from Hooters, spear-headed a program that is sure to be a National event next year. This is due to the assistance of the local Marine Recruiters that called me for assistance, and our Detachment willing to do all they can for this pilot program, that is sure to be a favorite event for many across this Nation over the coming years.

Semper Fidelis,

Bruce R. Rakfeldt
Adjutant
Department of North Carolina

Birthday Message from Commandant Brockland

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:35:00 GMT

Department of North Carolina

Marine Corps League

Happy Birthday Marines from the Department of North Carolina Marine Corps League. On our 234^th birthday of our beloved Marine Corps I want to take the opportunity to congratulate each and every one of you on a job well done. The Department of North Carolina Marine Corps League is a leading Department in the National Marine Corps League and we are upholding the mission and purposes of our League in all we do.

Your Commandant has been visiting many Detachments across this great State and every where I go I am impressed with the amount and level of service provided by our Detachments to our veterans, our active duty Marines and the citizens in our communities. We are so privileged to be Marines and we are living up to our motto of “Semper Fidelis”. Being a member of the Marine Corps League has given this Marine a sense of purpose in life and a mission to perform for God, Country and Corps, the League and the Marine Corps has been and still is a blessing to us all.

I know many of you will be celebrating our birthday in fine fashion and I wish I could be with all of you to participate. I plan on attending the Birthday Balls in Lenoir , the John E Ferguson Det 1208 on Friday 6 Nov; the Iredell County Det 1097 on Saturday 7 Nov at 1800hrs in Mooresville; the Capt Jeb Seagle Det 1265 on Saturday 7 Nov at 1930hrs; and the Table Rock Det 1197 on Saturday 14 Nov in Morganton at 1800hrs. Please feel free to join me if you don’t have a Ball to attend.

Marines as we move forward this year we have many exciting events on the horizon. The National Marine Corps League Convention will be hosted by the Greater Greensboro Detachment 260 in Greensboro in August; The Department of North Carolina Convention will be hosted by the Tar Heel Detachment 733 in Raleigh in June; and we have Quarterly meetings in January and April. All of these events give us an opportunity for fellowship, business and a chance to share our experiences as we go about our mission in the Detachment areas of operations. I look forward to seeing each of you at one or more of these functions.

Finally I want to thank all of you for allowing this Marine to serve as your Commandant; it is an honor and a privilege that I will be forever grateful. Semper Fidelis,

Dennis A Brockland

Commandant

Department of North Carolina

Marine Corps League

Dale Wilson

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:05:00 GMT

Story by Dick Camrey

The Troutman Baptist Church in Troutman, NC celebrated Dale Wilson Day. Dale Wilson is a Marine and the National 2009 Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year.

Dale Wilson is a member of the MCL Iredell County, Detachment #1097 that lost both legs and an arm from a command detonated 105mm booby trap in Vietnam. The ceremony was very moving and consisted of opening remarks by the Detachment Commandant and presentation of a Distinguished Service Award, the presentation of the Long Leaf Pine Award by Steve Pierce which is the highest award granted to a civilian in the state of NC, proclamation of Dale Wilson Day by the Town of Troutman by Mayor Elbert Richardson, speech by the MCL Department of NC Chief of Staff to include comments from the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps General Amos, presentation of a Certificate of Appreciation by the MCL Department of NC Commandant, and certification and presentation of a flag flown in 2005 in Operation Iraqi Freedom by the Marine Corps League Past National Vice Commandant Mideast Division Vice Commandant.

Additionally, there was a video presentations “Soldiers Prayer”, and American Soldier, a very moving video of Dale’s Grandchildren talking about their Grandfather, a testimony from Dale’s daughter, comments from Dale’s wife Linda and final comments by Dale. Dale said “I don’t know how you can go about explaining such a blessing. I can’t believe the effort people went through today and I appreciate it so much.”

Dale is a very courageous Marine that has overcome what many of us would have considered handicapped but if you talked to him and watched him you would never know it.

Socks for 2/2

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:49:00 GMT

In February, the Department of NC Marine Corps League was made aware of a WBTV program that provided the opportunity to purchase high quality combat socks for $6 dollars a pair from ThorLo a Statesville, NC company. These socks normally sell for $12 to $14 a pair. An initiative was undertaken to get each Detachment to donate funds to purchase these socks. We collected a total of $2,375 dollars from the Department, Captain Jeb F. Seagle Detachment, Onslow County Detachment, Chris S. Ebert Detachment, North Carolina Foothills Detachment, Iredell Count Detachment, Tri-County Detachment, Blue Ridge Detachment, Stanly County Detachment, Richmond Leathernecks, Outer Banks Detachment and a special donation from Doc Kaczmarek.

36 pairs of socks were purchased in April and sent to Sergeant Joshua Haynes for distribution to his unit. Joshua is a member of the Foot Hills Detachment and his unit was already deployed in Iraq.

On October 13^th, the Commandant Brockland and Dick Camery went to Camp Lejeune and personally delivered 207 pairs of socks to the 2d Battalion, 2d Marines since they are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in October. Sergeant Major Heyob met us and provided us the opportunity to distribute the socks, gave us a tour of their Battalion and Company Headquarters, and introduced us to many of the troops, Staff NCO’s and Officers. The entire team was very appreciative and gung ho on what their mission is going to be. We even met the entire Battalion Aid team. See pictures

Picture 1: (L – R) LCpl Olson, Sgt Major Heyob, Commandant Brockland, Dick Camery

Picture 2: Marines getting socks with Commandant Brockland observing

Picture 3: Battalion Aid Station Corpsman with Commandant Brockland and Dick Camery

Carry-On Detachment 1236 Raffle

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:16:07 GMT

We have a winner!

Bob Learn, Commandant of Carry-On Detachment 1236 of The Marine Corps League, Johnston County and Ken Parker present their raffle winners check to Dr. Dicky Parrish of Selma.

Dr. Parrish won the raffle for the Savings Bond drawn at the Clayton Harvest Festival. In addition to buying raffle tickets Dr. Parrish supports the Marine Corps League with donations of tooth brushes and tooth paste that we include in our monthly care packages to Marines deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Left to right in picture Bob Learn, Dr. Dicky Parrish and Ken Parker.

Hot from the 2009 Convention! Tant Wins!

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:29:00 GMT

By Commandant Brockland

I am very proud to announce that Marine Jim Tant has won the election for National Vice Commandant of the Mideast Division and is your representative to the National Board of Trustees. He will be assisted by Rudy Garcia as the National Assistant Vice Commandant of the Mideast Division. Rudy is with the Chesapeake Detachment 853.

Everyone extend a congratulation to these Marines. We are fortunate to have such dedicated and experienced members in our leadership.

Full story on the convention when we return!

Semper Fidelis

Dennis Brockland
Commandant
Department of North Carolina

Department Commandant Dennis Brockland's Convention Report

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:06:00 GMT

Marines, FMF Corpsmen, and Associate Members

Greetings from the Department of North Carolina Marine Corps League. It is my honor and pleasure to serve as your Commandant this year and I thank you for the opportunity and assure you the Department Staff will do everything in its power to continue it's mission and attain the goals set last year and this year to enable the Department of North Carolina to be a premiere Department in the National Marine Corps League.

Our primary Goal continues to be Communication and it is our desire that the Marine Corps League will have a presence in every community in this great State. The message we carry is tantamount to our success as a Veterans organization and our message, simply put, is service to God, Country and our Beloved Corps. We are privileged to be Marines and through our actions as Marine Corps League Members we are given the opportunity to give back what has been given to us. We give by being servants to our brothers in arms and our communities and families, and this service, by its nature, is selfless, it will not work any other way. Thank you for your selfless service this past year. You are to be commended. The Goals for the Department are listed on the Department Web Site and I encourage all to review these and help your Department reach these this coming year.

We have re-designed the Districts across the state and added one more District, for a total of ten, in the Mid West portion of the state. Your District Vice Commandants represent the Department in their Districts and we encourage the use of the chain of command in all matters concerning the League. Please check the Department Web Site for the location of your District and the name of your District Vice Commandant. All Department Staff officers including District

Vice Commandants are on the Department Web site. Our state is divided into two major Areas; NC West and NC East, Senior Vice Commandant John Grindel is responsible for NC West and Junior Vice Commandant Wally Darling is responsible for NC East. I want to welcome Don White from the LCpl Alan Lam Detachment as the new Department Historian and Trish Winsett as the new Department Public Relations Officer, Trish is also the Managing Editor of our North Carolina News Center located at NCMCL.NET. Your entire Staff of Officers from last year with few exceptions has agreed to serve with us another year and I commend all of them for a job well done.

The 2009 Department of North Carolina Convention held in Burlington June 12 through the 14th was superb and by far one of the best conventions I have been privileged to attend since I have been in the Marine Corps League. I commend Commandant Mark Grimley and the convention committee from the LCpl Alan D. Lam Detachment #1209 for their efforts and the hard work put forth to make the convention a resounding success. I have not heard anything but praise for a job well done. The hospitality room was well staffed and always full of life and esprit de corps; the meeting room was set up in a very professional manner and certainly enabled our business meetings to run on schedule and with ease. The Banquet hall provided adequate seating for all and provided an atmosphere of congeniality, ceremony and celebration second to none. Thank you Detachment 1209 for a task well done, you have set the bar for years to come. An after action report is being prepared by the committee for the Tar Heel Detachment who will host the convention next year.

Congratulations to our Marine of the Year Hank "Doc" Kaczmarek and our Woman of the Year Trina Avery. The Capt Jeb Seagle and the Table Rock Detachments can be proud of these members for their selfless service and devotion to duty. Congratulations also to Past Department Commandant Peter T. Meletis on receiving the "God and Country" award and for receiving the Distinguished Citizen's Gold award. This award is from the National Commandant and is a first for a Department Past Commandant.

Our speaker Major General Tom Wilkerson, USMC (Ret), a Marine Aviator with quite a record of service to our Corps and Country, made us all feel proud and certainly gave us reason to feel good about being Marines. I haven't seen an Air Force bumper sticker yet. His talk was enthusiastic, entertaining and filled with moments of delight as he shared his experiences with us. General Wilkerson is a Marine Corps League member by the way and certainly deserves our thanks and respect.

Our Convention was well attended by our Detachments across the state; there was not an empty seat at the banquet or in the meeting rooms. I wish to thank all who attended and I look forward to seeing many of you at the up-coming Staff meetings. I am proud to be your Commandant and I believe we have an excellent Staff of Officers to serve you this coming year. We will succeed in our Mission and we will reach our Goals; the Department of North Carolina is setting the pace for the Marine Corps League and it is through your efforts and actions and not just what we say. Thank you and Simper Fidelis,

Dennis A Brockland

Commandant

Department of North Carolina

Marine Corps League

Agenda Dept. of North Carolina 2009 Annual Convention

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:59:00 GMT

The Department of North Carolina will hold it's 39th annual convention in Burlington, North Carolina this year. The convention is being hosted by the LCpl. Alan D. Lam Detachment and will be held
June 11 - 14, 2009.

More...

Memorial Day ceremonies near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

patricia.winsett@mcl260.org — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:06:00 GMT

WASHINGTON - APRIL 20: Marine Corps League, Department of North Carolina Commandant Dennis Brockland of Morgantown, North Carolina observes Memory Day ceremonies near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial April 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund posthumously honored 123 Americans from the Vietnam War during the Memory Day ceremony, which honors those who died prematurely from non-combat injuries and emotional suffering caused directly by the Vietnam War, but who do not qualify under Department of Defense rules to have their names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)