Greetings,
It’s hard to believe it’s already August 2024. So much has been accomplished since our last newsletter, to include our 44th DUSTOFF Association Reunion in San Antonio and the Quad-A Summit in Colorado!
I am proud to say that our association is growing and vibrant. We have a momentum that’s directly projecting positive change. This upward projection is due to our incredible volunteers who have not only performed their roles well but have allowed me to focus on building lasting relationships with industry partners and small business owners.
Over the last year or so, our annual sponsorships have grown. The association now can operate with a cash flow to fund our new website, off-set prices for awardees at future Summit/Reunion weekends, fund scholarships, grow our DUSTOFF Store, and much more. Shout-out to our sponsors: Sikorsky, Breeze-Eastern, Air Methods, Collins Aerospace, RVbyMilitary, 9Line*LLC, Freedom Fuel Bees, Vertical Lift Consulting, Germania BrewHaus and Alaka’Ina Foundation. Together, these incredible companies have donated and pledged $23,000 a year to our operational budget! We are truly grateful to these companies and their representatives for their generous support to our association and the mission they believe in!
At the professional meeting this year, we voted on creating a new volunteer position. This position is the Assistant Executive Director and COL (Ret) Rick Ortiz has volunteered to fill this role for the year leading up to the 2025 DUSTOFF Summit/Reunion in D.C. At the reunion, I will turn over the Executive Director duties to Rick and COL (Ret) Dave Zimmerman will assume the role of Assistant Executive Director, in support of Rick and the association. LTC (Ret) Chris Wingate will hand over the role of President to LTC (Ret) Pat Zenk. We are currently discussing who our next Vice President will be. The leadership changes that have occurred and are planned have been significant and will move our association forward. These incredible leaders will continue to shape the association well into the future with strategic goals in mind, always.
Our other superstar volunteers are SGM (Ret) Jeff Mankoff, Secretary; COL (Ret) Jack Leech, Treasurer; MAJ (Ret) Kris Willis, Store Manager; COL (Ret) Brian Almquist, Membership Coordinator; COL (Ret) Bob Mitchell, Hall of Fame Committee Chair; and our non-positioned volunteers, like COL (Ret) Dan Gower, COL (Ret) Johnny West, BG (Ret) Dennis Doyle, COL (Ret) Scott (Scooter) Drennon, and many others! I would like to especially highlight Ms. Cindy Bittar, who has volunteered to replace Kay Rhodes as our Reunion Registration Volunteer. She is highly motivated and honored to fill this role. She is already well underway at creating the products needed for a successful reunion! Thanks to all of our volunteers for your dedication to the DUSTOFF Association!
Our memberships through this August are above the average and we will exceed our previous benchmarks by a good margin. I am also proud to announce that the new dustoff.org website is live! You will notice many changes to the overall look of the pages and how dynamic the site is. There are still some items that we are currently addressing and hope to have the site at 100% soon!
We have worked with the AMEDD Museum Foundation and the National Museum of the U.S. Army to create two identical DUSTOFF Unit Tribute Plaques. These plaques will be installed on the wall along the walkway leading to the National Museum of the U.S. Army and at the AMEDD Museum at Joint Base San Antonio. These tribute plaques were designed to Honor all DUSTOFF crew members who have participated in the DUSTOFF mission, putting themselves in harm’s way to save lives. The funds for these plaques were donated by our very own association members. They would not have been possible without the dedication and stewardship of Rich Beauchemin and Herb Coley!
The AAAA Solutions Summit was in Denver, CO this year from April 24-26, 2024.
The Association was well represented and signed up over 25 new members. We even had the Army Surgeon General come hang out with us! If you would like to volunteer at the 2025 AAAA Summit in Nashville, please send me an email.
The 45th DUSTOFF Association Summit and Reunion in 2025, will be in Alexandria, VA, near the DC capital region. We chose the DC area to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. We hope to get all our Vietnam Veterans to attend so we can get a photo with all of them in front of the Vietnam Memorial in the National Mall. Please go to www.dustoff.org to register. We hope that our Vietnam Veterans will get to see friends they deployed with, who they may have not seen for many years! A daily schedule of events will be out this month, as well as meal choices and pricing!
Another wonderful accomplishment for the DUSTOFF community is the passing of the Congressional Gold Medal (CGM) through the House and the Senate! MG (Ret) Patrick Brady, Medal of Honor Recipient and staunch advocate of the CGM, along with Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and our very own Association President, Chris Wingate have helped move the passing of the CGM across the finish line to President Biden’s desk for approval!
My personal goal for my remaining time as your director is to continue to build relationships with corporate and small business sponsors and increase our annual revenue. We have also developed new sponsorship levels that provides recognition for multiple monetary donation amounts. If you have a heart to give, this is the avenue for you to help. You don’t have to own a business to make a difference! Also, I want to focus on our 2025 Summit and Reunion in D.C., ensuring it is the best reunion in our history that none of us will ever forget!
As I like to say…We are America’s DUSTOFF, and we should all be proud of this distinction! We have provided first-class MEDEVAC support to America’s fighting forces, in peacetime and war, for over 70 years. Now, more than ever, our association must be prepared to continue our legacy for our DUSTOFF Heroes well into the future.
We are a precious group of people, and we should never forget it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service and sacrifice to our country. Also, let’s never forget, the men and women who have selflessly given all in support of people they may not have ever known. DUSTOFF!
John H. McMahan
Executive Director
DUSTOFF Association
