The Greater Cincinnati Chapter is extremely vibrant and a review of the chapter’s activities in pictures demonstrates this point. We plan our membership meetings to be interesting, insightful, and entertaining.   This is essential to keeping our members involved in the chapter. The chapter meetings always involve social time where the president and other board members great the membership and speakers.

In March, the chapter On March 29, the chapter collaborated with the Daughters of the American Revolution, Nathaniel Sackett Chapter, and we conducted an observance of the Vietnam Memorial Day.   At this ceremony, we thanked veterans and their surviving spouses for their service during Vietnam conflict.  They were all happy to receive thanks and a salute from a retired naval officer Hank Gurry, CAPT USN (ret).  As shown in Figure 1, these veterans were given Vietnam commemoration pins.

David Corlett, a retired Cincinnati police officer (and former Army helicopter crewman in the Gulf War) spoke about the Cincinnati Police Department Homeless Veterans outreach program that he started.  It continues today, providing help to homeless veterans.  This program partners with other Cincinnati agencies.   His interactions also involved substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. He frequently directed troubled veterans to agencies that addressed their psychological problems. We invited JROTC cadets (Figure 2) interested in a law enforcement career to this meeting. These cadets were very interested in this talk.
. 
At our June membership meeting, LtCol Paul Fellinger (USA, ret and chapter treasurer), his wife Paty, and their daughter recounted their experiences during 1983 and exercise Able Archer 83.   At the time, Paul supervised a depot for chemical and nuclear weapons in Northern Germany near the Keil canal. They recalled that the family was under constant observation from Warsaw pact intelligence operatives.  Listening devices were found in their quarters and their quarters had to be swept and cleaned by counterintelligence. Figure 3 shows the intense interest of the audience. Interesting meetings keep our members engaged in our chapter’s activities. 

On November 1st, the chapter conducted a symposium titled “SURVIVING SPOUSES, RETIREES, AND VETS BENEFITS”.  This seminar was focused upon preparing spouses for becoming the survivors of veterans or retired service members. The attendance was 42 including both enlisted and commissioned veterans and retired service members.  They heard a detailed discussion of the following topics: planning ahead, estate planning, Veterans Administration (VA) benefits, decedent affairs at VA, VA aid and attendance benefits, Tricare, and long-term care planning.  Figure 4 shows Ken Bowman (Frm 1st Lt, USA) thanking Orlando Sanza for the support of the Hamilton County Veterans Commission.   Figure 5 shows President Heitbrink thanking Stephanie Byrd for the use of the conference room at the Red Cross building in Cincinnati.

At our December meeting, the chapter consolidated the members’ monetary contributions of $770 to the Toys for Tots campaign.  Figure 6 shows the Marines visiting with Santa and Mrs. Claus. The chapter enjoys some fun during meetings. This year our chapter was very generous with donations totaling $1650 to these organizations:  Toys for Tots, Honor Flight Tri-State, Red Cross (Southern Ohio), Elder HS Glee Club (Military Sabbath), Easterseals-Redwood, and Joseph House.