For the July 6th, 2024 meeting, our objectives are:

1. (1)  Observe a moment of silence for all military members who have made the ultimate sacrifice, especially our own Victor Jeffries. (Play video for Tigersharks who have passed away).

2. (2)  Current Website status report, especially including online commerce. Report on revisions completed. Reunion photos are to be added to the website as soon as these become available. Official photos have not yet been received. What else should we put on our website?

3. (3)  50 Williamsburg Reunion Tango Tigershark coins were purchased and have been received. One coin was mailed to each attendee, except for a few who did not provide their address. Several more have been sold. We currently have 20 remaining and are offering these for sale at $15 each with free shipping.

4. (4)  We recently received one order for a Customs Badge (Coin). This cannot be shipped until August due to the traveling activities of Tammy & Joe.

5. (5)  ThepresentationforKeshiaJeffrieswasnotaccomplishedvirtuallyatthereunion,since the plaque was not ready. This however was recently presented in Hawaii. See photos on the Tango Customs website.

6. (6)  15 tumblers total with a Tango Tigersharks emblem printed on the outside for the Nashville Reunion are also available for sale on our website.

7. (7)  An official next reunion location poll has yet to be submitted. The current is unofficial since we have no way to determine how many times, and who is doing the voting. I suggest we submit another poll for where our 2026 reunion will be held at the end of December (As we did last time).

8. (8)  As most of us know Eric Varela is mobilized. This makes it impossible for him to always be available for us with our Treasury needs. In the past, we have had an Assistant Treasurer. The addition of Tigershark Michael Martin (A retired banker), our Assistant Treasurer to our bank account is still in progress.

9. (9)  Contact with “Acapellest” and drill team members cannot occur until after school starts in September. We will send them an official letter of appreciation and coins in gratitude for their helping us with our Williamsburg Reunion. Vote on this.

Our budget: Our bank balance is $2184.64 as of July 2nd, 2024, up from $2139.73 on May 30th, 2024. This increase is due to coin sales and dues.

Regarding our membership numbers:

FYI: We had 26 paid members for 2023; this included the 16 Life members. 2024 membership numbers are now at 22 members, including 16 Life Members. (As clarified by Eric). This may need an update.

Review of past events, and plans:

Our 2nd Reunion took place in Nashville, TN. June 9th-12th, 2022 in Nashville-Opryland, as scheduled. This reunion was for Tango personnel only and their guests.

Our 3rd Reunion took place from May 3-5, 2024, in Williamsburg, Va. Our main venue was the Embassy Suites Hotel.

Our 4th Reunion is planned for 2026. The location is still TBD. A preliminary “feeler” (Non-scientific) poll was taken from attendees of the 2024 reunion only. This produced New Orleans as the preferred location, with a Carnival Cruise taking the #2 slot.

We still are considering future reunions where all customs personnel will be invited to attend. This could be at a yet undetermined future date (Could this be 2026).

Current Association objectives:

By Laws Review and Revision due .Review our By-Laws and publish a new revision before September.
Website status update, including online commerce. https://www.navycustomstango.org/?fbclid=IwAR0rEEA3QGVp0Qb7B3_hfEneu5 9cekoC4G3T7H8fPvFKLpH59f_mVhrPSyM

The presentation for Keshia and/or Elizabeth Jeffries was not accomplished at the reunion. This was however accomplished via Til Valhalla volunteer The plaque was delivered to Victor’s wife Elizabeth in Hawaii.
WE ALL NEED TO continue work to increase Association membership, by using the telephone, email, and other contact methods then, report and submit information about contacts. The new website has been useful and has resulted in increased membership dues payments and swag sales.

Sell Swag, especially the additional tumblers we have purchased, and the remaining Williamsburg reunion coins.
An E-mail list of our members for the mailing of meeting minutes communications now exists; we are continuously improving this list. Maurice Meadows has volunteered to call persons on the list. Simply a call with a greeting and some conversation can be very helpful, no need to be overly solicitous, or even ask for $$$
Can we publish our most recent minutes on our website?

FYI: Encourage past members, and all Tigersharks to join us by sending $15.00 for their annual 2024 dues, and any other payments, to our Asst. Treasurer’s home address with regular mail; his address is:

For PayPal membership payments ($16 – including $1 to cover fees) send payments as

Email account: rest173@aol.com - Note this is for dues and other payments via PayPal.

!!!!!!! Website payments are now possible! Simply visit the website and submit payments. These funds go directly to our bank account, no work is required by Eric or anyone else. Critique the website, let’s improve it as much as possible. https://www.navycustomstango.org/?fbclid=IwAR0rEEA3QGVp0Qb7B3_hfEneu5 9cekoC4G3T7H8fPvFKLpH59f_mVhrPSyM

Officers/Committee Members:

1. (1)  All main Officer positions are now filled for 2024. All Officers and committee members; please be sure you have paid your current dues. We will vote to add an Assistant Treasurer at this meeting!

2. (2)  Our History Committee still needs additional members! Thank you to Denise Thomason for revising the video for our Williamsburg reunion, by adding the name of GM1 David Swab.

3. (3)  The Reunion Committee currently has adequate personnel; however, it would be helpful if our existing members increased their participation.

4. (4)  Elections are in October of this year; newly elected or reelected officers will take office for the next 2-year period in January 2025. Their term will end Dec 31st, 2026. Start thinking about nominations for all officer positions.

By-Laws Revision is Due:

We will be reviewing our by-laws for the next 2 months and will publish a revision in September. Please take some time to review these and share your thoughts and suggestions. Also we have has some suggestions already, for example allowing the Reunion Committee to vote of certain issues, especially on matters regarding reunion planning.

Our current (2023-2024) roster of Officers and Assistant Officers will remain as follows until December 31st, (For election information) 2024:

• President – Michael L. Taylor

• Vice President – David Casteel

• Secretary – Leah Delamarter

• Treasurer – Eric Varela

• Assistant Treasurer - Michael Martin

• Note: Committee positions are not elected

follows:

Please note that all Assistant positions, except Assistant Treasurer, are vacant, this is a matter for discussion, and it is a problem that we may need to resolve. Not having backups puts us in a precarious position.

Swag Committee Updates (No changes):
(1) Shot glasses and Navy Custom Badge coins are still available for sale. Contact Joe Fountain (at Joe’s email listed below) for more information.
(2) Cruise-book CDs are also still available for purchase (Or free?). submit orders via PayPal using Friends & Family with the email address jbcuzz@yahoo.com.

1. (3)  All 2022 Nashville Reunion coins have been sold.

2. (4)  17 more 2022 Nashville reunion Tumblers are available for sale at $30/each.

(This was approved by Officers during the July 23, 2023 meeting)
(5) 20 coins remain commemorating our 2024 reunion in Williamsburg. These are $15 (Free shipping) on our website. See website for photos and other details!

History Committee Updates:
Google Drive updates and re-organization are continuously taking place. Leah Dove manages this.

New Business: Please present new business or provide a reminder about topics not covered here.

Monthly Communications: These include our meeting minutes; they are provided by email to members etc. Minutes are also available to all persons who have access to the Tango Tigershark Messenger, and Facebook Tango Tigersharks groups. These include our meeting minutes and are published after each meeting (Not monthly). If you are a paid member and are not receiving minutes via email and would like to get these, please notify any of our Officers. Other communications from the Tango Tigershark Association are also periodically posted at these locations.

Previous meeting minutes: From June 1st meeting, 2024

Tango Tigersharks & Customs Personnel,

FYI: The following is a summary of events that occurred during our Tango Tigershark Officers and Committee member meeting, that occurred on June 1, 2024. (Note: Reports are issued here and at other locations, after each meeting).
Attendees (Members who provided at least one comment during this online 24-hour messenger group meeting):

Michael Taylor – President

David Casteel – Vice President
Leah Dove - Secretary
Eric Varela – Treasurer
Michael Martin – Assistant Treasurer
Ellie May (Anne Andrews) – Reunion Committee Joe Beck – Reunion Committee

Objectives for this meeting:

• Moment of silence for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice • Provide reunion review and analysis
• Current website status report especially online commerce
• Treasury Status/ Funding Issues

• Williamsburg Reunion Tango Tigershark coins were purchased and have been received • Donation for LTC Vargas’ guest’s fees
• Poll for the next reunion
• Discussion about making Michael Martin the assistant treasurer as Eric is mobilized

• Discuss the possibility of sending an official letter of appreciation to the Acapellest and drill team.
• Presentation for Keshia Jeffries to be accomplished virtually
• Swag, what we have left and the cost for each item

Treasurer's (Including membership status) Report:

(1) The current total in our account is: $2139.73, this amount is down due to the reunion expenditures.
(2) We paid $3913.89 for reunion expenses. This is missing the expenses made in advance of the reunion.
(3) 2024 membership dues are down, and we hope to get membership numbers up.

Reunion Review:

1. The tours were good, but it was mentioned that maybe on the second day, only one tour would have been enough. The second tour seemed to be rushed.
2. It would have been nice to have a little bit of free time on the second day.
3. Overall, the duration of the reunion was well accepted. Longer could become too expensive and shorter would not be enough time.

4. Tours were not purchased beforehand; this is something that needs to be addressed for future reunions.
5. We should be aware that a lot of walking required for events is not acceptable for some participants.

6. Overall, the reunion went well, and we had a great time.
7. The Yorktown lunch and silent auction were all good benefits for the reunion.
8. The officers voted on and passed to provide coins to the singer of the National Anthem and the drill team if we can get their contact information.
9. Officers voted on and passed making Michael Martin our Assistant Treasurer. He has accepted the position.

Open Issues and information:

(1) Send out an "official, and scientific" poll to determine the next reunion location to all Tigersharks for the next reunion.

(2)

Website Update:

1. Having the website has made coin orders and dues payments much easier.
2. Social media posts have been instrumental in positive spikes of awareness of our Tango Tigersharks Association.
3. Photos of the reunion need to be added to the website when possible.

Future discussions:

1. The Jeffries plaque is still in process. It could take up to 3 more weeks.
2. An exploratory poll was done of May 2024 reunion attendees only, about where the next reunion should be. The #1 preference was New Orleans and #2 was a carnival cruise. We will discuss this further and send out another poll to email addresses.

Swag Sales:

1. All Nashville coins have been sold.
2. We still have 17 tumblers from Nashville to sell. We may need to reduce the price to sell these.
3. The silent auction during our recent reunion featured several donated items. This resulted in $461 of proceeds for the Association.
4. Our 50-50 Raffle at the reunion gave us $105.

Next Scheduled Meeting Date: Saturday, July 6, 2024, beginning at 10 AM (1000) CST. Thank you,
HT2 (EXW) Delamarter, Leah Dove
Tango Tigershark Association Secretary

Edited by ITC Michael L Taylor, USN, Ret.

Attendees (Members who provided at least one comment during this online 24-hour messenger group meeting):

Michael Taylor – President

David Casteel – Vice President

Leah Dove - Secretary

Tammy Brinkman – Reunion Committee

Joe Beck – Reunion Committee

Objectives for this meeting:

• Moment of silence for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice

• Get out the contact list to the 7 volunteers so they can contact the Tigersharks before the next meeting.

• Current website status report especially online commerce

• Treasury Status/ Funding Issues

• Review of By-laws

• Poll for the next reunion

• We will begin accepting nominations for 2025 & 2026 officers after this meeting.

• Discuss the possibility of sending an official letter of appreciation to Acapellest and the drill team.

• LTC Rich Vargas gave an update on his book about the Tigersharks.

• Swag, what we have left, and the cost for each item

Treasurer's (Including membership status) Report:

(1) The current total in our account is: $2184.66, this amount is up due to interest.

(2) We had 22 paid members for 2024 and 16 Life members.

 Reunion Review:

1. We voted and passed to provide coins to the singer of the National Anthem and the drill team if we can get their contact information. This will be discussed further at the next meeting.

Open Issues and information:

(1) Send out a poll for ideas for the next reunion.

(2) David Casteel volunteered to create a poll to help us determine the location of our next reunion via our website.

(3) We discussed our By-laws and needed revisions. A suggestion was made that we make a statement indicating that specific committee members have voting rights to approve motions regarding their areas of responsibility. We voted on this, and it was approved.

(4) A suggestion also was made to add a statement about additional fees and processing fees regarding dues. This was also passed by the end of the non-live portion of the meeting

(5) In summary, we voted on and approved the following three revisions to our By-laws:

a. Add a statement allowing committee members voting rights.

b. Add a statement allowing additional amounts to cover shipping and processing of membership dues payments.

c. Add a statement that permits various payment methods for payment of dues and other fees.

(6) We voted on and approved a motion that stated if there are fewer than 5 By-Law revisions approved, we will not have a meeting solely for By-law revisions, if there are more than 5 then we will vote again about an extra meeting.

Website Update:

1. There has been very little traffic on the website since the last meeting.

2. David added a video of photos and a copy of the July minutes to the website. Great additions.

3. We will submit a notice about this to the FB page and other communication mediums to get the word out.

4. When Tammy and Joe return from their travels they will submit a video of those who have passed to be put on the website. They also will ship an order for a Customs badge to the buyer. The buyer has been notified of this delay.

Future discussions:

1. David said we could add comments about our upcoming officers’ elections to the website as an event. He has volunteered to handle this. Michael will provide a write-up for this.

2. The contact list will be sent out after this meeting and each volunteer should reach out to their contacts before the next scheduled meeting.

Swag Sales:

1. All Nashville coins have been sold.

2. We still have 17 tumblers from Nashville to sell. We may need to reduce the price to sell these.

3. It was voted on and approved that we reduce the cost of the tumblers by $5 each to encourage sales, this brings them down to $15 each. There is a $6 shipping fee per order and a $2 fee per additional item.

Next Scheduled Meeting Date: Saturday, September 3, 2024, beginning at 6 PM (2000) EST.

Thank you,

HT2 (EXW) Delamarter, Leah Dove

Tango Tigershark Association Secretary

ango Tigersharks & Customs Personnel,

FYI: The following is a summary of events that occurred during our Tango

Tigershark Officers and Committee member meetings that occurred on September

3, October 1 & October 3, 2024. (Note: Reports are issued here and at other

locations after each meeting).

Attendees (Members who provided at least one comment during this online 24-

hour messenger group meeting):

Michael Taylor – President

David Casteel – Vice President

Leah Dove – Secretary

Joe Beck – Reunion Committee

Objectives for this meeting:

• Moment of silence for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice

• Progress on the contact list with all Tigersharks.

• Current website status report especially online commerce

• Treasury Status/ Funding Issues

• A review of by-law changes will take place at this meeting.

• Poll for the next reunion

• We will begin accepting nominations for 2025 & 2026 officers after this

meeting.

• Discuss the possibility of sending an official letter of appreciation to Acapellest

and the drill team.

• LTC Rich Vargas gave an update on his book about the Tigersharks.

• Swag, what we have left, and the cost for each item

Treasurer's (Including membership status) Report:

(1) The current total in our account is $2184.68, which is up slightly due to

interest.

(2) We have 22 paid members for 2024 and 16 Life members.

(3) 2024 membership dues are down, and we need to get those numbers up.

Reunion Review:

1. It was voted on and passed to provide coins to the singer of the National

Anthem and the drill team if we can get their contact information. This will

be discussed further at the next meeting. We are waiting for an update from

Ellie for this.

Open Issues and information:

1. There was a good discussion about our By-laws and what needs to be

revised.

2. The By-Laws revision is as follows: (1) Article III: Added sections 2, and 3

to clarify approved dues payment methods and to clarify what approved

additional amounts may be added to membership fees to cover expenses

incurred because of service or handling fees, etc. (2) Article III: Wording

change, changed ‘prior to’ to ‘before’ in section 7 (3) Article IV: Clarified

section 3, by adding a statement enabling a variety of notification methods

for scheduled meetings. This is no longer limited to only mail and email.

Notification required time is reduced from 30 days to 15 days. (4) Article

IV: Added section 4 to include Roberts Rules of Order as the determining

document should questions arise regarding meeting procedure. (5) Article

IV: Added section 5 to provide guidance for voting during meetings and to

provide voting rights to committee members for any motions that are

regarding their disciplines.

3. 4. These revisions were voted on and approved.

There was a mix-up on the posting of the nominations for officer voting this

month. Because of this, we will leave the nomination forum open until

September 20th and then have the election at that time. Allowing us to make

our October 1st deadline.

Website Update:

1. There has been very little traffic on the website since the last meeting.

2. David added a video of photos and a copy of the August minutes to the

website. Great additions.

3. We will submit a notice about this to the FB page and other communication

mediums to get the word out.

4. When Tammy and Joe return from their travels they will submit a video of

those who have passed to be put on the website.

5. 6. 7. At this time David has not received the photos that were mailed to him.

Michael will check on the status of this.

There have been 23 responses to the poll for the next reunion with an

overwhelming vote for New Orleans as the location. Historic tours and the

formal dinner were the activities most liked.

We will leave the survey open for one more month. Michael will make

another post about it to try and generate more interest.

Future discussions:

1. David said we could add comments about our upcoming officers’ elections

to the website as an event. He has volunteered to handle this. Michael will

provide a write-up for this.

2. The contact lists are being worked on. So far about 50% of them have been

completed with the rest to be completed before the next meeting.

3. It was suggested that we add the phone numbers to the excel sheet to make it

easier for future contact. This will be a tedious job and will take some time.

Swag Sales:

1. All the Nashville coins have been sold.

2. We still have 15 tumblers from Nashville to sell. We may need to reduce

the price to sell these.

3. We still have 20 of the original 50 coins and are offering these at $15 each

with free shipping.

4. It was voted on and approved that we reduce the cost of the tumblers by $5

each to encourage sales, this brings them down to $15 each. There is a $6

shipping fee per order and a $2 fee per additional item.

Next Scheduled Meeting Date: Saturday, November 12, 2024, beginning at 6 PM

(2000) EST.

Thank you,

HT2 (EXW) Delamarter, Leah Dove, USN, Ret.

Tango Tigershark Association Secretary

Edited by ITC Michael L. Taylor, USN, Ret.

Tango Tigersharks & Customs Personnel,

FYI: The following is a summary of events that occurred during our Tango Tigershark Officers and Committee member meeting, that took place on January 12, 2025. (Note: Reports are issued here and at other locations, after each meeting).

Attendees (Members who provided at least one comment during this online 24-hour messenger group meeting):

Michael Taylor – President

David Casteel – Vice President

Leah Dove – Secretary

Joe Beck – Reunion Committee Member

Objectives for this meeting:

•       Moment of silence for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice

•       Progress on the contact list with all Tigersharks.

•       Current website status report especially online commerce

•       Treasury Status/ Funding Issues

•       Poll for the next reunion

Treasurer's (Including membership status) Report:

(1) The current total in our account is: $2635.55.

(2) We have 22 paid members for 2024 and 16 Life members.

(3) A 2025 membership dues drive is currently underway.

 Reunion Review:

1.    The next reunion will be held in New Orleans.

2.    The reunion committee is waiting for some information before working on setting a date for the reunion. 

Open Issues and information:

1.    We are still working on getting our contacts of Tigersharks completed.  Our goal is to make good progress on this before the next meeting in March. 

2.    We need to be more vigilant about the documentation of the contacts we make of Tango Tigershark personnel this is to provide records and to prevent duplication of efforts.

Website Update:

1.    There has been very little traffic on the website since the November meeting.

2.    David added a copy of the October minutes to the website. We hope to continue to promptly place meeting minutes on the website.  

3.    We voted on and accepted to offer Tumblers with 2025 annual memberships + a small extra cost. 

Future discussions:

1.    Contact lists are being worked on.  So far, about 50% of contacts have been at least attempted. We hope for good additional progress before the March meeting. 

2.    We will leave open the contact list that is being worked on for another month until the next meeting.  Members who make attempts to contact or who actually make contacts should notate their progress on the online list. This is so Officers and Committee Members can see what is taking place. 

3.    It was suggested that we add the phone numbers to the Excel sheet to make it easier for future contact.  This will be a tedious job and will take time. Phone numbers are on the Alpha lists. These are available upon request.

History Committee:

(1) President Michael Taylor gave a review of our past events and plans: 

Our 1st Reunion took place in Las Vegas, NV, February 7-10, 2020, at the Golden Nugget Casino in downtown Vegas.

Our 2nd Reunion took place in Nashville, TN. June 9th-12th, 2022 in Nashville-Opryland, as scheduled. This reunion was for Tango personnel only and their guests.

Our 3rd Reunion took place from May 3-5, 2024, in Williamsburg, Va. Our main venue was the Embassy Suites Hotel.

 Our 4th Reunion is planned for 2026. The location is New Orleans.

Swag Sales:

1.    There was no discussion about swag sales at this meeting. other than adding Tumblers to membership dues payments.

Next Scheduled Meeting Date: Saturday, March 8, 2025, beginning at 9 AM (0900) EST.

Thank you,

RET HT2 (EXW) Delamarter, Leah Dove

Tango Tigershark Association Secretary

Edited by ITC Michael L. Taylor, USN, Ret.