548th Reconnaissance Technical Group Hickam AFB, Hawaii
Reunion Information
ROOMS MAY NOW BE RESERVED BY CONTACTING: The Hope Room Reservations Desk @ (937) 879-2696 (no 800 #) and mention the 548 RTG Reunion 8-11 July 2010. Calls may begin as of 3 February. (Check-in 8 July, Check out 11 July). The Hope has quoted us a room rate @ $75/night, there is a 10% room tax. This brings the final room rate to $82.50/night.
Please note also that theHope Hotel
Reunion Attendance Survey (a/o 03/02/10)
See the Monthly Update for February 2010 for the latest reunion information.
The final reunion site survey vote:
As of 1540 HST December 20th, 2009
If you are a new member, please feel free to cast your vote for the reunion site by emailing me.
Subj: Reunion Survey, December 13, 2009
548th Members
I originally had a December 15th cutoff for the reunion, but membership has slowed down and I have time on my hands today, so I am going final two days early. I originally said we would go with the majority on the reunion site and I am going to stick with that, with a little modification. If you look at the vote count, Hawaii is the clear leader with 26 votes; HOWEVER (a big however), there are 15 NO votes for Hawaii, 27 blank votes, and 53 votes split between mainland locations. July is the clear winner on the date, so will go with July as the date of choice.
Col Larry Benson and LtCol Cecil Brown have made a really good case (See the last monthly update) for having the reunion in Dayton Ohio. They can lock in a Saturday night banquet in the Museum of the USAF, something which makes for a really memorable event, and everyone can stay (non-retirees too) at the (Bob) Hope Hotel and Convention Center on Wright Patterson, where we can also have a informal dinner on Friday night. Having been to a FAC reunion at WPAFB and dinner at the museum, I whole heartily agree with them.
If we go with Dayton, they need to get moving on it now, another reason for the early vote, so I will ask for one final vote from everyone this week. The three choices for a reunion are:
1. Hawaii
2. Memphis (The leader in the mainland locations)
3. Dayton (Probably the central most location, with the most affordable facilities, and very experienced reunion organizers!!)
Please reply to this email with just one vote for one of these locations by next Sunday, December 20th, all I need is the place, but comments are also welcome.
New Comment From Cecil Brown about Dayton: Larry Benson and I would be willing to host a Dayton reunion site should that be a choice in the future. Lots of support from WPAFB, the AF Museum and the local chamber. Hope hotel, on base, has excellent facilities and lots of tour choices plus charter bus availability. Hosted a 67th RTS a few years ago and had approx 100 folks attend with outstanding reviews. We had one of our major dinner functions under the U-2 with honor guard support and a museum after hour tour all to ourselves.
Another Subject, the 548th Coin
I have two drafts for a possible 548th coin, the first one I did has the 548th logo on the patch, then I looked at one of my old uniform patches and found it was our motto, not the the 548th on the patch and had to do up a second design; if you are interested in the coin, let me know which design you like. In either case, if there is a great difference in price, I will go with plain brass on the back, instead of the enamel; also the lettering will be a little better aligned, as I have told others, I am not a Power Point Ranger. Mark Olson, who is working out in Korea volunteer to get the coins made up, he has done them for JICPAC and others before. I will probably get 150 coins in the initial batch and sell them at cost. Let me know what you think about the coins.
Note: Hotmail will only let me send out to 100 mail address at once, so have to send this twice, that is a good thing!
Aloha
Bill
Survey Results as of December 13th.
Please note also that the
Reunion Attendance Survey (a/o 03/02/10)
| Yes | No | Maybe | Yes Party Count | Maybe Party Count |
| 67 |
24 |
64 |
112 |
109 |
|
12 |
No Hotel |
221 |
Total Party Count | |
|
131 |
Yes+Maybe | |||
|
155 |
Total Response | |||
|
15 |
Awaiting Response |
See the Monthly Update for February 2010 for the latest reunion information.
The final reunion site survey vote:
As of 1540 HST December 20th, 2009
| Membership |
Responded |
Hawaii | Dayton | Memphis | Anywhere |
Did Not Vote | Coin 1 | Coin 2 |
| 117 | 61 | 10 | 45 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 27 |
If you are a new member, please feel free to cast your vote for the reunion site by emailing me.
Subj: Reunion Survey, December 13, 2009
548th Members
I originally had a December 15th cutoff for the reunion, but membership has slowed down and I have time on my hands today, so I am going final two days early. I originally said we would go with the majority on the reunion site and I am going to stick with that, with a little modification. If you look at the vote count, Hawaii is the clear leader with 26 votes; HOWEVER (a big however), there are 15 NO votes for Hawaii, 27 blank votes, and 53 votes split between mainland locations. July is the clear winner on the date, so will go with July as the date of choice.
Col Larry Benson and LtCol Cecil Brown have made a really good case (See the last monthly update) for having the reunion in Dayton Ohio. They can lock in a Saturday night banquet in the Museum of the USAF, something which makes for a really memorable event, and everyone can stay (non-retirees too) at the (Bob) Hope Hotel and Convention Center on Wright Patterson, where we can also have a informal dinner on Friday night. Having been to a FAC reunion at WPAFB and dinner at the museum, I whole heartily agree with them.
If we go with Dayton, they need to get moving on it now, another reason for the early vote, so I will ask for one final vote from everyone this week. The three choices for a reunion are:
1. Hawaii
2. Memphis (The leader in the mainland locations)
3. Dayton (Probably the central most location, with the most affordable facilities, and very experienced reunion organizers!!)
Please reply to this email with just one vote for one of these locations by next Sunday, December 20th, all I need is the place, but comments are also welcome.
New Comment From Cecil Brown about Dayton: Larry Benson and I would be willing to host a Dayton reunion site should that be a choice in the future. Lots of support from WPAFB, the AF Museum and the local chamber. Hope hotel, on base, has excellent facilities and lots of tour choices plus charter bus availability. Hosted a 67th RTS a few years ago and had approx 100 folks attend with outstanding reviews. We had one of our major dinner functions under the U-2 with honor guard support and a museum after hour tour all to ourselves.
Another Subject, the 548th Coin
I have two drafts for a possible 548th coin, the first one I did has the 548th logo on the patch, then I looked at one of my old uniform patches and found it was our motto, not the the 548th on the patch and had to do up a second design; if you are interested in the coin, let me know which design you like. In either case, if there is a great difference in price, I will go with plain brass on the back, instead of the enamel; also the lettering will be a little better aligned, as I have told others, I am not a Power Point Ranger. Mark Olson, who is working out in Korea volunteer to get the coins made up, he has done them for JICPAC and others before. I will probably get 150 coins in the initial batch and sell them at cost. Let me know what you think about the coins.
Note: Hotmail will only let me send out to 100 mail address at once, so have to send this twice, that is a good thing!
Aloha
Bill
Survey Results as of December 13th.
| Where Should the reunion be held (2=Voted for more than one location) | ||||||
| Hawaii | Hawaii 2 | Memphis | Memphis 2 | San Antonio | San Antonio 2 | |
| 20 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 4 | |
| Orlando | Orlando 2 | Central US | Offutt | Dayton OH | Dayton 2 | Kansas City, MO |
| 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| D.C. Area | D.C. Area 2 | Nashville TN | Denver 2 | CONUS | Korea | |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| No Preference/ Anywhere | Blank | |||||
| 16 | 27 | |||||
| Would not attend a reunion held at these locations | ||||||
| No Hawaii | No Memphis | No D.C. | No Texas | No Alaska | No West Coast | No Florida |
| 15 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| No Arkansas | No Ho Chi Minh City | No Juarez Mexico | No Pyongyang | No North Korea | ||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| When should the reunion be held | ||||||
| July | May | No Preference | Blank | |||
| 33 | 19 | 19 | 32 | |||
| Other Dates | ||||||
| Winter | September/ October | June | Jun-11 | Christmas Hawaii | Not during Pheasant Season | |
| 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Name of Hospitality Room | ||||||
| 10th Puka | Recce Pit | Behind The 548th Green Door | Recce Rendezvous | Recce Roll Hall of Fame | Recce Social Club | Hangar Three |
| 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Photo Palace | The Blackbirds-SR71 | Eagle Eyes | Recce Tech Tiki Hut | The Green Door Revealed | Looking at You | The Pri Pit |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| The Recce Sponge Room | The Photo Hut | |||||
| 1 | 1 | |||||
| Demographics of the 548th Members | ||||||
| Eastern US | Central US | West/Rockies | Hawaii | APO Pacific | APO Europe/ Middle-East | Not Provided |
| 52 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| By State | ||||||
| Alabama | Arkansas | Arizona | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Florida |
| 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| Georgia | Hawaii | Indiana | Iowa | Idaho | Kansas | Kentucky |
| 1 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Louisiana | Massachusetts | Maryland | Michigan | Missouri | New York | Nebraska |
| 2 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Nevada | New Hampshire | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oregon | Pennsylvania |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
| Texas | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | ||
| 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Korea | Germany | Abu Dhabi UAE | Afghanistan | |||
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
