It has been a busy month for both my-self and our Council. Armed Forces Day Week, Memorial Day, a Celebration of Life service for three past Presidents and the Navy League National Convention all flowed in quick suc-cession. I finally have a chance to catch my breath and give you a report on what we’ve been up to. With so much going on my report is a bit longer than usual.
Armed Forces Day Week was full of Navy League supported events. The parade was the largest ever. We had the second best turnout ever for our Senior Enlisted BBQ (160 in attendance) held at Kiana Lodge and Armed Forces Gala (245 in attendance) held at the Kitsap Golf and Country Club. Many thanks to our Gala Chair Patty Lent, Senior Enlisted BBQ Coordinator Rusty Staub, and the rest of the team: Tim Katona, Pam Love, Alan Beam, and Larry Salter for making the events a success. Also thank you to Alan Schrader for his help coordinating with the local military commands and sponsor Kitsap Chamber of Commerce for parade participation. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank our council sponsors for their support as well.
We honored those that have sacrificed their life in service of our Country onboard the USS Turner Joy (DD 951) on Memorial Day. Once again it was standing room only with almost 200 in attendance. I want to thank the USS Turner Joy (DD 951) U.S. Naval Destroyer Museum for being outstanding hosts for the event, and the Scorpion Squadron Sea Cadets, Navy Region Northwest Band, Marine Corps Security Force Battalion, Chaplain Mallie, and Sgt. Maj. Fon-tenot for their support.
On June 1st we held a Celebration of Life for past President’s Carol Meteney, Will Lent, and Dick Vlist who passed away last year. Thank you to Sandra Smith, Pam Love, and Sean Prosser for arranging a moving ceremony that ensured we properly honored them.
Alan Beam, Patty Lent, Larry Salter, Steve Westover and I just returned from the annual National Navy League Convention in San Diego, CA. The convention was packed with training, council and Sea Service awards ceremonies, Sea Service information, shared ideas and best prac-tices, social events and an election of new officers. Similar to last year, I felt like I was drinking from an information firehose for four days and left motivated about Navy League and how we can best support the Sea Services.
At the convention, Larry Salter was elected as National President-Elect which means he will be our Navy League National President in another year. Steve Westover was reelected as Northwest Region President. Congratulations to Larry and Steve.
Two of our members received national awards at the convention. Council Board Member, Newsletter Editor, and Unit Adoptions Chair Kevin Torcolini earned the Navy League Distinguished Service Award. This prestigious award is presented to only one Navy League member every year; so it is a significant honor for Kevin to earn it. Kevin wasn’t able to attend the Convention with us so we will present it at the July luncheon. Council Board Member and Past President Steve Westover was also awarded a Navy League Certificate of Appreciation for his efforts as Northwest Region President.
We won the 2023 Outstanding Council Award, the 2023 Adopted Unit Excellence Award, the Gold Mackie Award for our Website, the Gold Mackie Award for our Newsletter, and the Silver Mackie Award for our Social Media. Very few councils won every award as we did, which tells me that our council is doing a great job due to the efforts of all of our exceptional members and Board. With that said, the convention also showed me that there are great things being done by Navy League councils across the country that we can leverage to continue to build on our successes in support of the Sea Services.
The most valuable part of the convention for me was the “Council Leadership Training Track” which National had set up as an opportunity for council leaders to learn, collaborate, and share lessons learned and ideas. The track was packed with meetings and training seminars on youth programs, social media, fundraising, legislative affairs, recruiting members and more. It was enlightening to listen to leaders from other councils share their approaches to these various topics, and then discuss with the group how they did it. There were a lot of discussions that continued into the hallway and social events that followed.
My takeaway is that there are a lot of folks in some great councils across the country that are truly motivated to support the Sea Services just like us. Since some of the councils were either larger or smaller than ours, their approach was often very different from ours, but always thought provoking. It was four days well spent.
As always, I’d like to welcome aboard our new members Fred Freeland, Donald Meserve, Doug Gardner, and Michael Elstrom; and invite them to join us in our many activities and programs.
I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.
Tom Zwolfer, President
Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council Navy League of the US 
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