We started off with 2019 reunion of the 145th combat aviation Battalion Vietnam Association on Tuesday 9 April with 72 people registered with 65 attending. About 1 PM we open the hospitality room and about 4 PM we started the early bird reception. My wife Debby set up snacks, soft drinks, beer and wine. She also prepared meatballs and weenies in sauce with vegetables on the side. The reception went on until about 9 PM, many were tired from traveling.
     Wednesday 10 April we started off with breakfast at the hotel. At 7:30 AM the buses departed for the 1st of the 145th Aviation Regiment Change of Command at 8:30 AM. At 9:30 AM we had a welcome briefing and Fort Rucker update from Col. McHugh. It was very interesting, our group asked questions and enjoy the sincerity and joking with our speaker. The first question was "Where are all the wooden barracks?". The speaker was very up front with how he did not like talking about some of the charts, and in his words "they were boring". He talked a little bit about where Army aviation was in the past, where Army aviation is today, and told us some of what Army Aviation will be in future with some unmanned aircraft. Bill Kidd: deputy director for all of Fort Rucker, nicknamed the penguin, welcomed us to Fort Rucker and thanked us for our support of Army Aviation. We returned to the hotel for a quick bite to eat then departed for Blackwell field for the Huey rides. We had 23 people signed up to ride on the Huey. The breakeven point for the people operating the Huey is 30 riders, the base had put out word for anyone wanting to ride in a Huey to meet at the airfield, we had over 50 riders, many active-duty with their families. About 5 PM we started the reception and hospitality room which lasted till about 10:30 PM. About the middle of the evening a gentleman came in with a cart with 6 cases of cold beer. I asked him what was going on and he said, he wasn't a vet but his dad and his uncle were VN vets, and they would kick his but if he didn't do something like this. That’s the last we saw of him.
    On Thursday 11 April we departed the hotel about 8:45 AM headed to the Army aviation Museum. We had a very nice guided tour of the museum. The place was very busy with a large flight school graduation, our group and a group of 114th AHC veterans after they dedicated their Memorial in Memorial Park. About 11:30 AM we departed for the Commanders barbecue picnic at Adams Hall. The outgoing commander Lt. Col. Kent M MacGregor and the incoming commander Lt. Col. Donald R Kirk attended and visited with the guest. About 1 PM we departed for the static display of aircraft, UH 60 Black Hawk and the new Lakota, and the display set up in Yano Hall of some new Army equipment. About 3 PM we departed for the hotel. About 5 PM we started the reception and hospitality room which lasted till about 10:30 PM.
    On Friday 12 April we departed the hotel about 9:30 AM for a memorial service at our memorial in Memorial Park, by the Daleville gate. At 11 AM we started our business meeting at Adams Hall which I will go over in more detail at the end of this report. About 11:45 AM we departed for this flight simulator tour and lunch at Larry's barbecue in Daleville. We split our group into three smaller groups, one group toured the flight simulators and the others went to lunch switching groups about every hour. About everyone wanting to fly the flight simulators got about 15 to 20 min. of "stick time". Most of them flew the new Lakota simulator and really had a good time. A little after 3 PM we departed for the hotel. The buses departed the hotel about 5 PM for our Friday night banquet. We had a social hour from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM then the banquet dinner. CW5 Vance Paul was our guest speaker and the XO of the 1st of the 145th, Major Nelson B (Brad) Gray attended. CW5 Vance Paul talked about the new army Warrant officer ranks and some of the new developments in unmanned aircraft being controlled from the front gunner seat of the Apache aircraft and others. About 9 PM we returned to the hotel and hospitality room until about 11 PM.
      Saturday 13 April we all say goodbye to each other until the next reunion in two years.
      At the business meeting we discussed the plans for the next reunion and suggested the date of the middle of the second week in May 2021 in Branson Missouri. Ed Knighten volunteered to work with the people and Branson to set up the reunion. Mike Hoke our Association auditor gave the financial report. We had election of officers: Jim Bodkin - National Dir, Debby Bodkin - Sec/Treasurer, Mike Hoke - Auditor, Mel Metzger - Historian. Then we discuss filling the vice president positions, three executive board positions, and three trustee positions. The main reason for filling those positions was to ensure our organization would continue if something happened to me and/or my wife Debby. We want to assure everyone that our organization will continue as strong as ever. We decided that the three trustee positions was not needed at this time. And we discussed that at some point the leadership of our organization might be turned over to our children. We elected Ron Manning to the Vice President position, Mike Breaux, Fred Eckelmann, and Bill Sheets to the Executive Board positions. I want to welcome and thank our new leaders.
      In going over all the expenses from this reunion I think we lost a few hundred. We hadn't planned the $2250.00 cost of the bus. In the past reunions the base was able to pick up a big part of the cost of the buses but their overflow bus contractor was booked up with spring break trips we had to find alternative transportation. I think everyone attending had a good time with no major issues.      I hope to see everyone two years at our next reunion. Dwight Beuthling (dwight_1947@yahoo.com) and John Flynn (bandit512@concast.net) took many pictures said they would share them with everyone (I suggest a donation to them for the cost of the CD and mailing), send them an email. And I thank Richard Rissman, Tom Moody, and Tom Payne for donating the money they sent in but couldn't attend.