Seven of your LHS&PS comrades attended the USPS National Meeting in Jacksonville, FL the week of 19 February, along with over 800 fellow USPS members from around the U.S. and beyond. Congratulations and many thanks to Bob Larsen, SN and Chuck Latimer, SN for achieving Life Member status.

Life members have earned 25 Merit Marks. These individuals have contributed enormously to USPS and join an elite group. Speaking of this elite group, this is an exciting year for USPS because it is the first year that women can achieve 25 Merit Marks, thus earning Life Membership. It was just 25 years ago that women were finally accepted as members of USPS. Many of the women who achieved this status had actually been contributing to USPS a lot longer than 25 years!

During the Annual Meeting on Saturday the only contentious issue was a motion from the National SEO that would waive the proctored exam requirement for membership for three years. There was considerable debate both pro and con, but after a vote count the measure passed with the required 2/3 majority. Individual squadrons are still allowed to maintain a proctored exam as a requirement for their membership if that is their desire. D/26 voted fairly unanimously against the measure. On a positive note, USPS University and Boat Operator Certification is ready for implementation. Please seewww.USPS.org for more information.

Family unit dues will be implemented beginning with this dues cycle. Basically, what it amounts to on the National level is that an entire family can join for an increase in National dues of 50% ($33.60 to $50.40). District dues will remain the same on a per person basis of $7.50 each. We have not discussed yet how this will affect our Squadron dues. We plan on publishing a more detailed article in next month’s Pilot. There are cooperative advertising grants available that may be used to market BoatSmart® and other initiatives. It’s too late to take advantage of these for our current class in Duncan but we will investigate as a possibility for future classes.

Membership retainment and growth was strongly emphasized. National has made tremendous progress in cutting operational expenses but falling membership and the resulting reduction in income is a troubling trend. There were several USPS individuals who recruited at least 20 new members through the “Power of One” campaign and two people recruited 30! Nine squadrons increased membership at least 25% during the same period. Congratulations to Golden Corner Lakes for being one of the squadrons with at least 25% growth!

While Melissa attended a meeting about Auxiliaries, I attended a very interesting seminar on generational demographics and the characteristics of each generation and things you could do to improve the efficiency of organizations with different generations working together. LHS&PS is such a diverse squadron and fortunate to be able to take advantage of so many different talents!

Jacksonville was a wonderful break to our February gloominess and it’s a great place to visit, whether by land or water. It caused me to reflect back on the first Squadron cruise Melissa and I had taken down the St. John’s River back in 1998. Overall, the fellowship and camaraderie with other squadrons, and especially D/26 members, was the most beneficial part of the trip. I recommend to all that you try to make it to a District or National function. USPS is a great group of people!