The Official Voice of Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. ®
An organization chartered by the U.S. Congress
August/September 2004
PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORTBig Shoes
BY JIM DOYLE, CHAIR The Public Affairs Committee was responsible for two workshops at VVA's National Leadership Conference 2004 in Nashville. The Newsletter Workshop was a tremendous success under the able leadership of Jim Boyd of Texas, the newly appointed editor-in-chief of the VVA Press Club.
Boyd fills very large shoes left by VVA Press Club founding editor-in-chief Ray Truelove, who had to step down for health reasons. His shoes will never be fully filled, but Jim stretched them in some places and found them a little oversized in others. All in all, a wonderful fit.
As editors, the two have been honored with five VVA Newsletter of the Year awards. Truelove's Florida Recon Report and Boyd's Texas VVA News have demonstrated outstanding vision and skill.
Combined, Ray Truelove and Jim Boyd have more time doing ink and photography than either is willing to admit. We are fortunate that they have chosen to share their knowledge and leadership with us.
As editor-in-chief, Boyd supervised the breakdown into teams, assignments, reporters, fact checkers, editors, proofreaders, photographers, and a whole newsroom that functioned each day of the conference from 6:45 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. The final product came off the press early Friday evening. It was very well done. Thanks to Jim Boyd for doing such an outstanding job in motivating and leading the team.
The Get Out The Vote! seminar held Wednesday morning was well attended and included a spirited but civil exchange of ideas. We were fortunate to have Medal of Honor recipient Paul "Buddy" Bucha open the seminar with a talk about the qualities and requirements of leadership, especially during wartime. Bucha noted that when you have no one to lead, you have no one willing to follow.
Former VVA president George Dugginswho looked tanned and rested and wore his best tropical shirtdiscussed local efforts aimed at registering voters, and how simple it is. Both Buchawho was Keynote Speaker at the 11th National Convention in St. Louisand Duggins exchanged questions, answers, and ideas with those in attendance.
Thank you all who came to Nashville. I'd like to especially thank the Tennessee volunteers for their wonderful hospitality.
|
Visit The VVA Veteran
archives |
E-mail us at TheVeteran@vva.org