Why Do We Get Together?
For many of us our association with the military ended when we took off our uniform and returned to civilian life. Some of us stayed in uniform and spent 20 or more years in the service before retiring.
Some come to a reunion in an attempt to regain a piece of our lost youth. We try to remember what it was like to be 19 or 22 again and to live with an overdose of adrenaline. To others a reunion is a chance to see old friends again and to make new friends within a group that shares many memories.
Others come for the healing that almost always occurs when old comrades finally find each other after many years. It is a time when we can celebrate the fact that we survived and pay tribute to those we lost. It is a reuniting of spirit among a group who shared a period of life, a segment of time, and a type of emotional experience that affected us all in ways the uninitiated will never understand.
At a reunion we discover which of us has aged better, who has the thinnest waistline, more hair and less gray showing. Most of all it is a gathering to tell stories on each other and to marvel that we are still up and moving.
Where Do We Gather?
Reunions are held at Fort Sill/Lawton, Oklahoma, each June of even numbered years. On odd numbered years they move to a location selected and voted on by the membership.
The 1999 Reunion was held in Nashville, Tennesse, with approximately 150 in attendance. In 2001 we were at Lake Tahoe in the HighSierra of California. In 2003 we journeyed to Cleveland, Ohio and in 2005 we held our reunion in conjunction with the 1st Cavalry Division at Killeen/Fort Hood, Texas. This allows members from most geographic areas to attend a reunion without having to travel great distances.
Fort Sill reunions permit visitation of our Regimental Room and a renewal of our close relationship with the active Regiment. The location for future reunions will be proposed and voted on by the membership in attendance at each Ft. Sill (even year) reunion. Association Officers will be elected (even years) and other Association business will be briefly conducted (all years). |
Reunion 2001- The West Coast Reunion
Now is the time for all Left Coast Hard Chargers to plan on attending. No excuses about travel distance this time Guys. The reunion is set for June 7 through the 10th at Lake Tahoe. The location is the Biltmore Resort, Crystal Bay, Nevada (North Shore, Lake Tahoe). Presently a block of rooms are set aside for us and more will become available as these are filled.
If you want privacy, bungalows are available. Each bungalow has two queen beds, and three units are non-smoking. The price on the bungalow is $69 per night. Rooms are also reserved in the main hotel. These are close to our two hospitality rooms and each has a queen size bed. The price on these rooms is $79 per night.
Reservations are being taken at this time, first come, first served. To make your reservations call 1-800-245-8667. Tell the reservation clerk you are with group 0607ARTI (1/30 Artillery). One reservation has already been made. Get your reservations in quickly and lets get more rooms blocked out for the group.
Tentative Schedule:
Thursday, June 7 Day of Arrival, Biltmore Hotel
Transportation:
By car: Rte 80 to Reno , NV, then West on Mt. Rose Highway to Incline Village, north to the State Line and the Biltmore Hotel (on the border of California and Nevada, and one block from the Lake)
By air: Reno Cannon International Airport, Shuttle van from Airport (12, 3, 6pm)
By train: Southern Pacific Railway, Amtrac to Reno, Shuttle van (arranged by reservation)
Lodging: Hotel rooms and Bungalow doubles (recommend Bungalow for privacy and roominess) Check out their website at www.tahoebiltmore.com.(Click your browser's "Back" button to here.
Upon Arrival: Participants arrive and check-in
Hospitality suite (2nd floor suite and deck):
·Sign in
·Open bar & hor'doerves
·Memorabilia & exhibits
·Host Packets handed out to include:
·Hotel & resort information
·Guide to Lake Tahoe area & Sightseeing information
·Reunion agenda
·Discount tickets
Friday, June 8
·7:30-9am: Breakfast Buffet
·Gambling & sightseeing
·11am – 5pm: Gold Country Tour {Eastern Slope of Sierras, Carson City, Virginia City}; box lunch (1)
·5pm-9pm: Evening Barbecue {Sand Harbor); speed boat rides {courtesy Pete Henry's 21'Cobalt} along Lake's East Shore (1)
·Hospitality suite
Saturday, June 9
·7:30-9am: Breakfast buffet
·10am – 4pm: Ski Area & lake tour {Truckee, Donner Lake, Donner party Saga, Squaw Valley, Tahoe City, Emerald Bay, South Lake Tahoe}; box lunch or stop for lunch Alpine Ski area (1)
·4-6pm: Gambling & resorts in South Lake Tahoe
·7pm-10pm: Dinner on the lake {Lake Paddle Wheeler - Lake Tahoe tour & dinner}; ceremonial dinner
·Travel back to hotel along East shore of lake (1)
·Hospitality suite
Sunday, June 10
·7:30-10:30: Farewell breakfast buffet (Hospitality Suite)
(1) Bus transportation arranged
Notes: Events and times subject to review by board, no. of participants and the timing of reservations. Need to have a reasonable estimate of participants in order to reserve lodging, transportation and events. Commitments will have to be made in early Spring, so make your plans now and let us know. We will have a form out to you so you can let us know about your intents.
Fort Sill 2000
The Millennium Reunion
What a gathering! This had to be the best reunion ever. Nashville was great, but coming back to Fort Sill is always special. Jack Garven and Phil Speairs did a great job of organizing the activities and setting up the facilities.
Astrid Mann of the Fort Sill Housing Office went out of her way for the Hard Chargers. Many "First Timers" added to the enjoyment. Our Headquarters was in Allin Hall. Many of us remembered it as the High Rise BOQ. Everything in one building; rooms, hospitality suite, dining room, meeting room and laundry.
The next reunion will be in 2001 at Lake Tahoe. Pete Henry and Paul Ohm have promised that it will be the best one yet. With all the practice, we are getting better and better with each gathering. Locations are great, but it is the people that make the reunion.
You start with a Change of Command and a touch of nostalgia when the Half-Section makes its appearance. Who cannot resist the sight of eight matched bays that meet the specifications for an "Artillery Horse?"
But the main component of a reunion is people. People that wore the crest of the 30th Field Artillery Regiment. They are the main ingredient. You might not have shared a foxhole with them, but you all share the pride of being known as a "Hard Charger" and all know the meaning of "Striving To The Highest," because you did.
We gathered in the Regimental Room in Snow Hall to remember and honor our fallen comrades and to add one more name to the Scroll of Honor. Gerald Frankie Coulthart was a member of B/1/30 and was killed on an LZ near Tay Ninh. His cousin, Terry Meinke (lower picture, center) traveled from Chicago to represent the Coulthart family at the dedication.
It was a time for old friends to get together after many years and too little contact. Above, Dave Wiley, Gary Kanz, and Don Shacklette. Lower, Skip Wilfong, Billy Minser, and Pat Little.
Fort Sill is much quieter now than many of us remember it being. The rumble of guns and trains full of ammo has been replaced by the hum of computers and the hiss and clunk of simulators. Funding cut backs have changed the face of training and the Hard Chargers got a good look at the new training systems. The guns and missile
systems we once knew so very well now reside at the museum. The new gun systems have advanced to a point we could only have dreamed of.
More pictures will be posted as they arrive. If you have a picture from the reunion that you would like to show here, scan it and e-mail it as an attachment to the webmaster. A new scanner is on order, and soon we will be able to present all of our history pictures either on the website or a CD ROM.
Reunion In Nashville 1999
The 30th Field Artillery Regiment Association established a temporary headquarters in Nashville at the ClubHouse Inn on June 10, 11 and 12, 1999. One year had passed since the Hard Chargers had been together to enjoy each other's company. Socializing, camaraderie, telling war stories, sharing pictures and memories while enjoying "Music City", Nashville, Tennessee, were the order of the day. We renewed old friendships and made new ones as members of batteries from World War II, the Cold War, and Vietnam made their appearance. Jim Harris did an outstanding job of arranging all. In true "Hard Charger" fashion, a few of us made it our duty to insure that all the "watering holes" in Nashville were safely closed at the appropriate hour. All attendees spent many hours in large or small groups reminiscing, reliving, educating one another about events and friends of years gone by.
The scrapbook of images from Nashville is complete. Now we're all stocking up on film for Fort Sill in June, 2000. Do you see an old friend here? Plan now to meet him at the "Home of the Artillery" in June.
 
We gathered at the ClubHouse Inn, and as usual Top Vernor stocked our private bar.
 
Ron Carter & John Wincz share a memory. Ron Tubbs, Tom Hobson, Eddie Oden, &
Ron Carter at the banquet.
 
LZ Becky Vets "Top" Vernor, Pat Little & Ron Carter. Libby Rochell & Dick Fultz.
 
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