| Brought to you by:
Jim Potter
Vice President Communications
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The Trident 1st 2024 Quarter Newsletter
| U.S. Navy Flag Officer Assignments
By U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE STAFF
MARCH 1, 2024 5:43 PM
Rear Adm. (lower half) Thomas R. Buchanan, selected for promotion to rear admiral, will be assigned as director, Plans and Policy, J5, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Buchanan is currently serving as commander, Submarine Group Ten, Kings Bay, Georgia. | Special Dinner Event
On March 24, 2024 |  | Join us for dinner at the Triplex at the Kings Bay Navy Base on Thursday, 14 March 2024. Our social hour will begin at 5:30 pm (1730) and dinner will begin at 6:30 (1830). Our guest speaker will be CDR Burnes Brown, USN, Commanding Officer of the USS South Dakota (SSN-790). SSN attack submarines are designed for a broad spectrum of open-ocean and littoral missions, including anti-surface, anti-submarine and intelligence-gathering operations.
The Virginia class is the Navy’s newest submarine and uses many of the technologies that will be featured in the future Columbia class which is to have Kings Bay as its homeport later in this decade. South Dakota and her sister boats of the Virginia class are considered the “apex predators” in today’s oceans and would be crucial in any conflict with a peer competitor nation.
This will be a unique opportunity to hear an SSN commander discuss his boat, the mission, and the SSN force. The cost is $30 per person and includes a buffet prepared by Brimley’s Catering featuring roast chicken, carved brisket, veggies, trimmings and strawberry cheesecake. Reservations are required by Thursday, March 7. Sign up on our website at KingsBayNavyLeague.org OR click Register Now contact Jeannie Straight at (912) 882-4124 OR by email to jeanstraight1229@gmail.com. Those with reservations who fail to attend will be billed. The MWR Triplex Liberty Center is located at USS James Madison Rd, Kings Bay, GA 31547.
If you are a Council member, but do not have a badge for Kings Bay access, contact Bob Dickman at dickmanrsd@aol.com Non-Council members who would like to attend are welcome and should also contact Bob Dickman to arrange one-time access. | Membership is easy and is creates opportunities to interface with our communities largest employer and as founding member of the Camden County community program EDICCIMAD (Every Day In Camden County Is Military Appreciation Day).
To Join/Renew The Kings Bay Council of the Navy League Click: Join/Renew | TOURNAMENT TEAMS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE THIRD ANNUAL SILVER AND GOLD TOURNAMENT | Also stay tuned: Sea Services Persons of the Year at the Triplex May 2, 2024. All details to be announced
| Dessert Auction 8 February 2024 | | Above: Dessert Auction candid group photo. | It has to be said that the Annual Dessert Auction to benefit the Council’s scholarship fund was both a great success and roaring good time. A high-spirited crown filled the upper level meeting room of the Submarine Museum to capacity, so that it was almost a case of standing room only. More than 50 members and guests attended. Our President, Bob Dickman, opened the meeting by thanking those who worked to organize the event, and acknowledged the presence of our guests. We were honored to have with us Commanding Officer CDR Ben Smith, RN, his XO and in all a half dozen of the crew of HMS Vanguard, a Royal Navy submarine (an SSBN) visiting Kings Bay. Also attending was St. Marys’ Mayor John Morrissey, retired Congressman Charlie Smith, Rear Admiral Thomas Buchanan, CAPT Christopher Bohner, the base commander, and retired Judge Keegan Federal.
The auction was, of course, to fund our local Camden-Kings Bay Council scholarship program, and RADM Buchanan, in his remarks, mentioned that he had personally received a Dolphin Scholarship and much appreciated having received it. After an excellent dinner provided by Brimley’s Catering, LLC, Keith Post assumed his usual role as auctioneer, assisted by Joanie Stilson began the process of offering the desserts to an audience eager to participate.
During a highly animated auction session, accompanied by much laughter, kidding, and applause for the winning bidders, we raised $2,270 for our programs.
With thanks to all who attended, to those who bid, and to the workers - especially those who provided the desserts - Bob Dickman closed a most successful event. In April, our National President will visit our Council. More on this elsewhere in this issue. |  | Above: Keith Post Conducts the Auction Bidding, with Joanie Stilson Showing a Mile-High Apple Pie.
| | Above: Among Our Honored Guests, the Commanding Officer of HMS Vanguard, CDR Ben Smith, (Center Left Nearest the Flag) with Crew Members at the Submarine Museum During the Scholarship Dessert Auction | HMS VANGUARD CREW DONATES TO MUSEUM | | Above: While visiting, twelve members of the crew of HMS Vanguard participated in the Jacksonville Marathon and Half-Marathon as a fund-raising event. The crew donated half of the funds raised to the Submarine Museum.. CDR Ben Smith, RN, captain of the Vanguard, presents a check for the donation to Keith Post, Executive Director of the Museum. | Military Youth of the Year
Annual Banquet at Kings Bay |  | The Boys & Girls Clubs of America established its Military Connected Youth program in 1947, and it recognizes young people ages 14 to 18 for their commitment to community service, for their academic successes, good character, citizenship qualities, and for their establishing long-term goals for themselves.
A distinct component of that program is the Military Youth of the Year, introduced in 2013, to recognize outstanding teens served by the Boy & Girl Clubs affiliated youth centers on U.S. military installations.
This year’s banquet at the Triplex at Kings Bay Submarine Base, on January 18,2024, was well-attended. Our own Council member, Christa Lord, represented the Navy League to present a challenge coin and a $50 gift certificate to each of the award winners.
Christa reports that she was impressed by the event and the young winners and reports that the event was an inspiring event, well worth the Navy League’s support. Christa described the honorees as “amazing” young people.
|  | Above from Left: Katherine Parks, Junior Military Youth of the Year; Joshua Bass, Military Youth of the Year; Clara Hodge, Youth Center Youth of the Year, a New Category
Photos Courtesy of the Base Photographer | McGARVEY’S WEE PUB
BECOMES OUR NEWEST NAVY LEAGUE
COMMUNITY AFFILIATE | McGarvey’s Wee Pub in St. Marys, a restaurant familiar to many residents and Submarine Base personnel in St. Marys became a Community Affiliate of the Camden-Kings Bay Council of the Navy League on February 1, 2024. Community Affiliates of the Navy League are committed to the support of the sea services, service members and their families, and the efforts of their local council.
The Camden-Kings Bay Council is very pleased to welcome Wee Pub into our team suporting the personnel at the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base and the St. Marys Maritime Safety and Security Team. The Wee Pub is located at 2603 Osborne Street. See you there! |  | | Above: A plaque was presented to commemorate the affiliation of McGarvey’s Wee Pub by the Camden-Kings Bay Board. From left: Christa Lord, Cheryl Aston, Bob Dickman, Dan Black, owner of the Wee Pub and soon-to-open Firefly Restaurant, Dave Reilly and Keith Post. The Wee Pub is located virtually next door to the proposed new location of the Submarine Museum, the former premises of Express Scripts. | For more information to support or for membership
by clicking the red text. |
The 2024 Camden-Kings Bay Navy League Council Board
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