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Guest Editorial
FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER
Duty calls me to enter into an aspect of the title subject that is
unpleasant at best. While I personally did not encounter anything of
the sort at the Reno Convention, there are folks in the National
Korean War Veterans Association who apparently feel that their payment
of dues entitles them to inflict verbal damage upon other members,
in the form of correspondence and other misplaced venues that
are abusive and outrageous to an unacceptable extreme. I first
encountered this when helping the Resolutions Committee, when its
Chairman asked me to review ten ‘resolutions’ that had been submitted
to him.
In the strictest sense, none of the submittals to the Resolutions
Committee qualified for acceptance, since they were not prepared in
accordance with the Standard Procedure manual in either content or
form. It did appear that seven (7) could be presented to the Board of
Directors with recommendations for at least conditional acceptance.
That left three (3) that would have to be rejected not only for noncompliance
to format, but also for using the resolution process
instead of submitting their complaints to the Ethics & Grievance
Committee. Moreover, not only were they presented with no supporting
evidence for any of the accusations, but that they came
dressed, no, cloaked in a tone and an attitude of anger and disrespect.
It was trash talk at its worst, because it came from KWVA Officers as
an indictment against another elected and sworn officer of the organization.
In another case, a KWVA state department officer sent a 16-page
letter to the Board of Directors. Its content was an indictment of a previous
disciplinary action taken by the Board. His letter contained no
evidence to support his complaint; and although he had been advised
by the KWVA Attorney and the Judge Advocate of the correctness of
the Board’s conduct and performance, he persisted. Reading the letter,
which contained a scolding lecture on the proper use of Roberts
Rules of Order, one could only wonder if he was a proxy for others,
since he was not present at the disciplinary hearing concerned.
I must add that he wasn’t very familiar with Roberts Rules of
Order. Had he informed himself correctly, he would have had no
cause for his complaint. Again, even done properly it would have to
be submitted to the Ethics & Grievance Committee.
Such behavior is not for the ‘Good of the Order,’ an organizational
state of which Father Stegman spoke so simply, so elegantly, and
with such purity of purpose at the Reno Convention. Doing some
research through the KWVA website, to better inform myself of
recent and past history, I came upon a very timely source, a
‘President’s Update,’ dated June 13, 2005, that explains what ‘good
of the order’ means. Here is the link: http://www.kwva.org/update/
archives/ i_update_050613_faircloth_good_of_order.htm
It is a common sense presentation on the issue of which I speak,
written with such clarity that I can add very little to what Jimmy
Faircloth, our General Counsel, gives you there, except for this: Each
member of the KWVA, in application for membership, agrees to support
the organization’s ‘rules of order,’ which in our case consists of
our Bylaws and the Standard Procedure Manual (SPM) that implements
said Bylaws. We are thus duty bound to that obligation, each
and every one of us.
It is my opinion that those who engage in
unnecessary attacks on their fellow members
are not meeting their obligation to the
fraternal order to which they gave their
word, and in some cases their sworn oath
to uphold, protect and preserve
Please read Attorney Faircloth’s wise counsel. More than two
years after it was available to us all, it is still timely. It explains the
organizational illness with which we are infected, and offers reasonable
recommendations as to a corrective medicinal course to its cure.
Right here, right now, this essay is my small attempt at a start on that
path.
In the case of an officer, there is a higher duty to the organization.
Each officer, upon assumption of office, must swear an oath, as follows:
“I, do solemnly swear to uphold the constitution of the United
States of America, the Bylaws and Procedures in the Standard
Procedure Manual of the National Korean War Veterans Association,
and I further promise that I will administer the duties of the office that
I am about to assume to the best of my ability. Upon completion of
my term of office, I further promise that I will turn over all records,
equipment and monies that I have in my possession to my successor,
So help me God!”
It is my opinion that those who engage in unnecessary attacks on
their fellow members are not meeting their obligation to the fraternal
order to which they gave their word, and in some cases their sworn
oath to uphold, protect and preserve.
A person can well be defined by the manner with which they perform
to their obligations; in fact you ARE your obligations. To those
of you who indulge your self-centered, willful ways in anger, and
who do not give respect to the order to which we all belong: You
know who you are, and so do those who observe and suffer from your
actions. Be assured that had you behaved this way in the outfit in
which you served, the probability of a court-martial or severe sanction
would be high. Fortunately for the many, there are only but a few
of you. That does not lessen the threat to the order that you represent,
which is that your attack, unlike those who choose to do it from without
the order, is from within, and from what should be a trusted position.
From what I heard at the Convention, patience of the many
towards your behavior has worn very thin. Their attitude is simple:
enough, already.
Not one person in our order has the time to waste on such selfdestructive
behavior, especially those who wish to serve and preserve.
You know the drill, gentlemen: ‘Lead, follow, or get out of the
way.’
At the Reno Convention, Father Len Stegman reminded us all of
his daily commitment, “Here I am O Lord; I want to do Your Will.
What would You have me do today?” That’s good enough for this
Airman.
November-December 2007
The Graybeards