Established August 23, 1984
The voice of the American Merchant Marine Veteran
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President's page
Morris Harvey
AMMV National President

Action Plan for the Future

Fellow AMMV Members:
I am finalizing this report just before I take office on July 1, 2011. I am honored to serve the AMMV and you, the members, as your president. Together, we can still make a difference. I encourage and solicit sharing your ideas and concerns with me - I will listen.
Just Compensation will continue to be a top priority. I remember back in 2000 Hank Cap and others were developing a draft bill and working to present it to congressional law-makers. HR-23, which was developed by the Just Compensation Committee, has passed the House twice and then stagnated in the Senate. We now have another chance, however, we have a significant change in the representatives of Congress, which necessities a change in our strategy. We have done it before and we will do it again - We again need you to contact all legislators - we cannot expect the many new members to know about HR-23 and our MM history. Many of the others have been influenced by the electorate to concentrate on the serious fiscal condition of our Nation. We need to spend the extra time to redirect their attention and to educate the others.
We must increase the effort to gain veteran status for Mariners who served in war zones during wars beyond WWII, such as Korea and Vietnam and to gain deserved recognition for mariners of the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars. Our By-laws commit us to this project.
Leadership over the past years has worked to bringhonor and respect to the Merchant Marine and the AMMV. I will continue to hold that heading. Past President A.J. Wichita has volunteered to continue his outstanding articles to the NAUS magazine. I will accept the NAUS position of representing the Merchant
Marine on their BOD.
What do you want the AMMV to be, as an organization, in 2015? Our new Membership Committee is going to ramp up our membership activities. We
need to recruit under our present rules - to keep the AMMV viable as long as possible as a WWII veterans organization and to bring in mariners who served in subsequent war zones. In parallel, they will be charged with developing a plan (to answer the question: How do we get there?) to carry the AMMV into the future - without the WWII generation. The resulting plan would be presented to our BOD and membership for rejection, approval or to offer modifications. As long ago as 2006 some of our members were telling us that we had less than five years to take action. Five years is here and we have made some progress. However, we still have time to develop and implement a plan if we have consensus and work together. The critical point is when our veterans membership drops below 75% of our total membership.
Communication! Communication! Communication! I have noted that there is a significant delay in getting information to members. We will be working to maximize the use and effectiveness of an email system, increase the use of our web site, and start utilizing the social networks that are available. This means that some chapters will need to improve their internet access capabilities in order to receive the latest info and action related issues. Chapter CEO’s, please advise if you may need help in establishing internet access.
The 2012 and 2013 convention locations could notbe decided at our Reno convention, therefore, plans are being studied by a committee, which is considering MITAGS for 2012 and Branson, MO in 2013. Bob Ross and company have agreed to manage a Branson, 2013, National Convention. We are still receiving info from MITAGS. We are also researching a future cruise based convention, possibly seven days, which will include all of our normal AMMV events. If you support a Cruise based plan, let me know. The committee will keep you advised.
There are many issues that require the attention of every AMMV member - I look forward to working with you to find solutions to these issues.

Sincerely,

Morris Harvey, President
American Merchant Marine Veterans, Inc.