Smith-Bryant Post 572

My Fellow Legionnaires,

As this is my first message to you, I would like to take a moment to thank our outgoing Commander, Jeff Meurer, for his leadership and encouragement while serving as Smith-Bryant Post 572 Commander for the last two years. Through his efforts and those of the team around him, we are poised to grow and do great things in the years to come. I hope everyone will join me and wish him well in his new post as the District 21 Commander and as the Post 572 Judge Advocate.

We finished off 2022-2023 with a successful Golf Tournament, a first on several fronts: our first 1-day golf tournament and the first as the American Legion Family, joining with Auxiliary Unit 572. Here’s to many more successful tournaments and other events together! We rolled straight from the tournament into Memorial Day weekend. We had an amazing turn-out to assist with the placement of flags on the graves of veterans interred at Belvedere Cemetery. Thank you to all the veterans and scouts that came out to pay their respects. Legionnaires were well represented at all the events throughout the weekend which culminated in the Memorial Day Ceremony and Wreath Laying at the County Courthouse with a moving and motivating ceremony. The final official action of Commander Meurer was to place the Legion wreath while our incoming Vice Commander, Justin Rogers, joined him with the American Legion flag. It was a sight to see!

We didn’t stop there! On 14 June, in coordination with the Elks Lodge and with support from the local Girl Scouts, we held our first Flag Day Ceremony and Flag Retirement. We were joined by members of the VFW and the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association who assisted in presenting the various official US flags during the Elks Flag Day Ceremony. Members of the Concho Valley Women Veterans Association, Auxiliary Unit 572, and active-duty service members from Goodfellow assisted with set up and tear-down. It was truly a joint effort of the San Angelo veteran community to make this event a success. While not as smooth as we would have liked, it is a solid foundation upon which to build for next year.

As we start this year with good momentum, I hope to keep Post 572 moving forward and growing. I encourage every member to get the word out about upcoming events and to participate in any way they can. I will be asking our members to step up and take active roles in committees to ensure the success of our events. (Mr. Larry Miller has already volunteered to be on the Boys’ State Committee!) When our members are involved and vested in the success of our post, they take pride in the organization, and it is reflected throughout the community!

Thank you for nominating and selecting me as your Commander for 2023-2024. I have many ideas and am surrounded by a good team that will keep me from going too overboard!

Hope to see you all at the meeting Saturday!

Commander, Smith-Bryant Post 572