Hello my fellow Distinguished Shooters,
Have I told you lately what an honor it is for me to serve as your President? It can be a busy
responsibility when things have to happen, especially during this time of the year. As you know, things
don’t just happen on their own…unless you are referring to ice melting or battery terminals corroding. I’m
sure you can think of several more, like sunrises and sunsets. But on the other hand, there are things
that we need to take care of on our own, like renewing our annual memberships. Walk with me here, it’s
uncomfortable having to spend my time reminding the 29 of the current 31 Annual Members that their
memberships have expired. Really?!? Annual dues are only $15.00 per year, and due every January
1st of the new year. It’s been suggested that we should raise our annual dues, but instead I really feel
that we should encourage our Annual Members to become Life Members.
We currently have 279 Life Members, and for those of you who have upgraded your
memberships, I thank you immensely. I sure would like to see our remaining Annual Members upgrade
to Life Members. Remember, if necessary, you can pay the cost of Life Membership in four installments
within a year. The Life Membership is only $100.00 if you’ve reached the half century mark, and $150.00
if you haven’t yet reached that milestone. Upon upgrading to a Life Membership, we will send you a
package including a welcome letter, an MCDSA Life Member card, and your Life Member sticker.
We have many members that would love to be able to join us at our Reunions/Cookouts, but
have difficulty traveling at the ripe old ages of 88, 90, 92, 94 and 96 (Clyde MacElrath will turn 96 on May
4th , the day of our Reunion/Cookout). I have a unique opportunity getting to speak to many of the more
seasoned veterans in our association simply because I put out emails and reminders of our annual get
togethers. We all have contact information for everyone in our association via the Directory, so why don’t
you look through it, find someone you shot with and call them to see how they’re doing?
Bob Maguire from Princeton, New Jersey recently called me again and asked me to please pass
along his sincere apologies to everyone because he cannot travel to attend and share in some of the
storytelling with us personally.
I also spoke to Col Willis who told me that if he is able to make it this year, he certainly will.
We don’t want to lose track of any of our members. Your active membership will keep you
abreast of all of our activities, to include our annual Reunion/Cookouts, Banquets, Badge newsletters,
and getting you the MCDSA Membership Directory – published every two years with an update page
every other year – now being provided to all members in good standing. I would like to challenge
everyone to look up and contact at least five other distinguished shooters that you shot with, and ask
them to: 1) join the association if they aren’t currently a member (become current or upgrade); and 2) get
off their behinds and come enjoy some great chow, and camaraderie with some old friends. Let them
know we had 116 people last year, and I believe we may surpass that number this year. Look for our
MCDSA Reunion notice in the quarterly Semper Fi Retired newsletter.
We will have both volumes of the Red Book available for sale at the Reunion/Cookout, along with
a new batch of miniature Distinguished Pins (Rifle, Pistol and Double “D”). We have also ordered more
coffee mugs and steins. The last order went really fast. Please consider purchasing copies of the Red
Books for your family and friends, especially if your name is in the book. We ordered the larger quantity
because they were less expensive by volume. We still have approximately 1400 Vol II’s, and about 110
Vol I’s for sale. Member price is $24.95 plus $5.00 shipping if they are mailed.
The cost of the Reunion/Cookout this year will be $30.00 in advance for Life Members and
Annual Members in good standing, and $35.00 at the event. For Annual Members in arrears, the cost will
be $45.00 in advance, and $50.00 at the event. Both costs for the Reunion/Cookout for Annual Members
in arrears will bring their dues up to date till 1 January 2025. We are looking at a record crowd this year,
and I again want to thank Randy and Leslie for volunteering to host our Reunion/Cookout. Any GPS, Google, or Waze will get you there. Randy’s address is listed in our Association’s Membership Directory, and folks can also get Randy’s address by reading the email which I recently sent out concerning our upcoming Reunion (or, by contacting a member of the Board of Governors). When you get to Randy’s black gate, go through to the right, and down the long driveway. …follow the signage.
The preferred method of payment is by check or money order. You can mail your payment to:
MCDSA; PO Box 134; Quantico, VA 22134
Don’t miss out…in addition to the 50/50 Raffle and Silent Auction items, your Board of Governors
has approved to spend up to $1000.00 for door prizes. Please look around your place, and think about
something you wouldn’t mind parting with and donating to help raise funds for future events. You’d be
surprised how that helps our association financially.
One more thing, your Board of Governors has proposed changes to our Constitution and By-laws
and will be posting those proposed changes on our website and at the check-in desk at the
Reunion/Cookout. There will be voting cards upon checking in to either allow or not allow the proposed
changes to take effect. We must have 2/3 of the membership responding agree with the proposed
changes in order for them to be instituted. We will be mailing out the Badge newsletter to all members (in
good standing) who do not attend the Reunion/Cookout, so that every member will have the opportunity
to vote on the proposed changes. The final count will be conducted on 14 June 2024. Please complete
the voting page as per the instructions, tear it out, fold it in half and place it in the box on the check-in
table. For those of you who get mailed your Badge, please complete your voting page, tape the corners
closed, and mail it back to our PO Box. We ask that all ballots be postmarked NLT 04 June 2024.
Which reminds me…if any of your information has changed, such as your email, your address, or
phone numbers – or if you know of any of your fellow Distinguished members’ information that has
changed, please let us know, so we can update our data base.
The last thing I’d like to share is this…if you haven’t recently, I would encourage you to visit our website
@ www.marinedsa.com or www.marinedsa.org to read up on things that may be of interest to you, and to also use our website links to PhotoBucket to view the many photos of our past events (you will need to use the password to access the photo files on PhotoBucket).
If you are looking for lodging, last year Capt Bartlett stayed at the Microtel by Wyndham in
Culpeper, about 2 miles from Col Willis’ farm. I have contacted the management, and Kim said she can
offer us a nightly rate of $125.00 plus tax for rooms with two queens. Capt Bartlett said he booked his
room for 3 and 4 May for $211.00 total. Other hotels in the area are priced higher (about $10.00 or
more). The Best Western at the Thornburg exit (Exit 118 off of I-95) starts at $134.00 plus tax per night. If
you need a place, I wouldn’t wait.
Looking forward to seeing you all on 4 May!
Semper Fi,
Danny
Daniel E. Burke, Sr.
MGySgt, USMC (Ret.)
President, MCDSA
b12daniel@aol.com
540-287-3833
