SOCIETY OF USAF FLIGHT SURGEONS

BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING MINUTES

7 FEBRUARY 2006

USAFSAM, Commander’s Conference Rm, 0900 CDT, 7 February 2006

Brooks City-Base, TX

  1. Call to Order:The meeting was called to order at 0905. Col Fisher apologized for not being able to make the last BOG meeting and thanked Col Bachmann for filling in. He stated that in addition to trying to address a number of outstanding items under “old business” a significant tasking for today’s meeting will be to focus on preparing for the upcoming meeting at AsMA in Orlando.

Members Present:

Col FisherPresident

LtCol HetrickSecretary

Col JexTreasurer

Maj PinkstonExecutive Officer

Col FalkElected Member 05 and ANG

Col FerrerElected Member 05

Col MichaudElected Member 04

Col YohoElected Member 04

LtCol HeupelProgram Chair

LtCol SiedleckiMembership Chair

Maj SarnowWebmaster

Maj FilesHistory and Archives Chair

Col KnightConstitution and By-Laws Chair

LtCol LawsonReinartz Education & Training Chair

LtCol CzechFlightlines Editor

Members Absent:

Col BachmannVice President

Col TorresAFRC Representative

LtColGaulANG Representative

Col TidabackElected Member 05

Ret Col HasselquistElected Member 04

LtCol HayesAwards Chair

Col StewartNominations Chair

Col CoakwellResolutions Chair

2. Review ofMinutes: Col Fisher asked if there were any comments, corrections, or issues with the distributed set of minutes for the September Board of Governors meeting. There were none and the minutes were approved as written.

3. Secretary’s Report—Lt Col Hetrick summarized highlights from the previous Board of Governors meeting in September.

  1. A lack of award nominees and recognition that the situation was recurrent in nature led to the motion of moving the item to standard agenda, open to Lt Col Hayes.
  1. General discussion was generated about membership incentives and intent of membership revenues. Ideas regarding possible endowments or scholarship were suggested.
  1. New Business items on Orlando Social planning, Flightlines copyright, and dues increase were introduced and will be updated in today’s meeting.
  1. Since the last meeting, the group pursuing paper publication of the Jones-Marsh report contacted the Secretary. Although we were able to obtain a PDF version of the report via the DTIC website and propose electronic publishing, the authors, General Travis, and Paul Nelson are proponents of hard cover publication. The Smithsonian and Air Force Historian Office options were not successful initiatives. The item is on today’s agenda for the BOG’s consideration to pursue hard cover and soft cover publishing—and will be open to Lt Col Lawson.
  1. The President of the Air Force Reserve Flight Surgeons changed over from Col Selvaggi to Col Mike Torres, who will now be the Reserve Component Representative. His contact information is , cell phone 716-807-9470. This information was relayed to the webmaster for updating. The webmaster was also asked to post the BOG minutes from September (and from AsMA in May) on the website.”

4. Treasurer’s Report—Col Jex indicated he was still missing a few pieces of information so he could not provide a detailed income and expense report at the moment.

  1. Current balance is $15, 834, which is comparable to the organization’s balance last year at this time. However, both income and expenses have varied significantly over the past few years, including a $14,000 newsletter expense.
  1. There was subsequent discussion between members regarding stability of funds, with Col Fisher inquiring whether fund levels were trending downward. Col Jex stated that although there had been significant fluctuations, the overall trend in funds balance was neutral. When the group discussed dues increase, he would comment further on future trend data.

5. Committee Reports

  1. Awards—Lt Col Hayes (Item a. from old business, “Lack of Award Nominees”, moved to this section for inclusion). Lt Col Hayes was unable to phone in to the meeting. He briefed Col Fisher that he has received adequate responses for all of the awards except the George E. Schafer Award. Col Fisher has actively sought submissions for this award, which can only come from BOG members or previous George E. Schafer recipients. Lt Col Hayes also communicated to AsMA that the Society would continue to support the Julian Ward Award as we have in the past.
  1. Constitution and By-Laws—updating a question from the September meeting, Col Knight stated that Flightlines has an inherent copyright associated with it regardless of whether it bears the © symbol.
  1. History and Archives—Maj Files asked for guidance on how to proceed with his archival project. He currently has a working disk in PDF format with individually scanned photographs.

Lt Col Czech added that a two page spread on the project is forthcoming inFlightlines. The piece will give background information on the project and also elicit input to Maj Files for how best to disseminate the resource to members. Col Fisher ideally would like to see a product available for sale at AsMA. After Board discussion, he instructed Maj Files to have a working version of the CD-based archives in PowerPoint friendly format (for presentation inclusions), to advertise in Flightlines as planned, and move ahead with the Heritage Foundation to produce copies for sale at the AsMA meeting—adjusting numbers on feedback received following the article. He also tasked Maj Files with computing an estimate of cost for CD production and reporting that to the Reinartz Chair in the upcoming weeks.

Tasking—Maj Files.

  1. Membership—Lt Col Siedlecki summarized the current membership. The society membership level is currently at 528 members. This reflects a decrease of 154 members since September 2005. Seventeen new members joined the Society since 30 September 2005 (one Active Life member and 16 Active members). There was an increase of one Active Life member and a decrease of 95 Active, 24 Subscriptions, and 36 Provisional members. Membership trends can be viewed in the figure at the end of this paragraph. The significant drop in the Society’s membership reflects a recent scrubbing of the membership database to remove individuals who have allowed their membership to lapse beyond 60 days.

Maj Pinkston explained the current rolls were scrubbed based on dues status current as of 2005. Prior to scrubbing, there had been “members” carried on the rolls who hadn’t been current on dues since 2002. This generated huge costs in sending out Flightlines copies which were returned with “address unknown” stamped across them. Lt Col Siedlecki is next planning to accomplish a good scrub of SOUSAFFS members regarding their membership currency with AsMA currency, which is a requirement since the Society is a constituent organization of AsMA. She is also planning to analyze Air Force AsMA members who don’t belong to SOUSAFFS. Col Fisher also asked Lt Col Siedlecki to look more closely at the 100 people who dropped off the rolls to see if she could discern a pattern and potentially recapture some of this membership.

Col Fisher asked Lt Col Czech if she could re-advertise the fact that new members receive a complimentary copy of the Clinical Aerospace Medicine Text by Rayman.

After discussion, Col Fisher asked Lt Col Siedlecki to work with AsMA (Gloria Carter) to identify membership recruiters, recognizing the top three star recruiters via Flightlines, and provide these top three winners with free tickets to the Society Luncheon. Tasking—LtCol Siedlecki.

  1. Program—Lt Col Heupel briefed that last year, the total programs cost was $1600. She recommended the BOG commit $2K for this year, to include ample money to cover speaker honorarium and travel expenses. Col Fisher discussed inviting Lt Col Andrew Lourake, who was recently returned to flying status. Col Fisher also indicated General Taylor is interested in speaking at the luncheon. Col Michaud raised the concern of time constraints with more than one speaker. Col Falk suggest Lt Col Andrew Lourake’s story be included in another program opening during the meeting. After discussion, the BOG voted to formally approach Gen Taylor to be the keynote speaker at the luncheon. Col Fisher will approach AsMA regarding placing Lt Col Lourake’s story into another program position at the meeting. The BOG approved $2K for Lt Col Heupel’s budget.
  1. Reinartz Ed & Training—Lt Col Lawson briefed the annual renewal of the Society/Heritage Foundation memorandum of agreement is drawn up without changes and ready for signature by Col Fisher.

The Ultimate Flight Surgeon’s Guide has not been updated in several years, still available on CD; The Flight Surgeon’s Checklist was updated last year and stockpiles were just recently replenished; the Mishap Guide is being updated currently by the RAM class of 2007 and may or may not be available in time to sell at the Orlando meeting.

Col Fisher inquired if the Ultimate Flight Surgeon’s Guide could be updated in time for the meeting. He asked Maj Sarnow to have an electronic conversation with the Navy and Army POC’s for the Guide, to further explore feasibility of having an update in time for the meeting. Tasking—Maj Sarnow

Col Fisher inquired about stock levels for coins and Lt Col Lawson assured him levels were adequate. He was uncertain if there were any embedded acrylic Society coins on hand, however, and will check into it.

Lt Col Lawson briefed the arrival of the aerospace medicine volume in Les Folio’s Board Essentials series. He requested $2,300 for up front printing costs, which was approved. Following discussion on cover price, the BOG approved the price of $40 per volume.

g. Resolutions—Lt Col Coakwell was not present.

h. Nominations—Col Stewart was not present.

i. Web Master—Maj Sarnow reported that the Aeromedical Theater Guide and Deployed Medical Commanders Handbook were added to the website and have been appreciated by the membership.

Maj Sarnow is thinking through how to use the website for the “State of the Flight Surgeon” questionnaire. The capability to perform an anonymous, no password required questionnaire is ready and waiting if needed. Col Fisher stated we may wish to alter the question set for this year, which will be discussed later.

Finally, Maj Sarnow briefed that he is taking over webmaster duties from Maj Borchardt. He has been in contact with our website hosts to establish an admin account and has been digging into the site to get familiar.

Col Fisher instructed Maj Sarnow to ensure the Brooks Heritage Foundation links are current on the website.

Following up on the Flight Surgeons Clue-Bag that is currently on the USAFSAM website that Lt Col Mavity was trying to make more robust, Maj Sarnow briefed the BOG that he had presented a prototype to the AMCB last month. Col Yoho stated that although the Board was very satisfied with the prototype and encouraged further pursuit, questions on long term maintenance and ultimate host location (such as the Knowledge Center versus the AF Portal) remain to be determined. Col Fisher stated that he preferred the more robust Clue Bag be based out of a dot-mil, and thought that it would not be appropriate for the Society to host it.

j. AFRC—ColTorres was not present.

j. ANG—Col Falk represented Lt Col Gaul. He stated that Guard leadership will be represented at the upcoming annual meeting in Orlando. The Guard is continuing to expand the Readiness Frontiers program due to the substantial number of “squares” required to maintain deployable status of its members.

6. Old Business:

a. Binding of Jones and Marshall Report, (Sep 05, item 2b and in earlier minutes), Lt Col Lawson stated that Dr. Jones’ wishes were to publish in a durable soft cover volume, but not paperback, and smaller than the 8.5 x 11 inch technical report. Dr. Marsh doesn’t have a definitive preference but stated the text will need to be reformatted to fit the new size.

Lt Col Lawson suggested going through a private publisher that the Society would pay for up front versus going with an underwritten text by a pharmaceutical company, similar to the Clinical Aerospace Medicine text by Dr. Rayman. Col Fisher asked Lt Col Lawson to investigate the underwritten option or perhaps a compromised split cost arrangement, shared with the Society. Col Fisher stated this volume should belong in every flight surgeon’s library and suggested that if we could get the publishing cost underwritten, this text becomes the incentive gift for new members. All others could buy the issue at cost. Lt Col Lawson will assess and recommend a proposal to the BOG as to how to best pursue. Tasking—LtCol Lawson.

b. Annual State of Flight Surgeon Report, (Sept 05, item 2c and earlier)—Maj Pinkston referred to previous discussion on this item from the webmaster and recommended deferring this item to new business, under the new survey tool. Deferred

c. International members, (Sep 05, item 2f and earlier) Lt Col Czech stated that this item was open from September’s meeting, asking the question, how Flightlines are being made available to international members. She stated that a hard copy is mailed to their current address and that archived volumes of the news letter are all posted on the website and available to be reviewed. The idea of making a separate password protected website for Flightlines was considered, but turned down. Of course, this means all past copies of Flightlines are available to the public. Closed

d. Membership incentives, (Sep 05, Item 2g—Open to Lt Col Siedlecki. Discussed elsewhere in the meeting related to membership and dues. Closed

e. Flightlines copyright query, (Sep 05, Item 3b—Open to LtColCzech. Addressed by Col Knight, see Bylaws Committee section. Closed

f. Membership dues increase, (Sep 05, Item 3), Col Fisher stated the BOG had proposed raising dues from $15 to $20 a year ago, which would raise an additional $2,500 revenue. He stated that nearly everyone pays their dues with a twenty dollar bill, and that raising the dues to $20 would probably not be perceived as drastic. Conversation followed which included comments by BOG members that $20 was still a “good deal” and that our Navy comrades are currently charging $20 for dues.

Lt Col Czech asked the President if this was an appropriate time to discussthe projected cost of Flightlines publication. Col Fisher felt Flightlines expenses and revenues were very relevant to the membership cost increase and asked her to address it at this point.

She stated that under current operating norms, each edition runs 40 – 48 pages and 1,000 copies are printed. This translates to $3,500 to $3,900 per edition. Projecting an average cost of $3,800 per edition, four editions per year, Flightlines will cost an average of $15,200 per year. Five advertisers currently pay $500 each for a ½ page ad space, defraying $2,500 of this cost, leaving $12,700 per year. If the current roll of 600 members is correct, this cost would work out to just over $20 per member.

Lt Col Siedlecki stated that it’s difficult to know if all of those people appearing on the rolls are paying members, since she does not have visibility on whether they pay their dues to the executive officer. Col Fisher stated that a lot of members join during AMP and then let their membership expire after the first year. He urged the Society to get more active in engaging with new members to encourage them to remain members, for example sending out letters congratulating new members on completing their first year and reminding them it’s time to pay their dues for the next year.

Returning to the expenses/revenues issues, Col Jex stated the Society has been averaging about $7,000 per year in dues revenues. He agreed with Lt Col Czech’s cost estimates. Col Fisher stated the Flightlinesstaff needs an annual budget that it cannot exceed. Other cost containment methods such as limiting printed copies or limiting edition page length will need to be employed.

Col Fisher made a motion to contain Flightlines costs to $3,000 per issue. Col Jex stated this figure was on the low side. He pointed out that the Society brings in between $8000 to $9000 net per year from sales of Brooks Heritage Foundation items. The Society spends about $5,000 total on AsMA related events and awards. Responding to an idea from Lt Col Czech to decrease publishing frequency to three times per year, Col Fisher stated the membership expects and is entitled to four issues per year. He motioned to establish a Flightlines budget of $3,000 per issue and encouraged the editors to seek additional advertisers to further defray expense. He suspected a yearly output of three robust issues and one light edition would fit into this economic constraint. As the motion was voted on, Col Yoho voiced his concern that the budget was too low for operation. Col Jex agreed. Col Fisher modified his proposal stating the bogey would be $3,000 with a ceiling of $3,500 per edition. (Motion carries).