Over the past couple of years, I have been approached by several SubVets from both U. S. Submarine Veterans, Inc. Bases and also U.S. Submarine Veterans from WWII Chapters wanting to know what we did to combine our Kings Bay Base and WWII Trident Chapter into one organization here. Needless to say, they also want to know how well is it working. I always enthusiastically respond that "it's working GREAT!"

First, I want to emphasize that it isn't as difficult as you may think it would be to accomplish combining the Base and Chapter. The main obstacle that you have to clear is getting the majority of members in both organizations willing to work together, or it will fail.

The next area of concern, is that you must become knowledgeable about the Constitution and By-Laws of both organizations and make a concerted effort to ensure that you don't do anything that would break any of the rules or bring discredit to either organization.

Some things we have done here at Kings Bay that seem to work well are:

The Commander and Vice Commander of Kings Bay Base also serve as the President and Vice President of the WWII Trident Chapter.

In order to serve as Commander/President and Vice Commander/Vice President you must be a member of U.S. Submarine Veterans, Inc. and also a member, or associate member, of U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II.

In our combined Kings Bay Base/WWII Trident Chapter the offices of Secretary and Treasurer must be maintained separately for both U.S. Submarine Veterans, Inc. and U.S. Submarine Veterans of WWII in order to maintain separate Base and WWII Chapter finances, files, records and reports.

To serve as Secretary or Treasurer of our Kings Bay Base you must be a member of U.S. Submarine Veterans, Inc.

To Serve as Secretary or Treasurer of our WWII Trident Chapter you must be a member, or associate member, of U.S. Submarine Veterans of WWII.

We hold a social (picnic/dinner/cruise, etc.) on a Saturday, once each quarter, for our members who are unable to attend our regular Wednesday evening meetings. This also makes it easier for some of our older WWII members who live a distance from Kings Bay or have difficulty driving at night, and also for those who work during our regular Wednesday evening meetings, to remain active in our organization.

Many of the younger SubVet, Inc. members become associate members of our WWII Trident Chapter. Our associate WWII Chapter members and our SubVet, Inc. members provide assistance in performing necessary WWII Chapter tasks associated with running the Chapter, or planning and conducting our Annual WWII Memorial Service Events, here at Kings Bay that relieves our elder members of some of their burden.

The main thing that makes our combined base/chapter work so well, is that our WWII and SubVet, Inc. members are focused on working together as a team. Our goal is to keep the memory alive of ALL our Submarine Shipmates who gave their lives in the pursuit of their duties while serving their country.