Welcome our new UMA Members! LaToria Wofford and Kenneth Bartley.
Melissa Stockwell: UMA, Network of Executive Women (NEW), and ResponsAbility are co-hosting a brown bag lunch with Melissa Stockwell on August 4th from 11:30-12:30 in Madison Auditorium South. As a first lieutenant in the Army, she was the first female soldier to lose a limb in the Iraq War when a roadside bomb exploded while she was leading a convoy in Baghdad. Melissa is currently an American para-triathlete and former Paralympic swimmer. She was the first Iraq veteran chosen for the Paralympics.
Coast Guard Birthday Celebration. UMA will celebrate the Coast Guard’s 226th birthday on August 4th in conjunction with the Melissa Stockwell brown bag lunch. Please join us.
Veteran Highlight: Navy Veteran Charlotte Baker recently earned the Exceptional Career Award (Ten Years Consecutive Outstanding) for superior performance in the examination of patent applications in the field of image processing, speech signal processing and printing systems.
The Jonas Project: Thanks to everyone who joined in the presentation with The Jonas Project founder John Kelsall. As a recap, he is looking for Veterans who would like to start a business and mentors who have either started a business or have subject matter expertise to assist a Veteran entrepreneur. He asked me to pass along his sincerest thanks and his contact information for anyone who would like to contact him: Phone (323) 687-5281 and email john@thejonasproject.org.
Charity Navigator: One tool to use for evaluating charities is Charity Navigator. It is an independent charity watchdog organization that evaluates charitable organizations in the United States. The site also has a “Support Veterans and Active Duty Servicemembers” section.
UMA Quarterly Newsletter: Arlene Jones has taken on the challenge of reviving the UMA Quarterly Newsletter! The next edition will be published in mid-September and one of the things we would like to do is honor the USPTO employees and family members who are currently deployed in service of our Nation. If you have a family member that is deployed, please send the name, rank, and service to Arlene Jones.
UMA Pictures/Videos: We have a created a Flickr page to share pictures taken at UMA events and a YouTube channel for our UMA videos. If you have pictures to add, please contact UMA@uspto.gov.
Softball Team. If you are interested in playing on the “Vets” co-ed softball team, please contact Al Gagliardi at Albert.Gagliardi@USPTO.GOV. Prior military service not required.
Reward Program. Sign up a friend and receive the UMA coffee mug!
Coffee Break: The weekly UMA coffee breaks are across from Innovation Grounds on Tuesdays from 9:00-10:00. Please drop by, even if only for a couple of minutes to say “Hi”.
UMA Website: The UMA Website is currently under re-construction as we move from the old host to a new one.
Did You Know? Douglas Munro is the only member of the United States Coast Guard to have received the Medal of Honor. Munro received the decoration posthumously for his actions as officer-in-charge of a group of landing craft who volunteered to evacuate Marines from a beach on September 27, 1942, during the September Matanikau action in the Guadalcanal campaign. Among the Marines evacuated that day was USMC Lt. Col. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller. During this action—protecting the men after he had evacuated them—Munro was fatally wounded. He received the Navy version of the Medal of Honor because, at the time, the Coast Guard was operating under the Department of the Navy and no separate Coast Guard version of the medal existed. A Coast Guard Medal of Honor was authorized in 1963, but has never been designed or minted.
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UMA Calendar of Events:
• Weekly Coffee Break every Tuesday across from Innovation Grounds from 9:00-10:00.
• Monthly Board of Directors Meeting (second Tuesday of the month from 12:00-1:00). POC Dean Dominique.
• August 4 – Melissa Stockwell brown bag and Coast Guard birthday.
• August 16 – USPTO Military Association will sponsor the food trucks again.
• August 25 – UMA Night at the Battle of the Beltway. Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals, 7:05 p.m. at Nationals Park.
• September 15 – Quarterly Membership Meeting. POC Dean Dominique.
• September 16 – National POW/MIA Recognition Day.
• September 18 – Air Force Birthday.
• October 13 – Navy Birthday.
• November (Date TBD) – UMA Sponsored Blood Drive. POC Dean Dominique.
• November 10 – Veteran’s Day Celebration. POC Dr. Olivia Wise.
• November 10 – Marine Corps Birthday.
• November 11 – UMA Dining Out at the Willing Warriors Gala.
• December 13 – Quarterly Membership Meeting. POC Dean Dominique.
Veteran-Related Events:
• Meet the Author. The author of “One Hell of a War: Patton’s 317th Infantry Regiment in WWII” will be available for autographs on Wednesday, August 17 from 1:00-5:00 PM during the annual 80th Division Veterans Association Reunion at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Alexandria-Historic District. Copies will be available for purchase with all proceeds being donated to the 80th Division Veterans Association.
• The Washington DC VA Medical Center is hosting its 10th annual Welcome Home: A Salute to Service celebration at the Maryland Renaissance Festival Saturday, September 10, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Click here for more information and to RSVP.
• 9/11 Heroes Run event in Alexandria on Saturday, September 10th. IHOP is expected to provide FREE pancake and bacon breakfast to all participants. And Starbucks will be back again with unlimited coffee. A very patriotic event complete with pancakes, bacon and coffee…life doesn’t get much better than that!
• October 9th is the Army Ten-Miler in Washington, DC.
• October 30th is the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, VA.
• The American Veterans Center’s Conference & Honors. November 3-5, 2016 in Washington, DC. The three-day event will feature panels and discussions with America’s most decorated and distinguished Veterans and active duty personnel from World War II to the present day. Click here for more information.
• Loudoun Therapeutic Riding provides quality equine-assisted activities and therapies for wounded military and Veterans. Click here to find out more about their “Equine Services for Heroes” program.
• If you know of any other Veteran-related events, please send an email uma@uspto.gov and we will include it in the next update.
Volunteers needed: The UMA is looking for members to help us with the following activities:
• UMA Dining Out POC
The 2016 UMA Board members are President Dean Dominique, Vice Presidents Asghar Bilgrami and Anhtuan Nguyen, Treasurer Albert Gagliardi and Secretary Melissa Wiley. Members at large are Eric Atkisson, Aretha Grayson, Hank Macdonald, Clifton Randolph, Neal Sereboff, Keith McCray, Paul Kloberg, Mark Booker and Catherine Ferreira. Sieg Chencinski serves as a special nonvoting member. Mr. Fred Steckler is our Executive Sponsor.
A special thanks to our UMA Volunteers:
• Quarterly Newsletter – Arlene Jones
• UMA Brochure – Michael Arguello
• UMA Graphics – Melissa Harvey
• UMA Video/Pics – Mike Cleveland and Hank MacDonald (and crew)
• Wounded Warrior Letter Writing Campaign – Jill Wolf and Gair MacKenzie
• Wreaths Across America Committee – Troy Tyler and Brian Simpkins
• Memorial Day Event Committee – Sherry Anderson and Arlene Jones
• Social Coordinator and Veteran’s Day Committee Lead – Dr. Olivia Wise
• PTSD Awareness Month – John Menkaure
• Facebook Administrator – Reid Bailey and William Jerez Lora
• Webmaster – April Blair and William Jerez Lora
UMA membership is open to all USPTO employees, prior military service not required. If you are not currently a dues paying member, we invite you to join us. Simply fill out the four highlighted blocks of the Membership Form and return it to us via email.
If you haven’t already done so, please like our Facebook page and check out the UMA website.
The Scuttlebutt may include stories, links and references not directly connected to the USPTO Military Association, but which may be of interest to our Veteran community. If you have questions or comments about anything appearing (or not) in the UMA Scuttlebutt, please contact us at uma@uspto.gov.