[Craig Muhonen]

These are my personal bias/feelings for General Herbert Norman Schwarzkoph Jr. He helped protect my young a** marine, in 1968 Vietnam, he and his wife became our "friends" when I "Plumbed " his house in Telluride, and the whole town paid our respects to this man. He paid his respects to us on veterans day, and stood in the background and saluted US. He was a "Bear" of a man, he was a humble man, he was a leader. He passed in Dec. 2012 and we miss him.
He was a great story teller, and gave meaning to the ones he served.
He left "bread crumbs" for any aspiring organizations to follow, and they will be there in the future for us to follow. Some organizations just follow a generic bottom line business model, with out much leadership, and only go half way, but I think US HAWKS has far surpassed that with our leadership.

[Bob Kuczewski]

I think US HAWKS has far surpassed that with our leadership.

We are all leaders here. That's what freedom gives us. I didn't invent that. I just copied it from those who penned documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

[Free]

These are my personal bias/feelings for General Herbert Norman Schwarzkoph Jr. He helped protect my young a** marine, in 1968 Vietnam, he and his wife became our "friends" when I "Plumbed " his house in Telluride, and the whole town paid our respects to this man. He paid his respects to us on veterans day, and stood in the background and saluted US. He was a "Bear" of a man, he was a humble man, he was a leader. He passed in Dec. 2012 and we miss him.
He was a great story teller, and gave meaning to the ones he served.
He left "bread crumbs" for any aspiring organizations to follow, and they will be there in the future for us to follow. Some organizations just follow a generic bottom line business model, with out much leadership, and only go half way, but I think US HAWKS has far surpassed that with our leadership.

I'm not motivated in an attack on the General. Re: the Gulf Wars, I just saw it as a dishonest buildup and was crying wolf, (a lot) before the "shock and awe" invasion. (televised orgy)
Colin Powell, was the 'political' General that sold us the icing on the cake lie, that Saddam had these special 'weapons of mass destruction' trucks that pushed Congress into signing off on killing millions.
General Schwarzkoph was a strong soldier that carried out the details, and did it well. Hard to fault that.
So far, all I've said is that I wasn't inclined to spend an hour getting a programmed lecture from him when so much was happening on the geo-political scene.
I don't think the General lived the 'everybody is a leader' lifestyle so I suspected there is a lot of propaganda in his presentation. There are nuggets, I'm sure, but I couldn't wade through it to find out, yet.

Hey did you hear, the same congress that took us into a fake war back then, and Vietnam, by the way, are gonna impeach the President of the United States, on the thinnest, phoniest of reasons?
My attention is fairly consumed by that. What do you think of this?
I'm absorbing 10 or 12 hours of this every day.
We are in the middle of the biggest historical political event of our lifetime.
Everybody has to pick a side.

[Craig Muhonen]

If I had to pick a side, I would not pick the side that's smashing their thumbs, over and over again in front of a crowd. As in "sticking out like a sore thumb". Our Republic is the hammer, and "sore thumbs" are uneducated.
I know it was a bit off topic to post a video about "Leadership" by Gen.Schwarzkoph but, it was the best one I could find, and our leadership here at US HAWKS seems "more free" than other sites. I also felt that fellow veterans would like it.
It's so cool to be able to "talk" to each other, here at US HAWKS in this open setting.

T Y
Craig Muhonen

[Bob Kuczewski]

Gentlemen,

I started this topic a few months back when I stumbled across the endorsements from my 2008 Regional Director campaign against David Jebb. I've been smeared so much since then that it was refreshing (and admittedly a little self-serving) to see and share all of those endorsements here on the forum.

I think Craig's posting of the General's speech should be taken for what it is - advice about leadership by someone who was clearly a great leader himself. Generals don't get to declare war. That's not their job. Their job is to win the wars that others have declared for them. Period. That takes both strategic decision making and the ability to inspire others to carry out their own duties. That's what was shared in that video (for anyone who actually watched it).

Getting back to the original topic, it's been 11 years since I defeated David Jebb in that 2008 election. The things that I wanted for USHPA in my candidate statements were NOT the things wanted by the USHPA "insiders club". That's why 11 years later USHPA still doesn't have the things that we have here on the U.S. Hawks. That was the purpose of this topic ... that and reminding myself of a time before there'd been so many smear campaigns launched against me.

If you read this 2010 statement, you'll notice that one way or another the U.S. Hawks has done our best to live up to those goals. They were voiced as my goals back in 2010, but I think they were the same goals that each of us has held long before we met. In fact, the sharing of those goals and principles is what binds us together to this day. That's the real purpose of this topic, and that's what we should be rejoicing together.

Bob Kuczewski's Spring 2010 Regional Director Statement

Fellow Region 3 Pilots,

My name is Bob Kuczewski and I've been fortunate to know many of you through my flying. As you may know, I've focused my Directorship on representing pilot interests at USHPA because I believe that USHPA begins with YOU. If you look at the issues I've tackled, you'll find two common themes: fair representation for our members and accountability to our members. Here's a short list of the items that I've worked toward during my first year in office:

1. The "Accountability Amendment" – In the fall of 2009, I began working on the Accountability Amendment to make it easier for our members to see how their own Directors are voting on the Board. The Board of Directors is the ultimate authority at USHPA with one exception: you. Each of you, as voting members, holds the final authority over each Regional Director. You are the boss. But how can you be a good boss if you don't know what your own Directors are doing? I would like to see all Directors' votes on the Board be published after every Board meeting so you would know exactly who voted for each and every change in our organization. This goal may have to be tempered with practicality, but to the degree possible I will work to open up the voting on our Board so our members can see what we're doing and exactly who is doing it. This does not make me popular with the rest of the Board, but I don't work for the Board. I work for our members. I work for you.
    
2. Open Executive Committee Meetings – The Executive Committee (EC) is made up of 4 Directors who essentially run USHPA between our 2 annual Board meetings. It's well known that 2 Board meetings per year is far too few, and we've had problems resulting from the Executive Committee making decisions without input from the other members of the Board. For that reason, I'd like to establish a policy that ALL Directors are welcomed (and encouraged) to attend the monthly EC teleconferences. I believe that would help USHPA make better decisions.
    
3. Fair Representation on Boards and Councils – This was one of the issues that originally brought me to leadership at USHPA. Our association consists of pilots from two sports: hang gliding and paragliding (I fly both). The relative numbers in those sports have varied and will continue to vary. But USHPA must ensure that members of both sports are treated fairly and can get fair representation whenever possible. This has not been the case in the past at some of our sites, and I've been working to fix that over the last 3 years (long before I became a Director).
    
4. Flying is Job One – USHPA has many facets: Board, Officers, Staff, Magazine, Regulation, Competition, Ratings, Instruction, Site Preservation, and many others. I view all of these facets as supporting cast members in USHPA's number one goal: to keep our members flying. Any time USHPA fails in that primary mission, it has failed all of us. When USHPA allowed its own Director (David Jebb) to bar pilots from flying at one of our most famous sites without any valid reason and without any due process, USHPA failed us. USHPA failed David Beardslee when he was banned for life. That was wrong, and one of my most important goals is to ensure that USHPA never fails another one of our pilots again - ever. It doesn't matter how nice the magazine is. If our pilots can't fly, then USHPA has failed us. This is an area where Bill Helliwell has already let us down. Bill was on the SDHGPA Board when David Jebb banned Beardslee and Bill did nothing. That's inexcusable, and that's why I cannot support Bill Helliwell as our Regional Director. Directors must stand up for their pilots. That's Job One.

There's a lot more that I can add, and you'll find more information at my original 2008 campaign web site: http://torreyhawks.org/r3 (which has been updated for this recall election). I will say that this recall sets a bad precedent because it means that 10% of any Region can force an expensive (~ $10,000) and divisive election on the other 90% of that Region. Mark Forbes wrote:

“As the Elections chairman, I'm the one who gets to deal with people asking about recalls and so on. There have been an assortment of such inquiries, starting the day after BobK was announced as having won election as an RD.”   - Mark Forbes

In other words, this recall election was initiated by the “sore losers club” before I even took office as Regional Director. Furthermore, I will be up for election this year anyway, and there's nothing so pressing that would justify all this expense and effort. So please take the time to mark your ballot against this frivolous recall and for more control of USHPA by our pilots. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Bob Kuczewski

858-204-7499
bobkuczewski@gmail.com
Please call or write any time.

[Bob Kuczewski]

We lost Kenny Westfall last month. I searched our site for his name and found this endorsement for my 2008 Regional Director election. That would be 12 years ago next month.

Kenny Westfall:

Hey Bob,

For the short time we’ve known each other, you’ve demonstrated all of the quality’s it takes to be a R.D, and a "BROTHER IN THE SPORT" ... David Jebb has shown none! In a nut shell, OUT with the bad, and in with the GOOD! It will be comforting to know that Torrey Pines as well as all of region 3’s flying sites will be under your direction! The way I see it ... you're either born into the sport ... or you're not ... YOU ARE!!!

Kenny Westfall #36666

Kenny was a great proponent of freedom in our sport, and he stood up for others.

Thanks Kenny.