This Week

TO:  All U-13 & U-11 Players, Parents and Coaches,

 

I still need help from some of the U-13 and U-11 families (and coaches).  I have had about 75% of the families reply based on the instructions below.  In the event you have not replied via our website, PLEASE take 5 minutes and let me know if you are able to join us.  There is still an opportunity for you to participate even if you have not replied to date.  I will be away this weekend and will summarize the website survey on Monday.  We have had a good response (those saying YES – I can go) to date.  If you cannot attend, that is okay…we just need to know either way prior to Monday, August 3^rd.  If you really want to get excited, please read the latest email that Betty sent to me earlier today (don’t ask me about all the military abbreviations that she has used…might have to Google them).  This is going to be AWESOME!!!

 

 

Friday:

 

Breakfast

 

9:00 to 12:00 (groups will be separated because of numbers to allow maximum

action and minimize "watching")

Group 1 - airfield - will train the apache and black hawk simulators & will do

the MRAP

Group 2 - Main base - will shoot weapons (simulated) roll in the HEAT

(simulated explosive attack on Humvee) and combat medical training (this may

go into a Group 3 depending on numbers)

 

12:00 to 1:00 MRE lunch

 

1:00 to 4:00 groups will swap location

 

4:00 to 8:00 - BBQ will be dinner; may see if we can get a lacrosse game &

football game going - mix our soldiers up or do an against game depending on

the children's size

 

Saturday:

 

Breakfast at the dining facility - will provide the charge for this (we do not

think we can get this tab picked up for us)

 

9:00 to 12:00 live fire at the ranges - may be able to watch some building

sweeps with live fire (simulated Iraq situation) ... We are looking to see

what is the most fun & hoping we can get the air national guard to drop bombs

for us.

 

Depending on departure times we will plans tours and more games in the

afternoon and a BBQ for dinner.

 

Accommodations - hoping for barracks but may set up tents to give the bivwack

feel.

 

We are hoping to provide everything except breakfast at the dining facility.

Once we get our legal approval and I get a better idea of numbers from the

rest of you all I will send out a better agenda but I hope the above sounds

fun and worth the trip for you all.

 

Oh yes we hope to have a VTC with the soldiers in Iraq on Saturday - depending

on timing we have 26 soldiers from the 620th returning from a 15 month

deployment (right now redeployment window is August 6 to 12 so we may be able

to welcome a group back if they are delayed).

 

 

 

 

 

TO:  All U-13 & U-11 Players, Parents and Coaches

 

I need help from all the U-13 and U-11 families ASAP.  Unfortunately, due to the size restraints for the smaller children participating in the various events, our U-9 players will not be able to participate.

 

In order to compile information for the people at Fort Drum, I am asking every family for our U-13 and U-11 program to go onto our website and complete a survey.

 

www.easternyorklacrosse.com

 

To locate the survey from the main page, click on Registration and the survey will take less than 5 minutes.  If you have two players (a U-13 and a U-11 player), please complete the survey for each player.  In the event you cannot attend, I will still need every family to complete the survey.  If you want your son to attend, but you cannot drive up yourself, we can take him in some of the cars that will be going up.  Every box on the survey form must have some data in it so if you cannot submit the form, you will need to put a response in the comment box(s).

 

I need to provide the information to Betty at Fort Drum on Monday so please complete the survey by 9:00 pm on Sunday night or sooner.

 

Tentatively, we will carpool from Jim Macks leaving early Friday morning (around 5:00 am) and staying in the barracks at Fort Drum on Friday night.  The trip will take about 6 hours (straight up Rte 81 into NY).  We will spend a portion of the day there on Saturday and leave in the late afternoon to return home.  I do not have any information on the costs yet, but from the email below, I do not expect there to be any significant costs for the players or families.  Players are highly encouraged to go and both parents are welcome to go as well.  If there are other siblings, they can go as well as long as they are not toddlers.  It may be tough to have a toddler on an Army base where their will be simulations.

 

Here is another email from Betty with some additional information….thanks.

 

Thank you for your support of the 10th SBTB - each of you have taken some of

our soldiers under your wing and on their behalf thank you.

 

I hope you can come to Northern New York to be our guest so we can show you

what Fort Drum is all about.

 

Based on feedback from the group so far we are hoping you can join us August

14 to 15. Right now it looks like Friday, August 14 will be a day on the

simulators - some of which the children will be too small but we can take them

to another area to shoot or do combat medic training. Saturday I am hoping to

find some "hot" ranges which basically means soldiers will be training with

live ammunition so we can watch them.

 

I have asked about the barracks for housing you all and this may be possible.

I apologize for not having all the answers but I just returned to work after

my husband's RR but I wanted to let you know the date we are locking in and a

basic idea of the plan!

 

We will do BBQ style eating & our hope is to keep costs way low for your stay

here!

 

Please confirm you wish to attend and then how many as soon as possible -

men/women (boys/girls) for accommodation purposes.

 

 

 

TO:  All Players, Parents, Coaches and Supporters of the Eastern York KNIGHTS Lacrosse program,

 

More exciting news to share with each of you!

 

For those who have received the July issue of Lacrosse Magazine, check out page 67.  If you do not have access to the magazine, I have attached the file for your reading pleasure.  This is WAY COOL that the KNIGHTS have been featured in this national magazine.  I have provided to you below, an exchange of emails between the Founder/President of ASA and myself.  I decided to share it with each of you because of the direct support and involvement that each of you have made to get the KNIGHTS on the national map.  She not only sent this email to the people shown below, but she sent it out across the United States to all her contacts including Generals, Senators, Congressmen as well as numerous community leaders.

 

I am especially grateful to our U-13 players and parents for their support of the care package drive during and after the World’s Longest Running Lacrosse Game.  Because of the letters written by the players that were sent and the multitude of boxes shipped over, our U-13 team has been invited to spend a weekend at Fort Drum in up-state NY (about an hour from Syracuse).  Here is the email that Betty Jones (10^th Mountain Sustainment Liaison) sent to me a few weeks ago outlining some of the amazing treats that we will be in store for.  The final details will be provided in the next two weeks (Betty’s husband just returned from Iraq for a two week RR so she is back to work next week).  I will have a better feel for the total number of people that can participate in the trip and if possible, we will see if we can include some of our U-11 and U-9 families as well.  For now, please save the date (August 14^th-16^th) and assuming we can work around football practices and any other conflicts that weekend, it should be a trip the boys will forever remember!  They are going to arrange housing and meals on the campus at Fort Drum for those who can make the trip.  Stay tuned for details and then I will survey the team to see who may be able to attend.

 

Bob - Thank you for your support!  Linda and I have been talking about having a Fort Drum event where we can introduce you and your group to what we do here at Fort Drum. Your support these past months has been invaluable and giving you and your team an idea of the training and allowing you to experience it will give you an even better understanding and appreciation - not to mention it is a lot of fun!

 

For the event I was thinking of two days where we can take you out to ranges, airfield, bombing ranges to watch what soldiers do and then take you to the MRAP simulator; the UH-60 (black hawk) simulator; apache simulator; est (basically where there are a lot of simulated firing scenarios); HEAT (training for IED attacks on HumVee); and combat medic training where we can go hands on….Betty.