Two Years in the Black

Conditions are continuing to improve within the Tailhook Association in many ways. Perhaps the most important cause for optimism is that we begin 1999 with a track record of two profitable years in succession. This most encouraging indicator of our health reverses a trend over the previous five years in which expenses exceeded income.

The first tangible benefit of our profitable year is in your hands as you read these comments — this issue of The Hook is expanded from 64 to 72 pages, and we plan another 72-page issue in the 1999 publishing year.

Our Financial Statement: In 1998 we increased our income through the sale of Tailhook logo merchandise and by attracting 222 new members. We finished the year with a total membership of 10,365. These two factors, along with savings in our printing budget, yielded a profit of $18,514.

Membership: The membership committee continues to pursue those whose membership has lapsed. Our personal contact program is working — our success rate for 1998 was 20.65 percent, or 89 members rejoining Tailhook out of 431 contacted. This program can always use new callers to man the phones. If you live in San Diego and are willing to call from the headquarters, send us an e-mail for the calling schedule. If you are willing to call suspended members in your area, I will send you a calling list.

Merchandise Sales: This month our stock selection is expanded with additional navy and black shirts with a new Tailhook logo. Shown here are the Navy and Marine Corps Hornet logos avialable

The Annual Reunion and Symposium: This year our reunion is scheduled for 19–21 August 1999 at the Nugget in Reno, Nevada, and we expect 1,200 attendees. Other unit reunion groups plan to participate in some or all Hook ’99 events. Each year as the number of Tailhookers returning to Reno grows, we draw more and more exhibitors. This year we expect a full range of displays and a significantly increased number of exhibitors in the Rose A Ballroom.

Future Reunions: The results of our reunion survey are still being received at our headquarters, and a final summary will be published in the next issue of The Hook. Thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey forms. I am breaking the returns into three categories.

• The first category includes all raw data and shows the following result: Most important to those responding is reunion location and transportation cost. This is followed by a Thursday-through-Sunday format and desired reunion sites in order: Pensacola, San Diego, Reno and Las Vegas.
• If we look at only those who have not attended in the last 10 years, the location-cost priority is the same, but the order of sites favored changes to Pensacola, Norfolk, Charleston and San Diego.
• Lastly, if we look at only those who have attended reunions in the last 10 years, the location-cost factors remain the same. The order of the sites most desired, however, changes to Reno and San Diego (tied for first place) and Las Vegas. Pensacola comes in a distant fourth.

Prospects for the continual growth of the Tailhook Association have not been brighter in years, thanks to the hard work of our members. But there is more work to be done. We ask that every member contact a friend who would benefit by membership in Tailhook to encourage him to join. If every member recruits at least one new member, our growth and continuing improvement is assured.

Secondly, make your plans now to attend Hook ’99 in Reno. We continually hear the comment from first-time attendees that if they’d known how great a time it was, they’d have been there years earlier. Available rooms are spoken for early, so don’t delay in making your reservations.

We’ll see you in Reno!

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