[NLRS] The BEST crew and battle tested

[Bruce Richardson]

Northern Lighter's:

(After getting 11 hours of sleep :-) )  I am the most proud and
the most satisfied I've ever been in 24 years of accomplishing
"missions".  Over my military career, I've been through numerous
inspections and exercises where higher-headquarters simulated
war-time conditions and tasks.  Inspectors and evaluators floated
around monitoring and grading all activities.

In our situation with this Conference, those of us who had been to
a conference before understood the basic minimum performance
required and were able to transmit that to the rest of the team.
Collectively, we formulated a vision, beyond the minimum, that was
our personal and collective goal.  Most of us are, and you can bet
I am, used to setting goals and achieving them.  Well, I am SO
pleased with the outcome of this mission.  In the military, the
grades are SATISFACTORY, EXCELLENT, and OUTSTANDING.  We just got
an OUTSTANDING (with distinction)!

I think the key reason we exceeded my/our expectations by so much
is the quality and dedication of the people involved. Sure, we had
the quantity of people necessary to distribute the task load.  But
each task was accomplished so WELL. WB0VHF, KB0IJB, KB0OZN on
Photography.  W0GHZ and Karlene, Carol, CVVC'ers, and BC'ers on
Hospitality. N0NAS on Facility/DealerRm. K0TAR and WB0LJC on Noise
Figure.  WA2VOI, W0AUS, and N0KP on Antenna Range. K0SHF, N0VZJ,
W0UC, WB0LJC, KD0JI, and KB9TLV on Prizes (Wow!). N9UUR and W0JT
on Audio/Visual. K0KFC, (and Shirley), KD0JI, W0UC and N9VSV on
Registration. KC0IYT and K0MHC on Rover Row.  W0KF on Promotion,
Registration, and much more.  Barb Platt w/ Jon, Shirley Hermanek
w/Jim, and Betty Fox w/ John on Family Program. WB0VHF and K0CJ on
Posters. WA2VOI on Proceedings.  And W0ZQ on Presentations.  As
you think of each task, you can only be impressed.

Most of you have not been to many conferences. With this one so
close, I wished that you would enjoy and relish all aspects of the
conference. Unfortunately, while each of you remained focused on
your tasks, it caused you to miss large portions of the event.
The closest it will probably get again, where you could enjoy all
of the event, will be Chicago, Cedar Rapids, or Sioux Falls.
Thanks to each of you for forsaking full enjoyment of the event by
accomplishing your individual tasks so well.

I've been in tough exercises, burdened with chem-warfare equipment
where normally good guys reacted to less-than-perfect leadership
by becoming alienated and stopped pulling their share of the load.
To my view, whatever your personal thoughts, all of you kept
pulling HARD through the end of the battle.  That's another
distinction--this was not a drill--this was the real thing!

I feel a "Wow!" right now.  A physical analogy to that "wow!" is
the prize table.  Each of you can only react with a "wow!" to the
sheer abundance and generosity reflected on the prize table.
Well, I feel a "Wow!" from the result of each of your generous
combined contributions to this battle.

Yes, we need to meet and do an after-action review.  All negatives
and criticisms will be honestly laid on the table. No criticism is
worth reacting to because the battle is past.  All will be
summarized.  We can decide to share all of it or parts that might
actually help a future team.  I hope we can have this after-action
review in conjunction with a fun, social event for all of us and
our families.  I have the evenings of the 10th/11th/12th
available.
However, my apartment complex party room is NOT available on the
12th.
I'd like to invite all of you over to my place for a
Burger/Chicken
Grilling. I'd need some help on making sure I have a grill.  I'll
get the meats, buns and bevs, but could use some help on
no-kidding
side dishes.  All of your families are invited.  The pool and
ping-pong would be available. We'd sit down for one last hour and
dig into what went wrong, didn't go the way we expected, or could
be done better.  Please respond with your preference for
10th or 11th. I think the 11th would be the best.

Most of us have other interests besides ham radio and putting on
conferences.  If you came away from the conference motivated in
any way about VHF/UHF weak-signal, run with that! Start a project.
Plus, return your focus to other important interests in your life.

While none of us want another battle anytime soon, I'd lead or be
a part of this team ANYTIME!  You are a GREAT team and being
recognized with an OUTSTANDING+ feels good.

Thanks to each of you. I'm impressed.

Bruce Richardson W9FZ


Thanks for coming to the CSVHFS Conference in Bloomington!