It is a distinct personal honor to serve this year as President of the Greater Kansas City Post of The Society of American Military Engineers.  Thank you for your confidence, and congratulations to Mr. Tom Poer and the 2008 Officers and Directors for a successful year and smooth transition to the new team.

The Greater Kansas City Post of the Society of American Military Engineers organized their first annual Industry Day. This event was a partnering of SAME, USACE and the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC). The event brought together over 200 attendees from across the nation. Public and private sector individuals were in attendance. Students from the University of Kansas and the SAME student chapter of UMKC also attended the event. The event was held at UMKC University Center on January 28th. Registration for this event was mailed to local chapter members and also posted on the Greater Kansas City Post website.

The event was kicked off by a social hour the evening before the conference in the Kansas City Power and Light District. At the social hour companies could sign up for one-on-one sessions with the Kansas City District Contracting Officers and Program Managers. Over 26 companies purchased exhibit booths and over 19 companies sponsored the event. Dean Kevin Truman introduced himself to the attendees and spoke about UMKC's School of Computing and Engineering and his desire for UMKC to serve the needs of the engineering community in Kansas City. The day of the conference the Missouri River Regional Vice President, Mr. Don Curtis - HDR Engineering presented a Vice President's Award to Mr. Jason Myers, BWR Corporation for his outstanding support to the post, particularly in the area of support to our Young Members and student summer engineering camp. Following this award presentation, Don Curtis installed the new officers for 2009. The outgoing president, Mr. Tom Poer - HNTB made remarks before introducing the COL. Roger Wilson - USACE as the Greater Kansas City Post incoming president.

 Industry Day presentations were made by a variety of personnel from industry, academia, and the military; including UMKC professors, Kansas City USACE staff, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment, J.E. Dunn Construction, AMEC Engineering and SAME Fellows. Presentation topics included building information modeling (BIM), LEED certification, engineering ethics, National Levee Safety, sustainable development on Army Installations, 404 permitting process, early contractor involvement and design build source selection boards. Throughout the day "one-on-one meetings" with the Kansas City District Contracting Officers and Program Managers met with small businesses and large corporations. The efforts of this event rose over $24,000 for the post, a portion of which was donated to the Dean Kevin Truman's engineering department. PDH's were also awarded to those attending the event.

The Greater Kansas City Post of Society of American Military Engineers had a large presence at this year's Engineers Week. Over 900 engineers gathered to celebrate the profession at the Downtown Kansas City Marriott in February for a luncheon in their honor. During the ceremony, COL Roger Wilson presented a donation check from the Post's Industry Day event to Chancellor Leo Morton and Dean Kevin Truman for the School of Computing and Engineering at the University of Missouri Kansas City.
 
Afterwards, the Greater Kansas City Post hosted presentations from four USACE Districts to discuss their organization overview, trends and initiatives, and future workloads in the Mary Lou Williams Conference Room. The presenters in attendance were COL Tom O'Hara - St. Louis District, Erik Blechinger, PMP - Deputy District Engineer, Omaha District, Clif Warren - Chief of Engineering and Construction, Tulsa District, and Natalae Tilman, Kansas City District. The speakers discussed an overview of district missions, fiscal year programs, future opportunities and the impact of stimulus funding. It was a great event attended by 80 members. Copies of the presentions are available on the Greater Kansas City Post Website.
 
The young members sponsored a social hour at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium located in the Power and Light District. This corner pub offers guests more than 225 hand-crafted, unique and quality beers from around the world in a fun and laid-back atmosphere. Approximately 20 members were treated to free appetizers and great conversation. 

This year's Mathcounts was held on Saturday, February 7 at Burns & McDonnell in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 13 schools and 86 students were registered. The event consisted of three written tests in the morning and a countdown round in the afternoon. The top three teams and ten individuals go to the State competition March 7 in Columbia, Missouri. The following awards were presented at the Engineers Week Luncheon.

WANTED: Amateur Gamblers    

The Greater Kansas City Post is in the midst of its eleventh session of sponsoring members through the SAME P.E. Refresher Course. The Post has prioritized youth education as a prime objective for growing the engineering profession in the greater Kansas City area. Since the inception of the program, the Post has sponsored a total of 135 individuals. Each session recruits new SAME members by advertising within the greater Kansas City area, but outside of the Post's regular communication channels. The program is free to all members of SAME. As a part of this program, the Post has proudly sponsored many students from the Command General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.

The Greater Kansas City Post is constantly looking for ways to support the members of the United States military across the world. In 2008, the Post was able to provide this support through Project Platoons Forward, a program sponsored by the Powder Creek Shoot Park in Lenexa, Kansas. Powder Creek teamed up with The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7397 to sponsor a project providing personal comfort items to men and women of Unites States Army platoons dispersed throughout the neighborhoods of Baghdad.
 
These men and women receiving these packages are the units clearing the neighborhoods of militias and Al Queda. They live in these same neighborhoods in Combat Out Posts providing security through walking and mounted patrols day and night. Living conditions in these Combat Out Posts are spartan with just the bare necessities. The Greater Kansas City Post was able to purchase some of the items on the 'wish list' and provide them to Powder Creek, who in turn sent the packages to the troops overseas.

Kyle Kukuk, Kansas University Student Chapter President, and Mark Loes, Post Vice President attended the spring session of the SAME Post Leaders Workshop held in Los Angeles. The purpose of this workshop was to give post leaders of varying experience a broad overview of the workings of a post, support services the national post provides and the vision of the organization. There were 70 officers and board of directors from 45 posts present along with approximately 40 student members from 20 student chapters.
 
After opening statements by Executive Director Bob Wolff, Rear Admiral Greg Shear, SAME President, gave an overview of the strategic plan including the vision and goals of the organization. The focus is to increase funding and human resources towards outreach and mentoring to NCO's, Student Chapters, Young Members and K-12 schools. Some of the ideas were to have post meetings on bases, wave first year dues, sponsor attendance at regional/national events, increase field trips, build relationships with teacher organizations, support Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America and learn social networking skills.
                                                                                
This was a great two day event sponsored by national. The Kansas City Post met the requirement of the Outreach and Communication streamer with their attendance. Kyle and Mark enjoyed meeting various counterparts from across the nation to share ideas and experiences.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009, the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) Student Chapter of the Greater Kansas City Post became officially chartered. Kevin Truman, Ph.D. - Dean of the UMKC School of Computing and Engineering (SCE), Colonel Roger Wilson, Jr. - President of the GKC SAME Post and Marc Nicolas - GKC Post UMKC Mentor were on hand to sign the charter. Christine Cunningham, UMKC SCE student, along with other post members and UMKC staff and students were there to support the initiative.
 
Objectives of the UMKC SCE/GKC SAME Post partnership include: Linking students with architecture, engineering and construction professionals; advance the scientific and engineering education; assist in the professional development of student members; respond to the needs of student members; and jointly achieve the Society's goals and objectives as prescribed in its strategic plan.
 
We are looking forward to quality, professionally oriented programs and activities that facilitate and improve communication among students, the military services and private sector AEC firms!

COL Gurnie C. Gunter - had a distinctive and honorable career as an engineer and exemplified the characteristic of a leader, beginning before the Vietnam War. COL Gunter graduated cum laude from Lincoln University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and was Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1955. He received a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign. COL Gunter also received a Master's Degree in Military Science from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a Master of Business Administration Management from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and was a graduate of the United States Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsilvania.

Endowment Balance Summary
                        11/30/08                      01/31/09                      Change
Total               $187,734.74                $187,852.61                $117.87
           
Operations
Checking Account Balance               $26,253.99