Dear Members of the Greater Kansas City Post:

This has been a tremendous year for the Greater Kansas City Post. It has been my extreme pleasure to serve as your post president these past twelve months. The year has really gone by fast! Last week Jeanne LeBron, the Missouri River regional vice president, attended our board meeting. She got up very early Friday morning and drove from Omaha to thank Robert Crain for serving as a director for the past three years and to swear in our new officers and directors for 2012. New board members include: Larry Myers, Amy Lines, Melissa Kelley and our new post president, COL Tony Hofmann. I am confident that the board is well positioned to continue the great work of our post and support the strategic goals and objectives for the future.

This year is marked by several highlights for our post. We started our year with another very successful Industry Day event and although it was delayed due to inclement weather, we still had more than 450 participants. We had a great event with our partner, UMKC School of Computing and Engineering and a fun-filled evening at Arrowhead Stadium was the location for our annual Vice President's Dinner. In May, the Post was well represented at the national Joint Engineer Training Conference (JETC) in Dallas. Ann Ewy was honored as the SAME Young Member of the Year.

Under the leadership of Mark Loes, Jerry Adams and Dave Brewer the post hosted an extremely successful TEXOMA/Missouri River Regional Conference. It was a terrific program and a well-attended conference. You'll be pleased to know that the post made several charitable contributions as a result of the conference. In addition to a $5,000 gift to SAFEHOME, a local Kansas City domestic violence shelter, the Post also made contributions of $5,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project™, and another $5,000 contribution to the local Ft. Riley Wounded Warrior Project™. Thank you again Mark, Jerry, and Dave for your exceptional work on this conference.

Our annual Sporting Clay challenge, held on October 6, was a great success. Thank you to Ann Ewy and Matt Metcalf for organizing this fun event.   In November, the post held at meeting with the Ft. Riley Field Chapter. The guest speaker for the luncheon meeting was MAJ(P) Jason Evers. More than 30 members of our post heard MAJ Evers discuss the Kansas City District's response to the Joplin tornado and how the District established a Recovery Field Office in support of FEMA and the response and recovery efforts following the EF-5 tornado in May. The District cleared millions of cubic yards of debris, built critical infrastructure/public facilities, including public schools in time for classes to start in August and completed this all in less than 90 days.

November was busy month for the Post. On November 17 we held our annual luncheon with engineer officers from the current class at Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Ft. Leavenworth. Almost 100 attendees, including 60 CGSC students and faculty, heard COL Tony Hofmann discuss his experiences as a commander of two USACE districts, Walla Walla and Kansas City. During the last week of the month, we held our Ft. Riley Field Chapter luncheon. I had the pleasure of presenting a check from the Post for $5,000 to support the Ft. Riley Wounded Warrior Project™. LTC Chris Zeilke, commander of the Warrior Transition Battalion and to Sally Sowell, interim director of the Soldier Family Assistance Center thanked the Post for their generous contribution and highlighted some of the services that the Post's contribution will provide to our local wounded warriors.

This month, SAME National announced the selection of new Fellows in the society. Tom Poer, HNTB, will be inducted into the Society's Council of Fellows. Tom is a long-time member and is extremely active in our post. Tom has served in numerous positions within the post, including post president in 2008. Tom is now serving as post historian, awards committee chairman and is on the nominating committee. He will be inducted at the Society's Academy of Fellows Investiture Ceremony on March 28, 2012 in Bethesda, Maryland. Congratulations, Tom.

Over the past year, I have been asked on several occasions by members how they can help the Post or how to get more involved in  SAME. Matt Metcalf and I are working to review all the Post's committees and finalize the plans for 2012. In next few weeks, look in the weekly e-mail for opportunities to serve.

One final item of news--in early November, I was contacted by LTC Randy Boswell, the new commander of the 509^th BCE Squadron, about establishing a field chapter of the Greater Kansas City Post at Whiteman AFB. The field chapter charter establishing the Whiteman AFB (Muleskinner Post) field chapter was adopted by the Post's board of directors at the December meeting. The Whiteman AFB representative is Mark Wheeler, chief, 509^th BCE Engineering Flight. Look for meeting opportunities in 2012 at Whiteman AFB.   Thank you to LTC Boswell and Mark Wheeler for re-establishing the relationship with SAME and with the Greater Kansas City Post.

I would like to thank all of you for your support during the past year. This has been a very fast 12 months. We have accomplished quite a bit and I'm confident of the direction that the Post is headed. In every area of operations we're moving forward, improving our game, and delivering value to our members. Have a very restful, enjoyable holiday season and a great 2012!

Thank you,

Chris Prinslow, P.E.

Post President