Submarines Association Australia  Notices from our SAA National President

SUBCON 25 is now done and dusted and I would like to thank the SAANSW team for a great weekend in the Gong. It went off smoothly and all had a great time.

For the first time we were able to utilise Zoom for members to not only dial in but also they were able to vote during the AGM.
There were a number of motions voted on during the AGM but as we did not have enough members attending the AGM these will now be passed back to state branches to vote on, these will be out shortly for branches to action.

We now look towards next year, and as announced SUBCON 26 will be in Canberra, we are looking at late Oct or maybe first week in Nov as we try and de-conflict with school holidays, Floriade and government sitting times. This hopefully will help with the prices of flights and accommodation.
ACT SAA will work with our Web master and start the EOI information and continual updates as the plan matures.

Cheers
David Strangward, AM
SAA National

As the year comes to an end I would like to, on behalf of the National and State Committees, wish all SAA members and their families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
It has been a busy year for the SAA with a great SUBCON in QLD, our web site back up and running.
On the subject of SUBCON, NSW have stepped in to organise SUBCON 25 and there will be more news on the plans etc in the New Year.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the National Committee for all the work they have done this year, much of it behind the scenes.
Our Vice Pres Tony Vine has also worked hard to update our constitution which has needed a lot of work as it has been many years between updates.
Tony has also been able to track down members details and update the Eternal Patrol details as a number of submariners details were incorrect.

Also a big year in the Navy with both senior positions now being filled by submariners, with Mark Hammond as CN and Matt Buckley as DCN so we know the Navy id in good hands.
I was also honoured to be invited to Matt Ritchie’s promotion to CDRE, in early December he has come a long way since his time as a baby greenie in HMAS Onslow.
Of course the AUKUS project is gathering momentum and hopefully in the not too distant future we may have some USN submariners join the association as they move to the West.
Just a reminder that next year is an election year for the National Executive, so please have a think about stepping up and putting your name forward for a position if not for one of the National positions then maybe on your state committees as I see the same names year after year doing a great job in their respective states.

So in closing please keep safe and I look forward to catching up in 2025.

Cheers David Strangward, AM SAA National President

On behalf of the SAA I would like to congratulate a number of Senior Submariners on the their promotion and job change announcements.
RADM Buckley will become DCN later this year (so Submariners in the CN and DCN positions which must be a first)
CDRE Tom Phillips on his promotion the RADM
CAPT Glenn Miles on his promotion to CDRE

This may be of interest to some members The Vietnam Commemorative Medallion (medallion) and Certificate of Recognition (certificate) to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The application for the medallion is closing on 26 July 2024.
Applications can be submitted through the DVA webpage application portal at Vietnam War commemorative medallion and certificate |
Department of Veterans' Affairs (dva.gov.au). Please note that only one medallion is available per Vietnam War veteran.
The medallion and certificate were made available to every Australian veteran who served in the Vietnam War, or their widow or other family member.
This includes personnel who served within Australia's military forces, as well as eligible Australian civilians, such as members of civilian medical and surgical teams as listed on the DVA Nominal Roll at https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/vietnamWar.
Unfortunately, this program does not extend to those who served with Allied Forces.
Following the National Commemorative Service held on 18 August 2023 to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, DVA produced a DVD containing all three episodes of the documentary Our Vietnam War, as well as complete recordings of the pre-service program, and the full commemorative service.
You may wish to watch these, to do so please click on the following links;
1. Documentary Our Vietnam War: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/our-vietnam-war
2. Pre-Service Program: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/vietnam-s-50th-anniversary
3. National Commemorative Service: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/australia-s-vietnam-50th-anniversary or Australia’s Vietnam: 50th Anniversary 🎖️ | OFFICIAL BROADCAST |
ABC Australia (youtube.com)  

SAA Memorabilia sales: An information PDF is available about the sale of SAA Menorabilia   SAA Memorabilia sales

David Strangward, AM 

SAA National President