GinC's Address, Feb., 2011, Mustering

Official ACWGC Union Army General rank promotion announcements, command appointments and UA awards are made on the Parade Ground. The Mess Tent serves as a casual place for all club members to socialize, drink or have a meal, as long as they spend Yankee dollars! And, as much as we like to accommodate our Southron brethren, they will not be able to vote in any polls held here, or gain access to the restricted areas.

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Joe Meyer
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Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:58 pm
Location: Antelope, California

GinC's Address, Feb., 2011, Mustering

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Gentlemen of the ACWGC Union Armies,

"There are no club dues and no regular club meetings. It would be easy for someone to drop out of the club and the club would never know." Those lines come from that section in the Club Rules on Membership; in particular that paragraph dealing with Muster, and they have always struck me as being the obvious reason why this club asks for all of its members to regularly muster. It's a very good, practical reason, some might even say absolutely necessary!

Mustering is the mechanism by which we, as a group, keep tabs on who's still around, or who is still active or not. We do that because we've an excellent, active and functioning roster and game record program that lies at the heart of the operation of the club's primary reason for existence...the sanctioned playing of these wonderful games with opponents who share the same motivations. The direct benefits that we derive from that program are shared by all. It makes everything else about this club possible: the structure, the organization, the recognition and the ability for all of us to stand together in the same place and enjoy both our individual accomplishments, our friendships and our camaraderies. As long as we're willing to be a part of the club, the club will exist, and we will continue to enjoy its benefits.

There are many fine individuals within the club who have been, and are, impelled to contribute their own personal time and talents in many different and enjoyable ways to creating and expanding the experience of the club well beyond what even the original founders had envisioned. They are driven by one simple fact: they want others to share in the enjoyment which they have experienced. They are also proud of the fact that they are members of the club. For them, and for many others, they view their own answer to the monthly Muster Call as a chance to stand up with the officers of their particular group and make public statement to the fact that they are here and that they enjoy being here!

Mustering should be considered an opportunity to stand with your fellow officers once each month and make recognition of your own common interest and commitment. It’s just plain, good manners and a privilege! Where else do we as members of the ACWGC receive so much for so little in return? By making our own, individual Muster Report we are expressing that we are responsible as members of the club, that we have a common, shared interest, and that we acknowledge that same thing in our brother officers. We are saluting each other and having fun in the process. And it takes so little to say so much! At the barest minimum, an officer need only make reply to his Division Commander's e-mail or send in his own e-mail with the statement, "Present!"

I've heard some members say that mustering is a great bother that robs them of their valuable time just to respond! They contend that the club ought not have to impose so upon their restricted game playing time! After hearing that I tend to ask myself, "Do they actually realized the gift that they are given as club members?" I suppose that there will always be those few who simply do not chose to look beyond their own satisfaction, or who really don't want to be part of a group dynamic. But for those of us who realize what the club has produced, who understand that there would be no club without the assent of others who share our own interests, and who are thankful for what the club provides through that common assent, we will always look forward to the monthly chance to stand up and be counted. We will gladly "Stand to the Line" each month, a line also occupied by our brother officers, and make so bold as to say, "I am still a member of this club and I intend to remain so for at least this next 30-days!"

All ACWGC Union officers are obligated by Club Rule and Union Army Standing Orders to make a “Muster Report” once each month. Your Muster Report serves as a statement that you are still active in the club! All of us, everyone of us, who are here now will someday leave by choice or circumstance. None of us will be here forever. When that happens, it should be known. Sometimes, however, an officer will simply walk away without notification or be unavoidably erased from active participation because of loss of financial support, family emergency, illness or death, or disinterest, etc. Mustering provides us with the means of the possibility of knowing when that happens. The club also has suitable and considerate rules in place to deal with an officer who goes out of communication for whatever reason, or who feels that he doesn’t have to be responsible. These rules are all easily accessible at both the club’s main page and at Union Army Headquarters.

Each field army will generally have its own specific method of conducting its Muster Call. Your report may be a simple reply to your Division Commander’s E-mail Muster Call announcement, or a posting of your activities in any manner your wish within your own field army's forum. The Muster Report or Muster Return can be a report of an officer’s activities of the month just ended. Therefore, as an example: the February “Muster Call” will be for a report of all of an officer’s January activities; and the June Muster Call will be for a report of all of an officer’s May activities!

Mustering is the individual officer’s responsibility. It’s your responsibility! It’s not your Division, Corps or Army Commander’s responsibility…it’s yours! No one has the time to dig through the Department of Records and checking on your game record to see if you’re still active. No one really has the time to be contacting your former opponents to find out if you’re there or not. It’s all up to you!

Because you, the officers of the ACWGC Union field armies, are each part of an organized group, you can contribute to the character and camaraderie of that group. Mustering is a part of that character. You have a chance each month to establish and build that character by taking the time to answer your Call to Muster with your brother officers and simply say, "I'M HERE, TOO!" And perhaps if you listen close enough to the echos of your brother officers, you just might momentarily catch that faint whisper of the those whose exploits we so frequently attempt to simulate.
General Jos. C. Meyer,
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
(2011-2014 UA GinC)


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