As always, I am astounded at the growth our unit has experienced. We have seen promotions all around in rank, and the positional promotion of Hans Winters to Gruppenführer. Special welcome is extended to transfer personnel Vendlin Baumann, who will undoubtedly be a great asset to the unit with his years of experience. It makes me proud hearing of the excellent performance exhibited by our men, and the reputation we are developing within the hobby. This is due to everybody's tireless devotion and commitment, and you are all given the highest commendation.

There are some command duty changes that are worth mentioning. Unterscharführer Wolff is now in charge of all promotion and award approvals. Though recommendation for any awards and promotions will still be made by Hauptsturmführer Koenig, final approval/denial powers lie with Peiper. It's been unanimously decided that her hard-assery is the best counteroffensive to all whining and grovelling. Our award practices are clearly spelled out in case of questions in the Handbook. Some are left to command discretion, and as such have no specific standards. All work will be taken into consideration though; we appreciate the work of all our members in making this unit what it is.

And speaking of whining ... I would like to take a moment to comment on our unit's rank and promotion system to ward off any concerns or questions. We're growing and structuring the unit; this, like all good things, takes time and planning. We've put a lot into this hobby, and I cannot stress enough how thrilled I am with the payoff we're getting in organization, research and membership. Of course though, we're keeping up hopes that we'll continue this trend and expand further. As such, we've tried to set up the integral structure of command and influential positions with the early-comers, those who have stood with us through our formative times, and those we've known in the hobby who've joined our ranks. The purpose of this decision is to ensure that there are members experienced in their rank and role to mentor the newbies, and ensure the smallest turnover of reliable folk in the upper ranks. As we expand even more, new soldaten will be inducted at lower ranks, and their promotional opportunities will be limited. This is not a slight, but an attempt to construct the most dependable and accurate unit as possible. I think that's more than fair, and who knew, command has the prerogative to make decisions about their own unit. Just a little bit of an explanation to ward off any annoying communications before they start jamming up our time. And any questions on the matter will be referred right back here; I think it's nicely explanatory.

Back to routine and pleasantries now: Members will notice that the Grand Rogue event has replaced Rockford as our September primary event, despite concerns voiced over authenticity in the past. Rest assured that this year will have much stricter authenticity guidelines, as Hauptscharführer Fonger has been named the World War II authenticity representative. This is a timeline event, spanning French/Indian through World War II. Because the WWII portion is a more recent addition, there were the normal new hindrances and hiccups, but we fully expect these to be ironed out without issue. There were concerns about our attendance at Rockford, especially cost and lodging logistics, so we're opting to stay closer to home.

Last note for the moment, hope you like the new website design! I know I've been a horrendously bad propagandist and let it grow stale. The "day job" has interefered too much in my reenacting duties, but I'm hoping to take baby steps in the right direction. The first ended up being a giant leap in public awareness, and resulted in the new site. I kept the format roughly the same, since people seemed to like it that way. The colors, graphics, organization and content has been revamped. What says "coming soon" really will be coming soon, including more of our favorite comic strips. I really do want feedback, both positive and negative. I'm hoping we get more of a feel for our unit on here, as well as adapting the content to educate on the variety of info we want our soldaten to know.

So with all that said, have fun men and keep up the excellent work developing your impressions. While the kit is a good start, the hobby is so much more fun and educational when you really work on the cultural impression and individual persona. See you all at Findlay, and talk to you in the meantime!

- Unterscharführer Wolff