PGR_NTX Patriot Guard Process for State Captain selection

[Mission Information For North Texas PGR]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

(I just read this e-mail and it's pretty long - sorry - but I think it's
important.  Randy - take a nap first.)

 

Since George announced his retirement from his State Captain position I have
received a large number of questions about who the next State Captain is
going to be, who the front runners are, etc.  I can honestly tell you that I
have no idea.  The choice for State Captain in Texas is not made by Texans.
It is made by the national board of directors, the national ride captain and
the nationally appointed regional captain for our area, who is Jerry Lakey
from Oklahoma.  With George's retirement coming effective at the end of this
week, allow me to share with you an e-mail that I and the other Deputy State
Captains and the Assistant State Captain (our own Bill Holcomb) received
from Mr. Lakey on 4/22/09.  It says:

 

Wed 4/22/2009 9:54 AM

As you are all aware, George has decided to step down from the his position
as the Texas State Captain.  The purpose of this e-mail is to try and get a
feel from you, the Leadership of Texas who would be your choice to fill his
position as the State Captain.  

 

I regret not having already sent this e-mail out but have been dealing with
some Family issues myself having just found out that my eldest Sister has
terminal Cancer.  

 

If you would, please e-mail me back with your choice of whom you would like
to follow as your State Captain.  Please make a pick from some one already
in the Leadership role as it will be easier for them to assume the role of
State Captain.  Please do not reply to all on this.  If you all have a voice
in the decision, no one should complain on the choice.  It's your State and
you should have that voice.  I do know that I have one person that has
expressed an interest in the job.  This is not to say that the choice will
be final on your decision as myself , the National Captain, and the BOD has
the final word.   That being said, I do want to hear what you have to say.
After I receive your e-mails, I will contact those people via the phone and
have a personnel visit with them.  I will also visit with George and see
what he has to say.  Please try and have this back to me by the week end if
at all possible.

 

Jerry Lakey

South Central

Regional Captain

 

This is the entire e-mail.  There was no salutation.  I did not include the
e-mail addresses of the recipients.  I responded back at 1:02 PM.  George
was cc'd on this e-mail and my response went only to Mr. Lakey, as he
requested.  You can see that there is no request in this message that it not
be shared so I feel confident that it is not confidential.  It does,
however, go far in explaining how your State Captain is selected.

 

I, personally, believe that Texans should be picking their leaders from
Deputy State Captain to Assistant State Captain to State Captain.  Again -
this is my personal opinion.  I believe that the riders in North Texas are
capable of determining who their Deputy State Captain should be and that the
Ride Captains and the riders can decide this.  I think the same is true the
rest of the way up the ladder.  I am personally uncomfortable with someone
who may never have been to Texas, much less know how Texas is structured or
functions, picking the State Captain.  I would also be uncomfortable with a
State Captain or Assistant State Captain from an area far removed
geographically from North Texas coming here and dictating to us in North
Texas who should be our Deputy State Captain.  I think it's a little silly.
But be that as it may, that's the way we are set up in Texas.  Some states
select their own State Captains, subject to approval of national.  You can
see in the above message that the Deputy State Captains were asked to
respond singly. 

 

The 22nd was a Wednesday and our responses were requested by "the end of the
week if at all possible."  If you check our North Texas calendar for that
week you will find that we had 2 missions on Thursday, plus some people
leaving for Koyote Ranch.  On Friday we had one mission and pretty much
everybody else leaving who was going to Koyote Ranch.  There was not much
opportunity to gather the Ride Captains and the troops and get a consensus
on what the riders were thinking, what they wanted to see in a State Captain
and put together a reasonable response to the request and have it in by the
end of the week.  We also ended up with a HOTH mission on Sat. and our fund
raiser was already scheduled for all day on Sunday, so a delay in sending in
the response would not have accomplished much, plus the Koyote Ranch people
were still gone.  So I responded as best I could with all riders in North
Texas in mind as I did so.  I can tell you that I did not recommend myself
and stated that I would have nothing to do with the job.

 

I am bothered that we had no time to gather opinions from the Ride Captains
and the riders, and the Deputy State Captains did not even have a chance to
discuss this very important topic among ourselves given the time frame.  We
could have done something before, I guess, but this was the first
communication we had from national on the subject in any way and we were
given little choice in our method or time frame of response.  I am bothered
that all that the national people wanted was a "feel" from us and not a
decision.  I am bothered by the statement that even if we who were asked had
a choice it would not be final as others had the final decision and they did
not hesitate to make that quite clear.  I am bothered by the tone of the
statement that since we had this voice, that they didn't have to go by since
they were going to make their own decision whether it agreed with us or not,
we shouldn't complain with whatever decision they made because they gave us
this little pat on the head of an e-mail to let us THINK we were having
actual input.  I am bothered by the statement that this person wants to hear
what we have to say after making it quite clear that he and none of the
other higher-ups are in any way bound by what the Texans have to say about
who actually governs the Texas PGR.

 

The message says that one person has expressed an interest in the job.  I
have no idea who that is.  If I knew, unless I had been asked to keep it in
confidence, I would tell you.

 

In Texas, the State Captain appoints the Assistant State Captain and the
Deputy State Captains.  I anxiously await an announcement from someone on
who the next State Captain will be just as you do.  I serve at the pleasure
of the State Captain and have been subject to getting the axe from the day I
put on that tan hat.  The next State Captain may determine that another
person may be better suited for the job, at which time I will step aside and
gratefully accept my promotion to the highest position in the PGR, that of
holding a position in the flag line.  

 

I do not know from whom that announcement will come or when.  I do know that
until that announcement comes we have a State Captain and that State Captain
is George Raglin.  He's the boss.

 

I took the opportunity to editorialize a little during this explanation and
maybe it bothered some of you but there was a reason I did it.  I think we
should always be looking for a better way to do what we do.  Just because
something is done one way here, or another way there, doesn't mean that it's
right for us here in North Texas.  Texas PGR doesn't have a governing
document(s) to go by telling us how to choose a State Captain or Assistant
State Captain or Deputy State Captains, etc.  Maybe we should.  Who knows?
If we turn tax exempt we would have to have some sort of structure like
that.it's the law.  But my thinking is that since we are currently in the
position of a transition at the State Captain level in Texas, we might as
well take a peek into how that's done and in our own minds think a minute or
two about if that's OK with us or not and if we might want to try something
different in our little slice of heaven here in North Texas.  We know we
must have our organizational structure in order to get the missions done and
all like that, but I think you see where I'm thinking.  We may not change
the world, and we may like things just the way they are, but it doesn't cost
anything to toss it over in our minds for a minute.

 

Anyway - now you know what I know about the process of selecting the next
State Captain.  As the Deputy State Captain in North Texas I received one
e-mail.   You've now seen it.  I responded to it by suggesting that whomever
is making the decision have a good working knowledge of how Texas is
structured and how it operates and the many types of missions that occur
throughout the state.  I recommended that the next State Captain have
experience with all of those types of missions, have excellent
organizational and communication skills, be skilled with the computer or
have someone near him/her who is, have experience in commerce/finance/fund
raising or someone very close to him/her who is, be able to travel the state
as necessary and have the patience of Job to be able to deal with all of the
nonsense that comes from national PGR.  

 

I suggested that whomever is making the decisions on behalf of North Texas
get to know what North Texas and North Texans need by doing more than
sending an e-mail such as the one we received.  I asked that whomever is
making decisions on behalf of North Texas and North Texans come and ride a
mission or two and talk to the riders.  I responded by saying that I had
told the riders in North Texas from the beginning that I was about taking
care of those we serve and their families and taking care of the riders, and
that the very best I could do for both of those groups was not to just pick
a name and give a reason or two.  If we weren't going to actually be given
the responsibility to choose our own leadership, those who are should at
least come here and see what's what and talk to the riders if they're
genuinely interested in doing the best thing for us.  I guess we'll see what
they do.  I haven't heard if anybody's coming yet but there's still time.
We have missions.  We have one tomorrow and the opportunity for somebody to
ride from the airport to Denton tomorrow night if they like.  And it's only
Monday.

 

Of course, it's just barely possible that I might have rubbed somebody the
wrong way with my response.  J  Go figure.  I reckon that if they're going
to decide for you - they ought to get to know you first.  No matter how I
answer that e-mail I was sent, I can't convey who you are.  I can't convey
your huge hearts.  I can't convey your tears.  I can't convey how you hold
men, women and children of those who have been lost and cry with them.  I
cannot convey your greatness and generosity, your love and your spirit.  I
cannot convey your pride and your attitude and your insistence on things
being done right just because right is better than wrong.  That has to be
seen to be understood.  I can convey your words but that's all.  Only you
can tell these people who are making these choices for you what you need and
what it means to you.  Those people need to meet you and see you in action.
That's the only way they'll know you.  That's what I've asked them to do.
We'll see if it works.  If they're not smart enough to do that I've also
tried to point them in the best direction I could as far as picking a leader
for all of us.  But all I did was give them a direction to consider.  If I
rubbed them far enough the wrong way I'll get fired on Friday.  We'll all
know together.

 

This is a heck of a long message, but having somebody else decide how Texas
is run by them choosing the State Captain is a heck of a big
thing.especially when they don't live, work, or come here - with the
exception of board member Tom "Taz" Hoffman.

 

At least I think it is.

 

Have a great evening, everyone.

 

Steve Lucas

Deputy State Captain

North Texas PGR
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