ben0606
10-04-2013, 08:47 PM
Lets get some things straight. Get the FACTS STRAIGHT!
Here are my facts and what I did. I was responsible for getting Military members assigned to 5 pontoons and private boaters. This was open to not just Purple Heart Recipients but to all active duty and vets. By the way zero volunteers for private boaters from my FNN post looking for some.
I have a POC at Wounded Warrior Battalion Camp Pendleton. To those who don’t get it or understand here’s a breakdown for you. A Marine assigned to Wounded Warrior Battalion (WWBN) is an active duty Marine who cannot conduct their daily duties of their MOS (job) due to medical reasons and re-occuring medical appointments, physical therapy, etc…..this does not mean you are automatically a combat wounded Marine. A Wounded Warrior term is very broad now a days. A Marine who is struck by a drunk driver who loses his leg needs to be taken care of as well. This does not make you less important what so ever. I explain this numerous times to numerous people what WWBN is. Wounded Warrior Project and Wounded Warrior Foundation are completely separate from WWBN.
I had about a dozen Marines from WWBN signed up which there were some Purple Heart Recipients that attended. It was designated to my POC that Purple Heart Recipients had priority if space was short, which they were not short. WWBN roughly had 8 Marines after cancellations. There was a hunting trip in Colorado the same weekend and One cancellation was a Gunnery Sergeant that attended last year and just had back surgery days before this years event and STILL signed up but he hit me and his boat Captain up the night before that he had slipped and injured his back. I wish he could have made it.
I then branch out around Camp Pendleton and by word of mouth from anglers to Marines to all over to see who is interested.
I had over 48 military members signed up at one point or another with numerous cancellations. I hovered in the 30's consistently. It happens especially when you deal with the military as you can be called in 24/7 as a Marine. There were other trips, people moved, went on Leave, family emergencies.
Directions to Captains which I personally addressed was that they were to get a roster of their teams a week in advance which I completed MY deadline. Captains were to contact their team for logistics such as gear, food, and drinks. This was in the initial meetings and I personally reminded captains of this. If a Warrior wanted to bring his own gear they were welcome to but the Captains could assist them in what gear to buy if they wanted to pick up striper fishing afterwards instead of buying the wrong stuff wasting their money. Last year I was in charge of the private boaters not the pontoons and the day of the event is when most met their Captains. I sponsored all the Marines and both pontoons. Something I made better this year for better planning since I had the whole Warrior part of the event I was in charge of.
I didn’t talk to EVERY Captain but I DID speak to at least one Captain per team. Kind of hard to speak to all Captains when I don’t have everyone’s contact info. We even had a Captain not return calls and bailed for whatever reason the week of the event but we had Gill volunteer last minute. Kudos to Gill.
The issue with 3 Captains on one pontoon was there is a max of 8 people on the boat no more than 1800 lbs. This meant I would have to bump a Marine off the boat which is BS! The last 48 hours there were many cancellations so I evened out the pontoons to where there could be 3 Captains if wanted. Again another issue that I was able to resolve.
The Monday before, Mike and I took a guide trip with T/O. Awesome day of learning and pre-fishing. Had 5 stripers and a bunch of largemouth. The whole day Mike and I were working bob to come to the event. At the end of the day in the parking lot I made a sly comment to bob and he had that twinkle in his eye with a grin who said he will think about it. I had bob signed up as a private boater back in may but dropped out. Which I very well thought of doing too. By Wednesday bob had called me saying he was in ha ha. Another year for bob coming out with 2 very thankful Marines. Bob is a veteran who gives back continuously along with others. Bob, I still have the picture of the green carp you were holding lol.
In the morning I had a Warrior meeting the day of the event and introduced all the teams to each Captain, Vince fed everyone donuts, passed out a custom made T-Shirt to ALL Warriors AND Captains as well as donated scent from a local vendor. I lined all the Warriors and Captains in their vehicles ahead of the rest of the tourney so we could get the Warriors on the water first. Man what a jerk am I right, lol, putting the Warriors on the water first.
We launched and were off. It was cool of Corey to bring extra cameras which he gave one to my boat. I captained a pontoon with Pat Hawgzwlde, thanks again Pat. First striper went ot LCPl Stark after less than 15 minutes bait and waiting at the attenuater. His biggest fish ever and first striper ever! His face was smiles all the way over this 2 lber. We forgot to set the camera though. Unfortunately we only got 1 more striper and a decent largemouth the rest of the day.
After returning to the docks I had Cory and Ron freaked out that we had a bigger fish. I told my 2 Marines to overexagerate pulling the fish out of the cooler and raise them in the air high cheering! 2 lbers but it was funny. During the Warrior presentation I changed the rules. The top 3 biggest stringers were supposed to be between the pontoons. I had 2 private boaters with 2 Warriors per boat, Mike and Bob. I made a decision that made sense to me. Why would the Warriors on the private boats be excluded from the Warrior competition. It didn’t make sense to me so I made a decisive decision and awarded 1st place to Team T/O. They had the biggest stringer of the Warriors period. That’s why when the gift cards were given to first place, it was being mentioned “only 2 Warriors on this boat”?
Not only that but it had already been planned that those teams who didn’t get 1st-3rd would be called up at the end and receive a $50 gift card anyways but we didn’t tell anyone, it was a surprise. Unfortunately, I overlooked 5 Warriors when calling them all up and Vince told me later which to this minute I still feel awful. I went straight to Barry who contacted Toyota and BPS which they would send the cards so we didn’t leave out the 5 Warriors. Frank had to leave by the time I realized what I forgot so it was too late. I didn’t know Bob didn’t get a Gift Card til later. I received multiple things of who got what, first all warriors and captains, then warriors only, then I saw the guys give them to the captains so I figured hell give it to the captains especially some of them are Veterans too but in my eyes outstanding volunteers.
Barry also gave me 2 extra gift cards to award to 2 Warriors that I saw fit. I gave one to a Warrior that was helping with the driving of one of the pontoons and a 2nd to another Warrior on another pontoon same reason. My Team was 3rd place by the way yet I stood to the side. It felt awkward running the Warrior part of the event and taking prizes for the Warriors and captains. That’s where Mike tricked me with the winning ticket for the DVL pass. You re awesome Mike!
Then EVERY Warrior and Captain (except me) got a swag bag with another $25 BPS gift card, a bunch of fishing items, and a $50 pocket knife. So in the end every Warrior had anywhere from $75-$125 BPS Gift Cards and a bunch of other good fishing items. I will get the 5 Warriors their cards if I have to go buy them myself. I didn’t take a swag bag, knife , or gift cards.
I didn’t even get to see the winners of the overall tourney cause I was all over the place.
Then the raffle. I had no part in the raffle except paying $200. I had white tickets. The Marine next to me had white tickets. Mike had white tickets. Another Marine next to me had blue tickets. As the raffle went on I realized the different tickets more. Didn’t think much of it at the time. Well I know most of my Marines that bought tickets blue and white won prizes. One of my guys won the BBQ grill, man he was stoked. I saw the Marine next to me win 4 prizes.
After the raffle everyone shook hands pats on the backs and had a great time.
Then these threads start. That’s when I asked the Marines if they noticed anything during the raffle. They said the blue tickets and that the bin was being looked into while drawing. I told this to the guys who brought it up to my attention. There is a reasonable suspicion but its not all the way solid because some of the Marines next to me had white tickets too. I wanted that Big Bear Trip cause our team talked if I won it I was taking the whole team.
The weigh ins, I was told that some fish outside of the Warrior’s fish didn’t look like it was freshly caught. Heres the thing, I didn’t see it with my own eyes it was 3rd party plus NOTHING was said or reported when the accused was seen with the fish. I wasn’t told until days later.
Here’s the thing, I ran the Warriors portion. As far as I know the charity is for Police Activities League and Valley Wide Recreations and Parks. Last year and this year was the same thing unless im mistaken. Last year I saw a post asking if there were gonna be warriors to take out so I posted let me know if you want a warrior and ill get you some. That’s when I was contacted by barry to help. this year it got big, it tripled the amount of warriors compared to last year. I NEVER said Wounded Warrior Tournament last year or this year. Im not going to do that and OFFEND myself. I put military warriors on boats to fish and have a blast. That’s what I do. I don’t handle money, have anything to do with the raffle, or the weigh ins. SHeT im competing in the tourney trying to help my Warriors on my boat win! If I had proof of cheating ill call you out in a heartbeat. One less cheater to take a prize from one of the warriors.
I don’t answer for Barry or Kewly or Corey. I DON’T ANSWER TO ANY OF THEM EITHER. I don’t even know Kewly. I know of him. I answer for ME. Barry knows of things I didn’t agree with and that’s on his conscious to change or explain or deal with the consequences. Im not cancelling 30+ Warriors with a short time period before the event. Why would I screw the Warriors? They deserved a trip on the water so that's what i did. Ill deal with the BS myself. Im not a lawyer or a C-freaking lawyer and don’t try to be one. I do know Barry got A LOT of stuff for the Warriors. Last year it was nothing like this. Look up last year you will see the only stuff they got besides fishing with great captains were raffle prizes that were won and given to the Warriors. This year Barry came through with A LOT from sponsors to give to the warriors. I didn’t have to pay for the pontoons this year or the tickets for all the Warriors and Captains. Im not rich and have a family to take care of. Paying for 5 pontoons and 3o something plus tickets would have been insane. I couldn’t have afforded it. This was way longer than I thought. Either way, this drama isn’t worth it. Its not worth being SheT on over a misunderstanding. Ill do what I do and fish. Ill continue to bring Marines fishing myself and organize little events myself and any other ways I can help. As for this whole debuckle, it’s a shame because there was so much potential for SKC. To those who gave me support, know it is very much appreciated that you know my true colors. MY MARINES know who I am and what im about. TOO many times people here forget what this site is for or maybe im here for the wrong reason. I signed up to share, learn, and help others.
Last note, thank you to ALL the Captains for taking these Heros out:
-Pat Hawgzwylde ( Pat thanks for your help and look forward to more)
-Bob Caffey (you da man bob, man I learned a lot from you)
-Maj Mike Christiansen (time for some Bass Tourneys buddy)
-Vince Sanchez (I appreciate all your help with the Warriors)
-Gill (last minute fill in, im sorry I cant remember your last name, Vince help)
-Danny Moraga (another year volunteering)
-Bruce Watson thank you for your service Bruce and giving back)
-Ian Cube (another repeat volunteer)
-Ron Davis (pleasure meeting you Ron, you’re a hoot Semper FI Marine)
-Corey Chapman ( loved your videos corey)
-Bryan Watson (please tell your brother no more Marine jokes da da da)
-Kahn Nguyen (Sir, pleasure meeting you as well)
Oh by the way, I brought up my thoughts on the striper guide auction. I said the same thing last year as this year and Barry knows my point of view and I know he was going to ask bob for next year.
Here are my facts and what I did. I was responsible for getting Military members assigned to 5 pontoons and private boaters. This was open to not just Purple Heart Recipients but to all active duty and vets. By the way zero volunteers for private boaters from my FNN post looking for some.
I have a POC at Wounded Warrior Battalion Camp Pendleton. To those who don’t get it or understand here’s a breakdown for you. A Marine assigned to Wounded Warrior Battalion (WWBN) is an active duty Marine who cannot conduct their daily duties of their MOS (job) due to medical reasons and re-occuring medical appointments, physical therapy, etc…..this does not mean you are automatically a combat wounded Marine. A Wounded Warrior term is very broad now a days. A Marine who is struck by a drunk driver who loses his leg needs to be taken care of as well. This does not make you less important what so ever. I explain this numerous times to numerous people what WWBN is. Wounded Warrior Project and Wounded Warrior Foundation are completely separate from WWBN.
I had about a dozen Marines from WWBN signed up which there were some Purple Heart Recipients that attended. It was designated to my POC that Purple Heart Recipients had priority if space was short, which they were not short. WWBN roughly had 8 Marines after cancellations. There was a hunting trip in Colorado the same weekend and One cancellation was a Gunnery Sergeant that attended last year and just had back surgery days before this years event and STILL signed up but he hit me and his boat Captain up the night before that he had slipped and injured his back. I wish he could have made it.
I then branch out around Camp Pendleton and by word of mouth from anglers to Marines to all over to see who is interested.
I had over 48 military members signed up at one point or another with numerous cancellations. I hovered in the 30's consistently. It happens especially when you deal with the military as you can be called in 24/7 as a Marine. There were other trips, people moved, went on Leave, family emergencies.
Directions to Captains which I personally addressed was that they were to get a roster of their teams a week in advance which I completed MY deadline. Captains were to contact their team for logistics such as gear, food, and drinks. This was in the initial meetings and I personally reminded captains of this. If a Warrior wanted to bring his own gear they were welcome to but the Captains could assist them in what gear to buy if they wanted to pick up striper fishing afterwards instead of buying the wrong stuff wasting their money. Last year I was in charge of the private boaters not the pontoons and the day of the event is when most met their Captains. I sponsored all the Marines and both pontoons. Something I made better this year for better planning since I had the whole Warrior part of the event I was in charge of.
I didn’t talk to EVERY Captain but I DID speak to at least one Captain per team. Kind of hard to speak to all Captains when I don’t have everyone’s contact info. We even had a Captain not return calls and bailed for whatever reason the week of the event but we had Gill volunteer last minute. Kudos to Gill.
The issue with 3 Captains on one pontoon was there is a max of 8 people on the boat no more than 1800 lbs. This meant I would have to bump a Marine off the boat which is BS! The last 48 hours there were many cancellations so I evened out the pontoons to where there could be 3 Captains if wanted. Again another issue that I was able to resolve.
The Monday before, Mike and I took a guide trip with T/O. Awesome day of learning and pre-fishing. Had 5 stripers and a bunch of largemouth. The whole day Mike and I were working bob to come to the event. At the end of the day in the parking lot I made a sly comment to bob and he had that twinkle in his eye with a grin who said he will think about it. I had bob signed up as a private boater back in may but dropped out. Which I very well thought of doing too. By Wednesday bob had called me saying he was in ha ha. Another year for bob coming out with 2 very thankful Marines. Bob is a veteran who gives back continuously along with others. Bob, I still have the picture of the green carp you were holding lol.
In the morning I had a Warrior meeting the day of the event and introduced all the teams to each Captain, Vince fed everyone donuts, passed out a custom made T-Shirt to ALL Warriors AND Captains as well as donated scent from a local vendor. I lined all the Warriors and Captains in their vehicles ahead of the rest of the tourney so we could get the Warriors on the water first. Man what a jerk am I right, lol, putting the Warriors on the water first.
We launched and were off. It was cool of Corey to bring extra cameras which he gave one to my boat. I captained a pontoon with Pat Hawgzwlde, thanks again Pat. First striper went ot LCPl Stark after less than 15 minutes bait and waiting at the attenuater. His biggest fish ever and first striper ever! His face was smiles all the way over this 2 lber. We forgot to set the camera though. Unfortunately we only got 1 more striper and a decent largemouth the rest of the day.
After returning to the docks I had Cory and Ron freaked out that we had a bigger fish. I told my 2 Marines to overexagerate pulling the fish out of the cooler and raise them in the air high cheering! 2 lbers but it was funny. During the Warrior presentation I changed the rules. The top 3 biggest stringers were supposed to be between the pontoons. I had 2 private boaters with 2 Warriors per boat, Mike and Bob. I made a decision that made sense to me. Why would the Warriors on the private boats be excluded from the Warrior competition. It didn’t make sense to me so I made a decisive decision and awarded 1st place to Team T/O. They had the biggest stringer of the Warriors period. That’s why when the gift cards were given to first place, it was being mentioned “only 2 Warriors on this boat”?
Not only that but it had already been planned that those teams who didn’t get 1st-3rd would be called up at the end and receive a $50 gift card anyways but we didn’t tell anyone, it was a surprise. Unfortunately, I overlooked 5 Warriors when calling them all up and Vince told me later which to this minute I still feel awful. I went straight to Barry who contacted Toyota and BPS which they would send the cards so we didn’t leave out the 5 Warriors. Frank had to leave by the time I realized what I forgot so it was too late. I didn’t know Bob didn’t get a Gift Card til later. I received multiple things of who got what, first all warriors and captains, then warriors only, then I saw the guys give them to the captains so I figured hell give it to the captains especially some of them are Veterans too but in my eyes outstanding volunteers.
Barry also gave me 2 extra gift cards to award to 2 Warriors that I saw fit. I gave one to a Warrior that was helping with the driving of one of the pontoons and a 2nd to another Warrior on another pontoon same reason. My Team was 3rd place by the way yet I stood to the side. It felt awkward running the Warrior part of the event and taking prizes for the Warriors and captains. That’s where Mike tricked me with the winning ticket for the DVL pass. You re awesome Mike!
Then EVERY Warrior and Captain (except me) got a swag bag with another $25 BPS gift card, a bunch of fishing items, and a $50 pocket knife. So in the end every Warrior had anywhere from $75-$125 BPS Gift Cards and a bunch of other good fishing items. I will get the 5 Warriors their cards if I have to go buy them myself. I didn’t take a swag bag, knife , or gift cards.
I didn’t even get to see the winners of the overall tourney cause I was all over the place.
Then the raffle. I had no part in the raffle except paying $200. I had white tickets. The Marine next to me had white tickets. Mike had white tickets. Another Marine next to me had blue tickets. As the raffle went on I realized the different tickets more. Didn’t think much of it at the time. Well I know most of my Marines that bought tickets blue and white won prizes. One of my guys won the BBQ grill, man he was stoked. I saw the Marine next to me win 4 prizes.
After the raffle everyone shook hands pats on the backs and had a great time.
Then these threads start. That’s when I asked the Marines if they noticed anything during the raffle. They said the blue tickets and that the bin was being looked into while drawing. I told this to the guys who brought it up to my attention. There is a reasonable suspicion but its not all the way solid because some of the Marines next to me had white tickets too. I wanted that Big Bear Trip cause our team talked if I won it I was taking the whole team.
The weigh ins, I was told that some fish outside of the Warrior’s fish didn’t look like it was freshly caught. Heres the thing, I didn’t see it with my own eyes it was 3rd party plus NOTHING was said or reported when the accused was seen with the fish. I wasn’t told until days later.
Here’s the thing, I ran the Warriors portion. As far as I know the charity is for Police Activities League and Valley Wide Recreations and Parks. Last year and this year was the same thing unless im mistaken. Last year I saw a post asking if there were gonna be warriors to take out so I posted let me know if you want a warrior and ill get you some. That’s when I was contacted by barry to help. this year it got big, it tripled the amount of warriors compared to last year. I NEVER said Wounded Warrior Tournament last year or this year. Im not going to do that and OFFEND myself. I put military warriors on boats to fish and have a blast. That’s what I do. I don’t handle money, have anything to do with the raffle, or the weigh ins. SHeT im competing in the tourney trying to help my Warriors on my boat win! If I had proof of cheating ill call you out in a heartbeat. One less cheater to take a prize from one of the warriors.
I don’t answer for Barry or Kewly or Corey. I DON’T ANSWER TO ANY OF THEM EITHER. I don’t even know Kewly. I know of him. I answer for ME. Barry knows of things I didn’t agree with and that’s on his conscious to change or explain or deal with the consequences. Im not cancelling 30+ Warriors with a short time period before the event. Why would I screw the Warriors? They deserved a trip on the water so that's what i did. Ill deal with the BS myself. Im not a lawyer or a C-freaking lawyer and don’t try to be one. I do know Barry got A LOT of stuff for the Warriors. Last year it was nothing like this. Look up last year you will see the only stuff they got besides fishing with great captains were raffle prizes that were won and given to the Warriors. This year Barry came through with A LOT from sponsors to give to the warriors. I didn’t have to pay for the pontoons this year or the tickets for all the Warriors and Captains. Im not rich and have a family to take care of. Paying for 5 pontoons and 3o something plus tickets would have been insane. I couldn’t have afforded it. This was way longer than I thought. Either way, this drama isn’t worth it. Its not worth being SheT on over a misunderstanding. Ill do what I do and fish. Ill continue to bring Marines fishing myself and organize little events myself and any other ways I can help. As for this whole debuckle, it’s a shame because there was so much potential for SKC. To those who gave me support, know it is very much appreciated that you know my true colors. MY MARINES know who I am and what im about. TOO many times people here forget what this site is for or maybe im here for the wrong reason. I signed up to share, learn, and help others.
Last note, thank you to ALL the Captains for taking these Heros out:
-Pat Hawgzwylde ( Pat thanks for your help and look forward to more)
-Bob Caffey (you da man bob, man I learned a lot from you)
-Maj Mike Christiansen (time for some Bass Tourneys buddy)
-Vince Sanchez (I appreciate all your help with the Warriors)
-Gill (last minute fill in, im sorry I cant remember your last name, Vince help)
-Danny Moraga (another year volunteering)
-Bruce Watson thank you for your service Bruce and giving back)
-Ian Cube (another repeat volunteer)
-Ron Davis (pleasure meeting you Ron, you’re a hoot Semper FI Marine)
-Corey Chapman ( loved your videos corey)
-Bryan Watson (please tell your brother no more Marine jokes da da da)
-Kahn Nguyen (Sir, pleasure meeting you as well)
Oh by the way, I brought up my thoughts on the striper guide auction. I said the same thing last year as this year and Barry knows my point of view and I know he was going to ask bob for next year.