About me . . . MWC Recorder

[RedHeep]

My name is Josh. I am married to my wife Melissa, who I've been dating and/or married to since 1994. I am 36 years old, which makes me the old man in this race. I have 3 kids, 2 boys Logan (8) and Alex (6), which some of you have met at the Crawl and a beautiful baby girl Olivia who just turned 1.

I have been registered with since 2004 when I bought a '91 Limited from my boss with a highway overheating problem. Even back then, technical advice on the XJ platform was just a google away. I have been a member since 2006 (I think) and have attended WF in 07, 10, 11 and 12, as well as the Crawl both in Tellico and Harlan and the 25th and 30th Anniversary events in Moab. I am a distinguished recipient of both the longest travelled and Frankenspare awards (both of which could be argued as moves in stupidity )

I am currently employed by the federal government as a Gunnery Sergeant in the USMC, with 17 years time in service. I am an aviation maintainer, but currently hold several billets including supervising the maintenance department as a whole, working in quality assurance and running the flight division within the maintenance department. My job is stressful and accounts for a lot of hours during the day, but also affords me continuous access to a computer and . I manage 300 maintainers, 25 aircraft and a flight schedule on a daily basis.

I have held several positions of club leadership in the past, including the national recorder position and as a national director at large. I have learned over the years that running this club or running a chapter of this club can be difficult when dealing with different opinions, ideas and emotions and I know that my experiences and age make me better at doing it.

I have recently declared my chapter membership as MWC, thanks to a clarification in the bylaws that allows me to do so. I'm a small town Ohio kid. I currently live in North Carolina thanks to my career choice, but I know that the organization of the chapter and the medium through which we communicate will allow me to be productive even living a few hours from where the rest of you guys are. I am on the phone with Dan and Matt a lot more than my wife wants me to be and I think that's the best way to get things done.

You guys know who I am, you know where I've been and most of you have shared a trail or two with me. I hope to be a viable candidate, make it a good race and if elected I'll do my best to get the job done.

 

[kmanxj5050]

Good luck sir.

 

[XJosh95]

Home security... Shotgun, pistol or carbine?

 

[RedHeep]

Home security... Shotgun, pistol or carbine?

There's a 1911 and a snub nose .38 in the quick release safe on the nightstand and a Saiga .410 with a 15 round magazine in the corner.

I don't like rifle rounds in the house, but there's a full 10 clip grab and go for both the garand and the M1 carbine on the other side of the closet door in case the revolution happens.

My preferred bug out gun is the AK and the 2000 rounds sitting next to it. Just in case I need to pack up and leave.

 

[XJosh95]

That's some intelligent method.

Good luck to you!

 

[Fore Wheeler]

I know you love sheep, but can you let the rest of the membership know?

 

[RedHeep]

To be specific, freshly shorn sheep.

I don't do furry sheep. Freak chaffing incident.

 

[Fore Wheeler]

good answer. I like bald too.

 

[RedHeep]

Bump 'cause kman keeps bumping his

 

[RedHeep]

Vote for me and I'll get you free camping at WF, membership stickers with every membership packet and MWC hats for 15 bucks!

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Dang, that's a good deal.

 

[kmanxj5050]

Dang, that's a good deal.

X2 I've got some stiff competition!

 

[kmanxj5050]

Bump

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Will you be at wf 14?

 

[RedHeep]

I'm 75%. 3 days ago I was 100% biting just found out Logan's pinewood derby is the same weekend. I'm confident I can get it changed to the following week. The meeting is Thursday.

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

What would be your thoughts on the chapter splitting to reduce the overall size/states included due to the overall huge territory that make up the MWC? This has been brought up over the years, so just wondering what your thoughts are.

discuss

Cheese "just curious" Man

 

[RedHeep]

I don't see a real benefit in splitting the chapter up unless there was a group of individuals that was willing to start a new chapter and maintain it so that it was a viable chapter within the organization.

Although the MWC is large geographically, there are states within the chapter that have few members. Since a lot of the membership and folks that wheel in general are located within striking distance of an offroad area, this means that those states have few members. We are concentrated within locations that allow us to enjoy our hobby. If you break those states up into multiple smaller chapters, you reduce the number of members that can conduct the administrative requirements necessary to continue running the chapter, like running for elections, voting or organizing events.

I would support the creation of a new chapter within the MWC boundaries, but only if that chapter contained a location where the membership could gather for an event and only if there were enough members to sustain it. Cutting out a few states with minimal members from the MWC reduces the size of the chapter, but doesn't give those members much of a voice within the organization. I understand that WF is far away from a lot of people within the chapter, but we would have seen other unofficial events pop up for those people if the locations were available.

I do think that discussing redrawing the boundaries of some border states in the chapter, such as KY to the SEC or the western states to the western chapters is something the BOD should do. But splitting into an additional chapter doesn't seem like a good idea.

Clear as mud?

 

[REWSTER]

What kind of steps would you like to use to bring in new members, or get users to join?


sorry i got nothing, haven't drank with you enough to give you a witty personal question.

 

[RedHeep]

What kind of steps would you like to use to bring in new members, or get users to join?


sorry i got nothing, haven't drank with you enough to give you a witty personal question.

My answer to this question always gets me in trouble, so here goes.

I think there's a difference between a push for new members and a push for quality members. I know that we work hard within both the chapter and the national organization to entice new XJ enthusiasts to both participate and join the organization. The dues that people pay are obviously what keeps the lights on, what makes us able to do good things within our communities and what allows us to do good things for our members.

Unfortunately, that push for as many members as possible can come with consequences. The current demographic for an older, discontinued vehicle has dropped to a younger, less mature age due to the lower cost and relatively high bang for your buck that you get with a XJ, as well as the relatively low cost aftermarket. This can result is what we've seen just this year across the country, including fake online deaths of members and firearms/alcohol charges at events. I'm not sure how you skin that one, but I don't think it's something we can affect at the chapter level.

I think the chapter has done an excellent job providing benefits for members to encourage folks who are forum users to join. Free camping at WF signed up enough users to pay for itself in the first week. It was easy as a BOD member to vote to support that. The only other way to encourage users to become members is to make folks pay for the cow, so to speak. I can't affect that as a MWC Recorder, but I've held fast to the idea that the forum users should have much more of their access to the forum restricted. Make it a benefit to be a member and people will be members. Make it easy to get the milk for free and people will drink milk for free.

The best thing a chapter BOD can do to encourage new membership is to put on a kick ass event. I think we do that already. I would support additional events throughout the year if we thought it would bring in more quality members, such as a fall event at a different location or an additional summer event in a western MWC location, provided that we had the volunteers from that part of the chapter to put it together.

And more sheep.

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

I don't see a real benefit in splitting the chapter up unless there was a group of individuals that was willing to start a new chapter and maintain it so that it was a viable chapter within the organization.

Although the MWC is large geographically, there are states within the chapter that have few members. Since a lot of the membership and folks that wheel in general are located within striking distance of an offroad area, this means that those states have few members. We are concentrated within locations that allow us to enjoy our hobby. If you break those states up into multiple smaller chapters, you reduce the number of members that can conduct the administrative requirements necessary to continue running the chapter, like running for elections, voting or organizing events.

I would support the creation of a new chapter within the MWC boundaries, but only if that chapter contained a location where the membership could gather for an event and only if there were enough members to sustain it. Cutting out a few states with minimal members from the MWC reduces the size of the chapter, but doesn't give those members much of a voice within the organization. I understand that WF is far away from a lot of people within the chapter, but we would have seen other unofficial events pop up for those people if the locations were available.

I do think that discussing redrawing the boundaries of some border states in the chapter, such as KY to the SEC or the western states to the western chapters is something the BOD should do. But splitting into an additional chapter doesn't seem like a good idea.

Clear as mud?

Thanks for the well thought out answer, it was plenty clear and I appreciate it. It was a question that was posed to me when I ran for Pres back in the day so I thought I would just revisit it to get current input from those running. For the record, I have no interest in seeing the chapter split, it was just a hypothetical question. Thank again for the reply :thumbup: