E-News – July 2020 - The Blackhorse Association

2021 Blackhorse Family Reunion

Please plan to attend our 2021 Blackhorse Family Reunion in San Antonio, Texas at the Riverwalk Holiday Inn, June 3-5, 2021. We have blocked off rooms from May 31 to June 9 for early and late arrivals; this will provide families an opportunity to enjoy San Antonio before or after our reunion.

Room rates are $119 per night. Hotel check-in time is 4 pm, and check-out is 12 pm.

Our hotel information: 217 N. St. Mary’s Street, San Antonio, Texas 78205. 210-224-2500. Fax number is 210-527-9589.

www.holidayinn.com/sat-riverwalk

We currently have the ability to make reservations by calling or emailing Bonnie Castilleja at 210- 272-1525 or Bonnie.Castilleja@nullihg.com.

Registration and reservation website information will be provided soon. At this time, though, please mark your calendars and we look forward to seeing everyone again. Because of the pandemic challenges of 2020 and our cancelled reunion in Colorado Springs, we expect a large turnout. Please plan accordingly.

2021 Blackhorse Family Reunion

Updates on the Association’s Support of and Interaction with the Regiment at Fort Irwin

In early 2020, the BHA recognized and awarded the recipients of the Regiment’s 2019 NCO and Trooper of the Year.

The Association provided 1901 Campaign Hats to these troopers:

SSG Ramin Ott, Maintenance Troop, RSS – NCO of the Year

SPC Arshard Alit, R&S Troop, RSS – Trooper of the Year

We also provided a jacket to this trooper:

SPC Richard Medina, F Troop, 2/11 – 4th Quarter Trooper of the Quarter

blackhorse

The BHA’s digital archives team created informational posters detailing the Mexican Expedition and put them on display at the 2019 Family Reunion in Las Vegas. Duplicates have been framed and are on display in the Regiment’s dining facility.

There are long-term plans to provide similar posters for display in the dining facility. This will create a walk-through-time experience from current operations at the entrance, to the Mexican Expedition on the back wall.

As many of you may know, the museum at Fort Irwin has been closed for a while and is undergoing renovations to reopen as a heritage center. It is unknown what the heritage center’s display and focus will be. Many of the smaller 11th ACR artifacts that were kept at the museum have found their way to the Regiment. CPT David McKinney, the outgoing RS-1, did a tremendous job of collecting, inventorying, and cataloging these items. He also had several display cases constructed to display some of those items at the Regiment. Although the museum is closed for now, the history of the Regiment is still being preserved.

11th ACR Miles Room

This is the Assembly print. The plexiglass in the frame was found in bad shape, but it was discovered that the print was as if new. A BHA member donated funds to have the plexiglass replaced with new acrylic. The print resides in the Regiment’s Miles Room in its original frame, complete with this inscription on its back.

In addition to the items on display, there are recovered items stored at the Regiment.

Even a time capsule from 4/11 was discovered.

At the Regiment, there are some truly unique displays. These are photos of all past Regimental Commanders and Command Sergeants Major.

This is the Wall of Heroes, which is dedicated to those soldiers lost in the line of duty from the most recent deployments and training exercises.

The hallway of K Troop pays homage to its past.

The Regiment recently selected its 2020 NCO and Trooper of the Year, and the BHA is working to recognize their efforts. The Association also provided a number of small gifts to the Regiment to accompany Letters of Recognition and other trooper awards; these included magnets, pins, and koozies.

The BHA was approached by a past Regimental Commander who wanted to donate his scrapbook from his time in Germany for display at the Regiment. Others were contacted about their interest to do the same, and a few have agreed to forward their Command scrapbooks to the Regiment for display. Arrangements are being made to receive them, scan them to the digital archives, and display them at the Regiment in Fort Irwin.

We have begun to put Association announcements in the Regiment’s rotational newsletters in an effort to get information out to as many troopers as possible. Two examples are the addition of BHA spouse scholarship opportunities and BHA membership for active duty Regiment members. In addition, we have begun to attach the Regiment’s Rotational Newsletters to the Association’s E–News so that our membership can stay up to date with the Regiment’s activities.

Future plans entail publishing scheduled appearances and competitions of the Horse Detachment in our monthly E–News. Historically, the Horse Detachment has travelled around our nation for parades, shows, and competitions. It is a great opportunity to witness the team in action, possibly closer to members’ hometowns.

We also plan to provide box tour dates and sign-up information for those who may be travelling through California, or live close by, and would like to see the Regiment in action.

For any questions or requests in regards to items/photos located at Fort Irwin, please contact the BHA’s Regimental Liaison, whose contact information is found on our website under the leadership tab.

AmazonSmile and The Blackhorse Association

The Blackhorse Association is a participant in the AmazonSmile program, and if you shop on Amazon.com, we respectfully ask you to sign up for the program and add Blackhorse Association Inc as your designated organization.

It won’t cost you anything, and the price of items that you purchase through Amazon.com will not be higher or lower; it will be the same as it normally would have been. The only difference is with your participation, Amazon will reward the BHA and we’ll get a small percentage from the hundreds of dollars that our members spend on Amazon. Most major corporations have a charitable program, and Amazon’s top program is the AmazonSmile program.

We, in turn, will use all of Amazon’s donation to us towards our scholarship program. It’s a win-win situation for you, the association, our scholarship recipients, and Amazon.

To date, the association has received $908 from Amazon; this was solely due to our members signing up for the program and designating our association as the recipient. We are grateful to you for that, and our scholarship recipients appreciate it as well.

If you could today, please visit smile.amazon.com and do a quick less-than-two-minute enrollment and designate Blackhorse Association Inc as your choice.