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St. Louis Gateway Arch |
The Auxiliary’s National Training Conference (NTrain) convened for its annual gathering in St. Louis with National Bridge meetings starting Monday, January 24. This year’s conference is in a new locale, Westport, a nearby suburb of St. Louis. The site is the Sheraton Westport Chalet Lakeside Hotel, and a very fine facility, very consciences of the needs of the attendees. Meeting rooms are spacious and the room accommodations are excellent. The hotel is situated among fourteen restaurant choices, including one fine eatery within the hotel.
Auxiliarists and active duty Coast Guard will be arriving and departing in stages throughout the week, depending on the sessions they are expected to lead or attend. A major function of the conference is, of course, the training. District Staff Officers (DSO) of seven different Auxiliary disciplines will meet and discuss issues relative to their departments. Most of the DSOs are new to their responsibilities and in many cases this will be their first exposure to training at the National level. The DSOs are expected to pass on their training to their parallel staff when they return to their home districts.
NTrain also affords the opportunity to renew old acquaintances and make new ones. In many cases NTrain is the one annual chance to say "hi" and share ideas and experiences with Auxiliarists with like interests.
SITREP will continue to follow the events and happenings of NTrain throughout the week
~MG 01-25-11