NOTR Mid-Winter Conference in Las Vegas – January 2019

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By: Thomas (Tom) Waters, Lt. Colonel, USAF (Ret), Ed.D. / twaters2015@gmail.com
The National Order of Trench Rats (NOTR) met in Las Vegas for their 2019 Mid-Winter Conference.  Since it is a national organization, members came as representatives of the NOTR Dugouts from several states.  The Headquarters of the NOTR is called “Imperial” and the Head of the organization is the Imperial Golden Rodent. (Eric Jackson)
For those not acquainted with the NOTR, they are a National Veteran Organization that was created by World War I veterans in California.  The name “Trench Rats” was adopted as it is symbolic of the rats which the World War I veterans encountered in the trenches in France.
As stated, the “local” organizations are called Dugouts and each State is a Sector.  The Mid-Winter Conference held in Las Vegas was hosted by the Sector of Nevada.  In fact, the Mid-Winter conferences have been so successful in Las Vegas that the National Leaders, with the support of the many Sectors and Dugouts, agreed that all future Mid-Winter Conferences should be held in Las Vegas.  The Annual Conventions held during the summer months are scheduled in other cities across the United States.
The elected officers of the Imperial, Sector, or Dugout is led by a Golden Rodent (Commander), a Silver Rodent (Senior Vice-Commander), and a Blue Rodent (Junior-Vice Commander).  Feel free to visit a Dugout to learn more about the NOTR.
During the Mid-Winter Conference, the rewrite of the NOTR Constitution and Bylaws were completed and accepted by a majority vote of the membership.  The evening banquet to close the Mid-Winter Conference was quite memorable.
The organization has come a LONG way and is now in the process of reorganizing the NOTR as a separate Veteran Organization with the goal of assisting other veterans.  All Veterans are eligible to apply to become members of the National Order of Trench Rats.  Feel free to contact me for additional information.