Monroe, LA Leadership Conference After Action Report

On Saturday, February 11, a Leadership Conference was held at the Clarion Hotel in Monroe, LA. I had no idea that it would go as well or be so well attended as it was. When contacted by the LTCIC about this project I did as requested thinking that I would do my part and hide my eyes when the head count was made. I was wrong. 58 SCV members registered for the conference and 55 actually showed up. I feel that this is an incredible percentage of people, registered/attended, who wanted to help lead our organization forward.

We had participants from as far away as Illinois, Indiana, and San Antonio, TX. Our speakers were the SCV's leadership - Michael Givens (CIC), Kelly Barrow (LTCIC), Thomas Hiter (Heritage Defense), and Chuck Rand (AIC) spoke on their respective areas. All of their talks were interesting and informative with no time really dragging by. It seemed to me that the people who came to this event came to learn because they were listening and taking notes instead of gossiping and giving "Well this happened to me" stories. The only part of the day that was a little messed up was lunch didn't arrive as planned and there wasn't anything that could be done about that.

I would like to thank our leadership for taking their weekend off to show that they do care about our organization's future and all of the men who came to see what they can do to improve their own areas of the Confederation. I also appreciate the members of the Captain Thomas O. Benton Camp who helped decorate the room. I do not know what camps attended from outside our Division but I can list the camps from Louisiana who had representatives. If I leave any out it is purely by accident and I will correct it if notified.

Attendence List:

Capt Thomas O Benton Monroe
Sgt. James W Nicholson Ruston
Lt. Elijah Ward Farmerville
Maj. Thomas O McGuire West Monroe
Gen. Alfred J J Mouton Opelousas
Claiborne Invincibles Claiborne Parish
Gen. Richard Taylor Shreveport
Gen. Henry W. Allen Baton Rouge
Indiana Division
Illinois Division
South Carolina Division
Georgia Division
Kentucky Division
Mississippi Division
Arkansas Division
Texas Division
Oklahoma Division


Thomas E. Taylor
Northeast Brigade Commander
Louisiana Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans


Note: the Next Conference is scheduled for the end of August in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Details will be published as soon as they are available.