It's the volunteers that make this work!
The Association exists for three specific reasons:
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- Assisting shipmates from years ago in reconnecting, simply, easily, and without compromising their privacy,
- Preserving the unclassified history of Cold War submarine crews and their boats in the form of photographs, stories, artifacts, and audio or video recordings, and
- Honoring the sailors and families who sacrificed so much to help bring an end to the Cold War.
None of this is possible without those that volunteer their time and talent. Like the usta-fish herself, the Association is a complex machine that only works because of the people inside, putting forth near super-human effort 24/7 to make operating a nuclear-powered warship, or an association and its website, appear to function with no visible effort. The photos, sea stories, and archival documents that fill a few hours browsing the website, the reunions that enable old shipmates to reconnect, and the email and messaging system that keeps all of you connected over the years and miles are the result of your shipmates volunteering their time and talent to make this possible.
How can you help, you might ask?
Simply, you can volunteer.
We need Site Leads for each boat. No experience required, your responsibiities are limited to content - photos and articles and members - locating and registration. We do all the hard work of of managing the website behind the scenes - you don't have to know anything about how websites work! (We prefer, but do not require, Site Leads that served on the boat or boats they manage.)
Even if you don't want the responsibility for a whole boat's website, you can donate your photos, your stories, and your time tracking down missing shipmates. No one piece of this equation is more valuable than another, and it is only by each of us contributing, even what little that we think we can offer, that we are able to execute the Association mission.
On the other end of the spectrum, if you have special skills and abilities, like web security, web development experience, especially in Joomla, our content management system, network server management skills, legal expertise regarding privacy and copyrights, event management expertise for the reunion-challenged among us, and many other things we haven't even thought of yet, well, we have a special place to put your talent to use.
Below, you will find some of those that have made the leap and committed themselves to the success of the Cold War Boats Association.
We invite you to join us!
