Tim Raines is a native of Saint Louis, MO. He currently serves as the President with Navy League Saint Louis Council. He is employed with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). He graduated from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics. He then attended Officer Candidate School Pensacola, Florida and was commissioned in 2001. He holds a Master of Science in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas in Lafayette, AR. He completed the Project Management Certificate program at Saint Louis University in 2018. He has two boys Carter (21) attending the University of Arkansas and Colin (18) and they live in the Central West End at Chase Park Plaza in St. Louis, MO.
A Surface Warfare Officer and prior enlisted, He has deployed extensively to the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Arabian Gulf in support of the Global War on Terrorism. His assignments include USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), USS Hopper (DDG 70), USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) and USS Farragut (DDG 99), which he was the commissioning Damage Control Assistant on a Bath, ME built ship in 2005.
Ashore as a student Aviator he went through Officer Candidate School, Pre-Flight School and Water Survival School at Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL (“The cradle of Naval Aviation”) upon graduation he was assigned to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas with VT-27, flying the T-34 “Mentor”. Ashore as a Surface Warfare Officer he was assigned to Naval Personal Command as an action officer processing officer misconduct and separation cases; as the Enlisted Programs Officer of Navy Recruiting District Saint Louis (NRD STL) managing all enlisted recruiting for Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky; and as the commissioning Senior Naval Science Instructor of the Navy National Defense Cadet Corps/JROTC in Washington, MO. His enlisted shore tours include NRD STL as the District Trainer and as the Recruiter in Charge of Navy Recruiting Station West County, MO. Additionally, he was assigned to NAS Sigonella, Italy supporting air operations in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Retiring from active duty in 2013 he became the commissioning Senior Naval Science Instructor of NJROTC Washington in Washington, MO until the end of the 2017 school year. He is currently assigned to NGA as a Maritime Intelligence Analyst within the Maritime Safety Office. Tim Raines’ decorations include the Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal (three awards), and Battle Efficiency Ribbon (two awards).
I wanted to say hello and invite you personally to our known events this year. I am honored to be your President. This council was created in 1969 and has had a tremendous history in achieving our mission. I have been around this council since 1987 as a young 13-year-old Sea Cadet. This council helped me personally in funding my many two-week trainings as a Sea Cadet. Some of them being RTC Great Lakes, twice onboard the USS Missouri (BB 63), USCG Point Winslow and Belgium Cadet Exchange. One of my favorite memories of this council from then was when I got accepted for the cadet exchange to Belgium in 1990 and this council paid for the TWA ticket to get me to Belgium. Otherwise, my parents could not afford the ticket at that time in our lives. I would not be here today if it was not for the support from this council when I was a young cadet and the same is said by my Sea Cadet friends that I grew up with. So, thank you for allowing me to be your President this year and your support.
I also want to say thank you to Wayne and Kathy Chauncey for making this one of the best councils in the United States. While Wayne will no longer be the president, we are very thankful to have both on our council board volunteering their time and wisdom to make our council even better.
I would like all of you to feel welcomed at our activities. Please join us at our quarterly board meetings and volunteer for our many events. Volunteering from our members makes our events better and a greater success. Volunteer now by sending the Chairperson an email donating your time and/or money.
We have over 300 members but regularly only see about 10-30 of our members at functions. I would like to fix this. I think we may have a communication breakdown. Reach out to members you know and remind them of events going on and come together. Need a ride. Call me.
We all have reasons why we joined the Navy League. I want to hear from you and I want to know why you joined the Navy League, specifically the St Louis Council. How can we get you involved or continue having you involved and assist you in supporting the reasons why you joined the Navy League. Our organization can only exist with involved volunteering members. I looked at our membership roster 10 years ago when it was 430 and this month when it is 300. I understand many veterans organizations are closing their doors due to lack of members and support, prominent veterans organizations. What can this Council do to increase the involvement and membership numbers and stop the trend downward? Email me and/or come to a board meeting, share you answer and thoughts.
We lost a great communication resource in our quarterly newsletters published by Dick Kallemeier. Dick has moved to Iowa with family. This Council thanks him greatly for everything he has done over the many decades. He will be missed by me personally. His newsletter for decades kept the history, show cased our activity and disseminated information of our Council across the United States. Who can take on this important position of the quarterly newsletter to show case our continued efforts of support in meeting our Navy League mission?
We need our volunteers on our many committees that we have such the Navy Ball, Golf Tournament, Navy Command College Dinner, Navy Week, Cardinal Company, and our Annual Awards Banquet. Sign up with the Chairperson on those committees.
To see the schedule or purchase ticket for events you can go to our Events Page. This will be updated as our dates and more information become known. Please put them in your calendar now. Like the Navy Ball on 20 October 2023!!!! The expectation is that our Navy League members attend to show our support to our half a dozen military commands in the area that attend our sponsored event. If you have Facebook, like our NL page and see our photos. Navy League Facebook Page
*The first 10 non-board members that reply to this by email will receive 25% off of your 2023 Navy Ball ticket.
Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday, GO CHIEFS!!!. As you are sitting with friends enjoying the game look around and see who has a passion for our mission. Have them join us and join you to make these events bigger and better. Click on the link and sign up a new member to work with us today: https://members.navyleague.org/
Very respectfully,
Tim Raines
President, Board of Directors
St Louis Council
Navy League of the United States
