CAMEL COURIER. New from Grapevine. Voices of Women in AA:

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CAMEL COURIER Volume 31, Issue 10 October 2017 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Area 34 - District 11 and 18 coverage area includes: Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, & Leelanau coun<es.

d11centraloffice@gmail.com Website www.district11-aa.org Camel Courier mailto:thecamelcourier@ TheCamelCourier@gmail.

contributed to A.A. early in its history, followed by stories from some of the program s earliest female members.

1 CAMEL COURIER Volume 31, Issue 10 October 2017 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Area 34 - District 11 and 18 coverage area includes: Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, & Leelanau coun<es.!!! Hot Line 24/7 Service (231) Traverse City AA Central Office 3291 Racquet Club Drive Suite B Traverse City, MI Office Hours Mon Fri: 10AM - 5PM Saturday 10AM - 2PM d11centraloffice@gmail.com Website Camel Courier mailto:thecamelcourier@ TheCamelCourier@gmail.com New from Grapevine Voices of Women in AA: Stories of experience, strength and hope from Grapevine This collection of 61 stories from Grapevine begins with articles by or about women who contributed to A.A. early in its history, followed by stories from some of the program s earliest female members. Sections are devoted to spirituality, sponsorship, life changes, relationships, family, careers and friendships. The collection concludes with a chapter devoted to women s meetings. Inside this issue of your Camel Courier Gratitude In Action- Service opportunities and thank-you s to current volunteers Experience Strength and Hope- Stories and poems from our members Schedule of Events- What s going on in our AA community In the Spotlight- Important information and things you ll find interesting Just For Laughs- Something to put a smile on your face Minutes and Reports- Covering Central Office Board meeting, Districts 11 and 18, Local and national conventions We have been speaking to you of serious, sometimes tragic things. We have been dealing with alcohol in its worst aspect. But we are not a glum lot. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th edition, p132

Gratitude In Action * To have your story included email your.pdf file to mailto:thecamelcourier@gmail.c TheCamelCourier@gmail.

Information and volunteer forms can be found online (www.district11-aa.org) or by stopping by Central Of'ice.

2 Gratitude In Action * To have your story included your.pdf file to mailto:thecamelcourier@gmail.c TheCamelCourier@gmail.com Central Office Wants YOU Love and Service Service Opportunities Include In of'ice retail store and phones 12 step calls Board of Directors After hours call forwarded Provide rides to meetings Information and volunteer forms can be found online ( or by stopping by Central Of'ice. A special thanks to all those who helped Central Office carry the message to our members, and the still suffering alcoholics. With out you we don t have a Central Office! Munson Open Talk Schedule Munson Hospital Conference Room in the Basement Every Saturday at 8pm If you re interested in sharing your story tcgroupmi@gmail.com September Speaker October 7 Andrea, C. October 14 Open October 21 Derek, C. October 28 Jesse 2 of 15

Experience Strength and Hope * To have your story included email your.pdf file mailto:thecamelcourier@gmail.c TheCamelCourier@gmail.com Incoming!

3 Experience Strength and Hope * To have your story included your.pdf file mailto:thecamelcourier@gmail.c TheCamelCourier@gmail.com Incoming! Through heat, sand and sniper fire, their AA group kept them sober to show up and do their jobs Not only are there lots of atheists with decades of sobriety in AA, there have always been atheists in foxholes. A graduate of a Christian high school, I enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 19. I had already discovered that the more I studied the scriptures and the more earnestly I prayed, the more I doubted the existence of any kind of God. I ve rediscovered this many more times through the years. Five years into what would become a 25-year career in the Marines, I was diagnosed by a physician as an acute, chronic alcoholic. A Vietnam veteran with an impeccable service record, I was hospitalized briefly and introduced to AA. I was happy when they told me at my first meeting that AA is spiritual, not religious, and not allied with any sect [or] denomination. But my spirits fell when the meeting began with a prayer, followed by a ritual recitation that invoked the name of God no fewer than six times ( How It Works ). They then closed the meeting by saying the Lord s Prayer. It was instantly clear to me that AA was a religious cult in denial about being religious. So I didn t come back to any meetings for years. In the meantime, on several occasions I almost died from my alcoholism. My disease progressed through an additional five years in the Marines. The Commandant of the Marine Corps then ordered me to the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland, for treatment of alcoholism. At least two good things happened to me the second time I was hospitalized. First, a long-sober Marine master gunnery sergeant who was a counselor at the treatment facility helped square me away on the Higher Power question. He pointed out that all Marines have the same Higher Power the Commandant of the Marine Corps. In addition, the master gunny noted that he and I had both been in harm s way earlier in our careers. We talked about a phenomenon with which we were both quite familiar, something known as esprit de corps. Esprit is the French word for spirit. And corps refers to a body of troops, in this case, our Corps of Marines. We knew from hard experience that when the situation is grave, Marines help each other survive by working together. In fact, another favorite term among Marines, gung ho, is an ancient Chinese battle cry that means working together. 3 of 15

4 Experience Strength and Hope * To have your story included your.pdf file mailto:thecamelcourier@gmail.c TheCamelCourier@gmail.com Incoming! (Continued) The master gunny and I had both been in situations where we and those around us were scared out of our minds. But we knew that when Marines support each other selflessly, we can and do overcome our fear. In doing so, we gain an ability to beat seemingly insurmountable and life-threatening odds. We knew that the bond Marines feel with each other, especially in combat, is best described as spiritual. This is clearly not a supernatural power, but a deeply human power that has been proven throughout history to play a decisive role in turning potential defeat into victory on the battlefield. Esprit de corps is the same kind of spiritual power that AA has, the master gunny explained. People in AA call this power whatever they want. The second good thing that happened to me in treatment was that I found my first sponsor. I noticed him at an AA meeting they drove us to in a hospital van one evening. He was the one guy in the room at the end of the meeting whose lips weren t moving when everybody else was holding hands and reciting the Lord s Prayer. An atheist with 10 years of sobriety at the time, my first sponsor explained to me that even though much of the AA program borrows from religion, AA works just fine anyway, as long as you don t drink, go to lots of meetings and take as many of AA s suggestions as you can stomach. Working the Twelve suggested Steps to the best of my ability wouldn t kill me, my sponsor said. Even as an atheist, he explained, I could work the Steps exactly the same way everybody else works them imperfectly and according to my own understanding. Before my first year in sobriety ended, my career as a Marine rocketed into a new dimension. The Commandant ordered me back to college, where I completed my bachelor s degree. Shortly after my second anniversary in sobriety, people were saluting me and addressing me as sir. My attainment of officer rank led to a number of new and exciting assignments all over the world. Each time I moved, I found a new AA sponsor locally and tried to attend 90 meetings in 90 days. I also began sponsoring other men and got involved in AA service work. During the Persian Gulf War in 1990, I was able to attend a few AA meetings at the Marine headquarters in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. However, I spent most of my time out in the desert on the front lines, where I enjoyed reading and re-reading letters I received from my many AA friends back in the U.S. For the record, Marines don t have foxholes. We call them fighting holes. While under fire during Operation Desert Storm, I observed an important difference between the atheists I knew and others who might be inclined to spend time on their knees praying for divine protection. I found that the atheists could be counted on to do things that are actually useful, like digging better fighting holes. AA Grapevine Subscriptions For information and subscription options please see your groups Grapevine Representative or follow the link below. 4 of 15

5 Experience Strength and Hope * To have your story included your.pdf file mailto:thecamelcourier@gmail.c TheCamelCourier@gmail.com Incoming! (Continued) Some years later, I found myself in Somalia in the midst of a civil war characterized by sectarian violence, famine and human suffering on a Biblical scale. Even though we could find no sign of a loving God anywhere in Somalia, I and a few other military personnel formed a group conscience and decided to start holding AA meetings in beautiful downtown Mogadishu. Our little group opted to meet outdoors in the shade of a tree because of the heat. That turned out to be a mistake. Our first meeting was broken up by sniper fire. Although the sniper was clearly a lousy shot, we decided to change locations. Our second meeting was broken up by sniper fire too. At that point, we decided to move our meeting indoors behind concrete walls and simply ignore the heat. It was our group s little joke that we closed our meetings in the usual manner by all shouting, Incoming! About a year after returning to the U.S., I married a woman I d met in AA who is also an atheist. We had two children before I retired from the Marines. Today, our kids are grown and doing well. As of this writing I have 33 years of sobriety in AA and my wife has 26 years. Our lives are as happy, joyous and free as anyone we know in our Fellowship. But some in AA still feel sorry for atheists, just as our co-founder Dr. Bob said he felt about unbelievers in the Big Book. Some too remain convinced that those who say they won t believe are belligerent and have a savage mind, as co-founder Bill W. asserted in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. My original atheist AA sponsor, with whom I remain in touch, has 43 years of sobriety in AA and is still clearly a thorn in the side of some of the bleeding deacons in his own home group. In recent years, I ve a played a role in organizing a couple of secular We Agnostics meetings of AA in my community. I ve also tried to be more vocal at other AA meetings about my lack of belief in any kind of God, especially the miracle-working supernatural being that Bill W. and Dr. Bob believed in. If AA is to survive and thrive in a world where increasing numbers of people, especially young people, are leaving religious beliefs behind them, as I did, my hope is that we will open the doors of our Fellowship a little wider. -- Eric C. Traverse City, Mich., USA AA Grapevine Subscriptions For information and subscription options please see your groups Grapevine Representative or follow the link below. 5 of 15

6 Schedule Of Events Help The AA Community Connect Send your groups event information to: 6 of 15

7 In the Spotlight 7 of 15

8 Just for Laughs * To have your funny included your.pdf file to mailto:thecamelcourier@gmail.c TheCamelCourier@gmail.com 8 of 15

9 Minutes and Reports Central Office Board Mee<ng Minutes September 20, 2017 (Minutes to be approved at the October 11 Board Mee<ng) Jodie called to order at 7:02 PM Board Members Present: Diane, Jodie, Amanda, Steve, Ted Others present: J. Secretary s Report: Ted moved to accept minutes as wri`en; mo<on passed unanimously Treasurer s Report: Steve provided August and September reports Webmaster s Report: mee<ng schedule updated 9/12; closed mee<ng language on mee<ng schedule modified for clarity Camel Courier Report: Lisa M. has come on as an assistant editor in charge of the calendar sec<on Literature Report: Diane made sugges<ons to modify the budget for the rest of the year Office Manager s Report: Jodie has been ac<ng as office manager for the past couple of months; volunteers are s<ll needed for 10AM-2 PM every Friday in office, 2-5 PM every other Friday in office, Saturday 10-2 phone shie, Saturday 2 PM to Sunday 10 AM phone shie. Old Business: Ted did not find any phones that were appropriate, so no phone will be purchased Diane had sugges<ons about how to have a fire sale/open house New Business: J. asked how Central Office can help make sponsorship informa<on available; Ted moved to table the discussion Ted moved to have a gra<tude open house and merchandise sale on November 4 10 AM to 3 PM. Selected items up to 50% off. Mo<on passed unanimously. Ted will oversee the open house part, and Amanda will make a flyer. Amanda moved to spend up to $100 on a cigare`e bu` receptacle; mo<on passed unanimously Diane moved to adjust the literature budget to $1200/month for the remainder of Mo<on passed unanimously. Next mee<ng will be held TUESDAY October 17 at 7 PM at Central Office. Amanda moved to close at 8:57 PM. Mo<on passed unanimously. 9 of 15

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Our We Agnostics Meeting

Our We Agnostics Meeting Hello everybody, my name is Eric and I m an alcoholic. I ve stayed sober a day at a time since January 10, 1983. I was 29 years of age when I got sober, and I ll be 61 years-old