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Membership Categories
The initial By-Laws provided for three types of membership: Honorary, Charter and Regular. Honorary membership would be reserved for certain former Directors of OSI and/or any other person deemed worthy of such honor. They would be exempt from any dues. Charter memberships were for those persons who joined during the period 1 May 66 to 30 June 67. After 1 July 67, active duty Special Agents who applied within 90 days of their leaving duty as Special Agents could be given such status. (The Charter category was eliminated with the 1 July 84 edition of the By-Laws.) Regular memberships were available to all others who met the membership criteria.
An Associate category was introduced on 1 April 1973 by Amendment #1 to the By-Laws for either the wife or spouse of a deceased member or a person who was formerly assigned to or employed by OSI in a capacity other than as a Special Agent. An Associate Member could neither hold office nor vote in the Association. Annual dues were, in effect, one-half of a regular member's dues until 1992 when a US Postal Service regulation required the Association cover costs with all dues. A By-Laws change in 1995 authorized administrative/support personnel to opt for the Regular category of membership.
The Affiliate membership category was promulgated in the 1 Jul 84 edition of the By-Laws for persons actively serving as military or civilian Special Agents for AFOSI, although they were restricted from holding office or voting. This category was established after the Commander, AFOSI determined there was no apparent conflict in their membership. With the coming into effect of the November 1989 edition of the By-Laws, the membership categories were streamlined by placing all Affiliate Members in the Regular category and removing the restrictions. Additionally, all Honorary Members who were eligible for Regular membership were given all the rights and privileges of such membership, but still remaining exempt from annual dues payment.
Early Years — 1966 to 1972
The first local group to organize into a chapter was in Southern California and was named the Greater Los Angeles Chapter. Its charter was effective 3 February 1967. By the end of FY 72 (30 Jun 72), only one more chapter, Rocky Mountain State (then known as the Denver Chapter), had been organized. (NOTE: The authorizing document for the Denver Chapter refers to it as the 3rd Chapter, but this apparently is an error.) By 1992, twenty-seven chapters had been chartered, but nine have become dormant or been disestablished.
Dues were first established at the rate of $10.00 per annum and have since increased. There was a Membership Application fee of $10.00 also assessed. (This fee was eliminated by Amendment #1 to the By-Laws, effective 1 April l973.) The first Association Directory was published in September 1968 for the year 1968-69 and listed 192 members. It was to become a model for later years. The second Directory was published for the year 1973-73. The third Directory (for the year 1973-74) appeared in October 1973 in the now familiar “Blue Binder”, which was to remain essentially unchanged for more than 20 years (until 1989-90).
As might be expected, these years were difficult. By 30 June 1967, 200 members had joined, but only 46 more in the succeeding 5 years. The late 1960s was the beginning of the time period when OSI Special Agents were commencing to retire in larger numbers, but the then prohibition on membership by active duty SAs seriously impacted membership recruitment as there appears to have been no procedure for reaching new retirees. Not all the members who had joined retained active membership. By 1972 active membership had dropped to 120 people and Beckner feared for the Association's longevity.
To the rescue came member Charles D. Woolhouse who had attended the early Association organizing meetings as an observer because of the ban on active duty membership. Upon retirement on 1 Nov 1966, he joined the
 Association as a Regular Member. Bob Sheeran in an article in the Global Alliance on Woolhouse wrote that “The membership stood at 120 in early 1972 and had not increased in two years. No dues were being paid; no Directory of members had been published since mid-1967 (sic); Association incoming mail had not been answered in over a year.” Woolhouse was instrumental in calling an emergency meeting to try to get the Association moving. Only 12 members appeared for the meeting, chaired by member Don May. Woolhouse volunteered to send letters to delinquent dues members, to work up a new membership application and brochure, to service the Association mail box, to respond to all back and current mail, to process new members and send all monies to the Treasurer. The offer was accepted and Woolhouse drafted his wife, Ann, to help in this effort to resuscitate the Association.
The Middle Years — 1972 to 1982
In October 1972, Beckner appointed Woolhouse to the position of Correspondence Secretary, which was confirmed in 1973 by Amendment #1 to the By-Laws and described the position as Association Business Manager and Coordinator. (The title was changed to Executive Secretary about 1983 or 1984.) From 1972 to 1982, Woolhouse, while employed full-time in his civilian occupation, devoted nights, weekends and vacation time, along with his wife, on AFOSISA business.
Following his second retirement in 1982, Woolhouse worked full-time on managing Association affairs, still assisted only by his wife. The question of employing paid assistance to Woolhouse arose several times, but was never fulfilled. In December 1986, he tendered his resignation effective 1 August 1987. Again Bob Sheeran, “While full credit is given to our Founding Fathers for originating AFOSISA, if it were not for the hard work, devotion and determination of Charlie Woolhouse during the past 15 years there would not be an AFOSISA today.” One specific example that reflects that dedication is the “Blue Binder” directory referred to above. Woolhouse designed this directory and spent $1,300 of personal money for the first printing, being eventually repaid.
During these middle years, efforts were made to develop collateral benefits for the membership. Some came to fruition, others failed to succeed. Among those succeeding were the Association lapel/tie tack pins, bumper stickers, ID cards, binders for the Global Alliance and an Association ring project. Two that failed were member tours to PACAF and USAFE (for which AFOSI HQ promised local briefings support) and an attempt to sponsor a modest life insurance program for the members.
Communications with the membership reportedly started with the first “Newsletter” published on 15 October 1966, which was a one-page letter-type designed to pass on news of members and alert former OSI members of the existence of AFOSISA and encourage them to join. No copy of it survives in the National HQ files. The earliest copy of a letter style report is dated December 1968 and entitled Ex-Officio Report. It is likely the first, and maybe the only, issue of that name because it reported on the origins of the Association and developments in 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968, ending with the hope there would be more to come and more often — a hope that would be delayed at least 3 more years.
The first edition of the AFOSISA Newsletter apparently was published with an issue date estimated to be sometime in 1971. This publication date is based on an analysis of the Issue Nrs appearing on surviving copies in the National HQ files which were carried forward to its successor, the Global Alliance. It is not clear if this newsletter was initiated by Woolhouse or someone else, assuming the 1971 date is accurate. In a profile article on Woolhouse in the Global Alliance (Oct 87, pg. 17), it is recorded that he started the newsletter in April 1973. Available record copies of the AFOSISA Newsletter start with the 15 Jan 77 edition. Publication continued under this name until 15 July 1986, when it was renamed the Global Alliance. The newsletter evolved from a 5½ by 8½ blue paper quarterly insert for the Membership Directory of 2-4 pages to 20 pages by the 15 Apr 83 issue, when it was converted to 8 x 10 white paper typeset format.
From a retrospective view, the newsletter was far from today's standards for computer produced newsletters, but it seems to have met the needs of and was highly valued by the membership during Woolhouse's stewardship as evidenced by its growth in size. It was crammed with details of member's activities, association information, etc. Its preparation had to be one of the most time consuming and continuing aspects of his duties as Executive Secretary. One of the most interesting projects appearing in the newsletter was the publication of OSI School class photographs and student rosters, which commenced in the Fall 1977 issue. This was a cooperative effort by HQ AFOSI staff. By 1985, the newsletter had grown to 40 pages and many, if not most, of the articles were being written by Bob Sheeran, who had been contributing since 1982 and was announced in the 15 Oct 85 edition as the Acting Editor.
In 1986 the Executive Committee approved the change from a newsletter to a magazine under a new masthead, designed by Woolhouse, using the name Global Alliance. That name, devised by Sheeran, was taken “to betoken not only our alliance to one another but to note our alliance to AFOSI as stated in the Preamble to our By-Laws, to perpetuate the ideals and principles of AFOSI. We feel that the new title reflects our Association's sentiment that its members are truly allied and will forever remain a part of the AFOSI family.” The new magazine first appeared on 15 Jul 1986, but carried Issue Nr. 62 in the masthead to note its past lineage.
Sheeran was appointed the Editor, effective 9 October 1986, and continued in that capacity until his death in 1997. Members have commented that the Global Alliance is one of the major factors binding the Association together. Having read every edition as part of the research for this article, clearly the magazine has evolved in a way that reaches out to all the membership. One must remember that the magazine, like all other functions of AFOSISA, is a volunteer effort and also a labor of love by the Editor. Of necessity, the Editor depends on other volunteers to help bring this magazine together for the membership every three months — an enormous never-ending intellectual and physical effort. It has become the major source of linkage among the members.
In April 1992, the Global Alliance was submitted as an entry in APEX '92. This is an annual program of awards for publication excellence sponsored by Communications Concepts, Washington, DC. Five editions (January 1991 through January 1992) were submitted in the category of Non-profit Internal Magazines/Journals. Of the 12 Awards of Excellence made in that category, the Global Alliance received Second Place.
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