USS Mahan Association - Official Facebook Page 

The USS Mahan Association is dedicated to those men and women who have served proudly on all ships named Mahan, DD-102, DD-364, DLG-11/DDG-42 and DDG-72, and especially to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. They have a yearly reunion and maintain a Web Site with history for each ship and offer great gear including prints of Admiral Mahan himself.

Admins: Craig Bailey; Gary Gieschen

Total Members: 410

 Related Pages

 Veterans of the USS Mahan DDG-42

 Anyone who served onboard the USS Mahan DDG 42, or friends and family

 Admins: Craig Bailey, Chuck Canesi

 Total Members:          557

Friends Who Like USS Mahan (DDG 72)

Admins: Russ Owens

Total Members:          96

No direct contact, but active pages with Mahan ties

USS Mahan DDG 72 Plankowners (6 posts per week)

For DDG 72 Plankowners, those who sailed with them, & family members too!.

Admins:  Robert Butcher, Beverly Hines Gaston, Mike Cate

Moderators:  Gene Schoeck

Total Members           283

USS Mahan DDG 72 (6 posts per year)

The USS Mahan. What does it mean to you? What was more important, lifes lessons the Mahan way, Friendship, Loyalty, History? You tell us what you enjoyed most about the ship in the past or what you enjoy most about it currently.

Admins:  Kenneth Mason

Total Members:          322

 USS Mahan FRG (25 posts per year)

 This page is to provide information, education, morale and support to the families of the USS Mahan. Please be aware of OPSEC and PERSEC and do not post anything pertinent to ship movement This is VERY IMPORTANT for the safety of our sailors. We are here to support one another and our sailors so rude or bashing comments will not be tolerated We can only place so much information on here, so more detailed info will be sent via email.

 Admins:   Santina Louise, Sarah Buitrago, Ashley Gabbard, Crystal Midwood

 Total Members:          90

 USS Mahan Friends (12 posts per year)

No Posted Description

Admins:  Jason Zaccone

Total Members:          262

No direct contact, non-active pages with Mahan ties

Women of the USS Mahan (DDG 72) Past and Present

This group was created after attending the USS MAHAN Plankowner reunion. Retired six years, and with a daughter in the Navy, I really now realize how important it is for women in the Navy to stick together. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!

 Admins: Christine Moreland, Beverly Hines Gaston, Jennifer L Sagarra, Keesa Knowles

Total Members           37

 USS Mahan DDG72 Prayer Group

 To Pray, Support, Uplift and Stay Connected when one of our own faces deep hardships. To Pray, Support, uplift and encourage when he's on his way back up during the struggles of his next stage.

Admins:   Jason Tatge, Paula Griffeth

Total Members           71

Non-related, non-active and highly questionable linked page

Samahan Ng Mga Pinoy Sa USS Mahan

No Posted Description

Admins:  Ramon Buenaventura

Total Members           18

 

Status Report

The official page of the USS Mahan Association is active, but there is more activity on “Veterans of the USS Mahan DDG 42” page. Administrators are doing a good job on both sites maintaining respectable, non-political content and avoiding membership of sales groups and con-jobs.

Every day, both the official page and ‘DDG 42’ page receive membership requests from foreign nationals who appear to have no link to the USS Mahan. Most of these original from the Philippines. It is not clear the motives of all these requests, but many look related to efforts to sell T-shirts and Mugs.

Typically, when a request is received, I look at the origin and if they answered the questions. Most of these fake requests simply answer yes when the questions are not “Yes” or “No” questions. Some legitimate requests come from family members (widows, children...) who wish to connect with former shipmates of their loved ones. I manage to sort this out by sending a direct message asking what their connection is and generally approve once I have a sufficient answer.

There appear to be some legitimate pages, mainly originating from the DDG-72, that we should liaison with. It is probable many members are not aware of the Association and it’s annual reunion.

Regarding the annual reunion, we should have more concentrated and focused information available on the Facebook Page with more direct posts from members leading up to the event. There has been some mention of it and an event was created, but it is clear many members are still confused to the date and location and how to participate. We could do this better.

Suggested Actions

It could be good to have 1 or 2 more moderators for the site. I could guide them through the expectations, and it is not high maintenance. All we generally need to do is field new member requests and ensure new posts fit within normal guidelines. It doesn’t take real time, but you should be a daily user of Facebook.

We should set a process in place to synchronize content from the Web Site and the Facebook page. Perhaps the Web Site manager should also join the administration of the Facebook page so they can ensure information remains consistent.

End Report - Posted July, 2023