Spring Is Here fromtheeditor
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Springtime brings blossoming cherry trees — and MOAA’s Storming the Hill event, during which members and staff trek up to Capitol Hill to lobby on behalf of the military community.
April paints a springtime blush on the face of the nation’s capital. Some 3,750 cherry trees spread their pale pink blos- soms on National Park Service land — a sure sign we’ve survived another harsh winter. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is one of the country’s greatest springtime events. It celebrates the 1912 gift of cherry trees as a symbol of friend- ship between Japan and the U.S. Although not as well known as the
National Cherry Blossom Festival, there is another sure sign of spring in Washing- ton. As the cherry blossoms fade, more than 100 leaders of MOAA’s councils and chapters, board directors, and staff will be hitting Capitol Hill. The occasion: national MOAA’s annual Storming the Hill lobby- ing blitz. For this group, corporate gray is a more dominant color than cherry blos- som pink, but the energy of “storming” is just as powerful as that of spring’s rebirth. As we go to press, MOAA’s staff and
board members still are working the de- tails of issues we’ll push this year. Final plans will be based on an analysis of the president’s budget, which just recently was released. Subscribe to MOAA’s Legislative Update e-newsletter for the most up-to- date information. And, of course, we’ll bring you full coverage of “storming” in an upcoming issue of Military Offi cer. Even if you’re not among the troops
storming the Hill this year, you still can lend your voice to the cause. I refer you to this month’s cover wrap. If you haven’t
already removed the four postcards in this issue and mailed them to your legislators, please do so. Those cards really do make a big impression on the lawmakers who receive them. Help protect health care ac- cess for elderly and military patients. April also is the month of the military child. Children of servicemembers face many challenges their civilian counter- parts do not. MOAA has been working with DoD and Congress to make im- provements for military children. Ex- amples are a new law allowing veterans to transfer their GI bill benefi ts to depen- dents and an interstate compact to make educational transitions easier for military kids. Our story “In Their Corner,” page 50, summarizes changes MOAA is push- ing and what you can expect as a military family in 2011. Rounding out the lineup is a story on the lighter side. “Ancient Innovations,” page 56, makes the point that today’s new-fangled superweapons might not be all that new. For example, biological warfare was practiced in 1700 B.C. The chariot introduced shock and awe to the battlefi eld. And it’s a small leap from Greek fi re, invented in the seventh cen- tury, to modern napalm. Read the story to see how today’s weapons have their roots in superweapons of antiquity.
— Col. Warren S. Lacy, USA-Ret.
*online: Sign up for the Legislative Update e-newsletter at
www.moaa.org/email. 12 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2011
PHOTO: STEVE BARRETT
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