chaptersinaction Future Leaders
Chapter members provide a range of support to ROTC programs. Now some chapters are reaching out and welcoming cadets and midshipmen who are juniors and seniors into MOAA’s ranks.
I
t’s almost college-graduation time, and chapter leaders are get- ting ready to participate in MOAA’s
Gold Bar Program, a recruiting initia- tive under Give Me 10! It allows chap- ter leaders to reach out to graduating ROTC cadets or midshipmen in units their chapters support and give them their first sets of gold bars, along with complimentary trial memberships in national MOAA, as a way of saying thanks for their future service. MOAA is making 3,500 sets of gold
bars available to chapters through the Gold Bar Program. Thanks to a recent change in the association’s by- laws, chapter leaders are expanding their recruiting efforts. Effective Jan. 1, nonvoting MOAA memberships are available to juniors and seniors at ser- vice academies and ROTC programs and to college students in enlisted commissioning programs. Cadets and midshipmen are eligible for compli- mentary electronic memberships. Their primary link to the association is a monthly e-newsletter tailored to their interests.
On the road: This month, Col. Barry Wright, USA-Ret., deputy director of MOAA’s Council and Chapter Affairs Department, will visit chapter mem- bers in Arkansas, South Carolina, and Washington state. Go to MOAA Calen- dar, page 76, for the dates.
This department’s main story,
“Supporting ROTC Units,” illustrates the many ways chapter members support and interact with cadets and midshipmen and their instructors at ROTC units in their area. Support- ing ROTC — and Junior ROTC — is a longstanding tradition, with an esti- mated 90 percent of MOAA’s chapters supporting one or more programs. Providing complimentary mem- berships to newly commissioned officers and cadets and midship- men in their junior and senior years gives these future leaders early exposure to MOAA. We know these members are very busy, so we have developed an electronic member- ship to keep them in touch with MOAA on topics of interest to them. Many will remain members; oth- ers will not. Their views likely will change over time as these young officers move through their ca- reers and come to realize they need someone on their side to protect their benefits while they focus on their jobs. Their earlier exposure to MOAA will help the association get them back as members. When it comes to preserving earned benefits for the military com- munity, nobody does it better than MOAA. We need everyone’s help to speak with One Powerful Voice® — including young officers and cadets
*online: Visit
www.moaa.org/chapters/locator to find a chapter near you. 42 MILITARY OFFICER MAY 2011
and midshipmen who soon will re- ceive their commissions. MOAA’s chapters provide oppor- tunities to meet and help encourage these future leaders. You can help us meet our goals by joining and sup- porting a local MOAA chapter.
— Col. Lee Lange II, USMC-Ret. Director, Council and Chapter Affairs
Supporting
ROTC Units Chapter members teach cadets about leadership.
E
ast Texas Chapter mem- bers are laying the ground- work to welcome ROTC cadets and midshipmen who are in their junior and senior years into the national association’s ranks. Wayne Salazar, a senior at Sam Houston State University in Hunts- ville, Texas, is the second Army ROTC cadet who was appointed to serve as copresident of the East Texas Chapter alongside chapter member Wayne Keen, a former naval aviator. Salazar’s responsibilities include making presentations at chapter meetings and assisting with commu- nity affairs that affect servicemem-
PHOTO: STEVE BARRETT
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