chaptersinaction Working for You
Council and chapter leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak with One Powerful Voice® on Capitol Hill and discuss ways to improve their affiliates at MOAA’s Council Presidents’ Seminar.
M
ost MOAA members know about the associa- tion’s annual Storming the
Hill lobbying blitz, when we head to Capitol Hill to talk to legisla- tors about top issues affecting our members. But have you ever thought about who actually leads the charge when MOAA storms the Hill? It’s MOAA’s 35 state council presidents and 15 other chapter presidents from states that aren’t yet represented by councils. They volunteer their time to spend a week in Washington, D.C., to work for you — MOAA’s member- ship. The amazing thing about this group of volunteers is they have decided to continue serving by using their energy and skills to help MOAA fight for top legislative issues facing all servicemembers. They are sec- ond-career military retirees and fully retired servicemembers who could be at work or doing many other things — but they decided to come to Washington, D.C., because MOAA needs them. For more than 15 years, MOAA’s council and chapter leaders have
On the road: This month, Col. Lee Lange, USMC-Ret., director of MOAA’s Council and Chapter Affairs Department, will visit members of the Nathan Hale (Conn.) Chapter. Go to MOAA Calendar, page 78, for the dates.
been doing the hard work during Storming the Hill week. But with chapter membership at about 16 percent of MOAA’s roughly 377,000 members, a relative few are doing a lot of heavy lifting for the rest of the membership. The military com- munity has never faced a bigger challenge to its benefits. Increased health care fees, force reductions, and changes to future retirement benefits all loom on the horizon. So what can you do to help? Chapter members get the ball rolling by es- tablishing and maintaining relation- ships with legislators in their states and districts and talking to them about MOAA’s legislative goals. Many of you could be doing what chapter members do. You certainly have the skills and the motivation. You’ve been looking for an oppor- tunity to step up and help make a difference — and you can find that opportunity as a member of an MOAA chapter. Storming the Hill is really a “graduation exercise” for a process of grassroots support that starts in MOAA’s 410 nationwide chapters. So visit your local chapter today, and find out what you can do to help. Locate the chapter near- est you by visiting
www.moaa.org/ chapterlocator. Fighting for the benefits of mem- bers — and all servicemembers — is
MOAA’s No. 1 job. Thinking it will get done like it always has won’t cut it. It’s up to you to step up and get involved in your local chapter now. They need your help as much as you need theirs. Working together as a team, we can accomplish a lot. — Col. Lee Lange II, USMC-Ret. Director, Council and Chapter Affairs
Power in
Numbers MOAA updates leaders at the Council Presidents’ Seminar.
C
ouncil and chapter lead- ers met in Alexandria, Va., April 16-19 for MOAA’s Council
Presidents’ Seminar. The event kicked off with an icebreaker, during which attendees and their spouses met with leaders from other affiliates, as well as MOAA staff and board members. The next morning, MOAA leaders
got down to business as they prepared for Storming the Hill, during which participants asked members of their congressional delegation to reject disproportional TRICARE fee hikes, avoid premature force reductions, and resist “fast-tracking” changes to mili- tary retirement. Later that evening, council and chapter leaders and their
*online: Visit
www.moaa.org/storming for a recap of the 2012 Storming the Hill event. 42 MILITARY OFFICER JUNE 2012
PHOTO: STEVE BARRETT
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