from the president
Protect People
The nation’s military readiness depends on the all-volunteer force. Preserving servicemembers’ earned benefits in the face of calls for ill-advised cuts protects our national security.
We are a nation governed by trends. Our society’s collective attention span has shrunk in order to deal with a sea of conflicting information and opinions masquerading as truths. At MOAA, we cut through this clutter by staying on mission and on message. Daily we deal with powerful forces in government, defense leadership, and the media calling for reducing the deficit by raising military health care fees and creating civilian-style retirements. Think tanks spout fallacious notions about how easy and fair it would be to cut earned benefits for military personnel. We say: not so.
The all-volunteer force came into being 40 years ago. It is a unique system of systems, and many of them provide earned benefits like health care and retirement. Other parts of the system are assignment, retention, training, and promotion policies.
This system of systems allows our country to attract a small, and dwindling, cohort of young people capable of serving to try a tour in the military. Only a small percentage of those who begin are retained after the first tour. The system of systems moves some back to civilian life with more skills, maturity, and experience for having served a tour. This group is rewarded with VA health benefits as well as one of the finest education benefits ever devised, the GI bill. We owe them help in transitioning and matching their excellent skills to satisfying civilian employment.
The system of systems continues to retain and separate members as they progress in their careers, keeping the best and most-needed technical experts. Family needs are taken into consideration, because spouses and children are a part of the process. Eventually, the system of systems separates everyone on terms set forth by the services.
It works very well. This complex system of systems produces the most capable fighting force in the world. But it is also a fragile ecosystem that can be broken by meddling with its parts, in perhaps well-intentioned but ultimately destructive ways.
Military personnel are DoD’s most precious resource and a vital capability in our nation’s defense. Our people are the single advantage making us the most powerful military in the world. If we are not willing to invest in them with benefits commensurate with the service and sacrifice they contribute over many decades, we certainly will lose that capability.
This month, MOAA’s board of directors, council presidents, advisory committee members, and staff will be “Storming the Hill” with a message to maintain a strong all-volunteer force by protecting what its members have earned. Please storm with us by reading our 2013 storming guide at
www.moaa.org/storming2013 and following us online. We will continue to persist, and we know you will, too.
— Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN (Ret)
16 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96