chapters in action
Help Our Own
MOAA chapter members have deployed during wartime. That’s why they continue to look for ways to support today’s servicemembers and offer encouragement.
This month, council and chapter leaders from across the country will arrive at MOAA headquarters in Alexandria, Va., to participate in Storming the Hill as part of our annual Council Presidents’ Seminar. These leaders, representing their individual home states, will present MOAA’s 2013 legislative objectives to their legislators on the Hill. A challenge our members face on Capitol Hill is the rising number of elected officials who have not served in the military. There is a growing communication gap among military veterans, elected officials, and civilians. We need your help in bridging this gap.
What can you do to address this growing chasm? How can each MOAA member make a difference in bridging this gap? The answer starts with each of us and can be as simple as speaking up. Many citizens, to include most of our legislators, want to support our currently serving troops and veterans.
Regrettably, most civilians simply don’t understand what it means to serve in today’s military. They don’t know what is asked of and required from our currently serving personnel and their families and what was asked of all our veterans and their families who answered the call to serve in the past.
How do we go about educating our friends, families, and elected officials? Many chapter members work with school boards and participate in initiatives like Veterans in the Classroom, through which veterans visit local schools to discuss their experiences in the service — the separation from home, types of duty, eating C rations, or flying off the deck of a carrier, to name a few. The program has proved rewarding and educational for everyone — the students and teachers as well as the MOAA members who are invited into their classrooms.
Misconceptions are being perpetuated by news agencies and well-intentioned individuals. Do you recall the recent push to “civilianize” the military retirement system? When did serving our nation become equivalent to working in corporate America?
This month, when our council and chapter leaders walk the halls of Congress and meet with their elected officials, they will discuss important legislative issues and provide fact sheets that help educate and articulate MOAA’s positions. Storming the Hill happens once a year, but we need your help in educating your friends and acquaintances about military service every day. Too many of our citizens are losing touch with our servicemembers and their families.
Your participation, at all levels, helps our voice stay strong and powerful. I hope to see you in the future at a chapter meeting*.
— Col. Barry Wright, USA (Ret) Director, Council and Chapter Affairs
On the road:
This month, Col. Barry Wright, USA (Ret), director of MOAA’s Council and Chapter Affairs Department, will visit chapter members in Kentucky. See MOAA Calendar, page 86, for dates.
Supporting the Troops
Chapter members send care packages to deployed troops.
Lt. Ben Addison, USN, joined the Memphis (Tenn.) Chapter just months before he deployed as an individual augmentee to Afghanistan. After Addison was in-country, chapter President Capt. Brian Wenger, USN, emailed to say the chapter folks back home would provide him with support.
Chapter members were asked to donate toiletry items, hard candy, magazines, and other items Addison lacked at the forward operating base where he was stationed. Members opened their hearts and contributed many comfort-care items, to which they attached handwritten notes of encouragement. Wenger also offered support via email, and Addison’s thankful replies were published in the chapter’s newsletter.
*online: Visit
www.moaa.org/chapterlocator to find a chapter near you. Email
chapters@moaa.org to start a chapter.
40 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2013
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