fromthechairman Stand Ready A

No nation cares more for its servicemembers and veterans and their families than ours, but MOAA will not stop fi ghting to ensure we keep our commitments. We will never stop serving.

As your MOAA board of directors completes another biennial change of leadership, my fi rst task as your new chair is to salute, on behalf of MOAA’s 380,000 members, our outgoing board members. With Gen. John H. Tilelli, USA (Ret), out front, their lengthy list of ac- complishments, in service to the troops we serve, has reinforced the strategic founda- tion for everything MOAA stands for and set a standard of excellence for all of us who follow. The new board and I look forward to sustaining this legacy of service they have left us. Every member must stand ready to defend the pay and benefi ts earned by those who serve our great country. As many Americans and most MOAA members realize, our nation’s global com- mitments are growing while “budget- driven” reductions to our military nibble away at our military readiness. The strategic risks posed by sequestration and the recom- mendations rumored to be coming from DoD and the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission (MCRMC) demand MOAA lead the charge in defense of the pay and benefi ts required to sustain the high-quality, all-volunteer force that has served our nation so well. Repealing sequestration is a priority. Its

$500 billion in budget cuts not only requires DoD to shoulder a disproportionate share of the fi x, but it also places our national securi- ty at great risk. Secretary of the Army John McHugh has said, “If sequestration returns in ’16, another round of indiscriminate cuts

will gut our force to the point that we’ll be unable to meet the strategic guidance.” Regrettably, today’s budget uncertainty

is forcing the Pentagon to actively advocate trading people programs for readiness and modernization. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 mitigated spending cuts for FY 2014-15. However, sequestration cuts for FY 2016-21 remain in eff ect. While MOAA successfully overturned a threatened COLA reduction, our fi ght on that front is just be- ginning. The 2015 defense budget proposal contains TRICARE cuts, pay caps, com- missary reductions, and increased housing costs for servicemembers. To avoid these threats to the welfare of our servicemem- bers and their families, MOAA strongly recommends Congress support a bipartisan debt reduction package that eliminates the specter of these promise-breaking threats. The MCRMC report is expected in Feb-

ruary. While debt reduction is a national priority, MOAA remains concerned a dis- proportionate share of cuts could fall on the backs of our military members and families. The nation must keep the faith with and uphold its promises to those who daily de- fend our freedom. Anything less than a full congressional debate of the MCRMC’s rec- ommendations is a disservice to those who have never failed to answer the call to serve.

— Gen. Charles T. Robertson Jr., USAF (Ret)

online: Find MOAA at www.moaa.org, www.moaa.org/facebook, and www.moaa.org/twitter. 14 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2015

PHOTO: STEVE BARRETT