rapid fire

Marix Awardees Exemplify Service

MOAA Board of Directors Chair Gen. John H. Tilelli Jr., USA (Ret), and MOAA President Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN (Ret), presented five supporters of the defense community with the association’s highest awards April 8, kicking off MOAA’s annual Storming the Hill legislative blitz.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) accepted the Col. Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award for their leadership on a wide range of issues across the uniformed services community.

Sanders reflected on bipartisan legislative successes in the past year and the ever-persistent need to support the nation’s veterans.

“It is not about the deployments and send-offs, it is what happens to that man or woman 50 years later,” he said.

Walz, the highest-ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in Congress, has made improving care for veterans a top priority. He accepted his award, saying he recognized it not as “an attaboy pat on the back” but instead a marching order to continue.

MOAA’s Distinguished Service Award, presented to individuals or organizations that are not members of Congress but have been consistently strong supporters of the national defense and the uniformed services community, went to Safeway Inc., represented by the president of Safeway’s Eastern Division, Brian Baer; and Lee R. Anderson Sr., chair of the board of APi Group Inc.

Steve Robertson, staff director of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, delivered compelling personal testimony about his unwavering support of the military community in his acceptance of the Col. Paul W. Arcari Meritorious Service Award. He outlined his family military history, from his World War I-blinded grandfather to his grateful business-owning veteran father, himself, and his son. He said he was both humbled and honored to receive an award named for a personal friend and tireless champion of military issues.

The Col. Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award and Col. Paul W. Arcari Meritorious Achievement Award both are named for significant former MOAA staffers. Marix founded MOAA and served as its first president. Arcari served as the association’s director of Government Relations from 1990 to 2001.