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The Bi-Monthly Newsletter
of the Hampton Roads Chapter
Military Officers Association
of America
A MOAA Five Star Level of Excellence
Chapter Since 2004. A Winner Web Site For 2013, a Second Runner Up
Newsletter 2013, and Winner E Newsletter 2013
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Serving Chesapeake,
Norfolk, and Virginia Beach since 1959
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VOL 39-NO 2
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ONE POWERFUL VOICE
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MARCH 2015
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THE TRIBUTE
In honor of those who have
sacrificed
to keep our country free.
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Luncheon
20 March 2015
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| The luncheon will be held at the Atlantic
Shores Community in the Magnolia Room, commencing at 1100 hours with Lunch
at 1200 hours.
Our guest speaker will be Force Master
Chief William Slingerland, USN-Ret. He is a Military Benefits
Programs Specialist/Educator with the Navy Mutual. He is responsible
for making formal Veterans and Survivors Benefits presentations to
shore and afloat commands of the five Sea Services and Family Support Groups. |
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| Visit our website at www.hrcmoaa.org,
read the Electronic Newsletter, access Virginia Council of Chapters, MOAA
National, Service Departments, Health and Benefit locations, U. S.
Senators and Representatives and many others. If you do not have
the Members Only “Password” please contact any of our Officers |
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Storming the Hill
VCOC
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| 26 January 2015, General Assembly Building,
Richmond, Virginia
Opening Comments
1. State Long Term Care Centers are
an important issue; the money is available, however, space/land is
needed. Delegate Chris Stolle is working that issue.
2. There is a need to expedite the hiring
of veterans from Global War on Terror. Need 100K jobs over the next
few years for returning veterans. Unemployment in ages 18-24 years old
is presently 13%.
3. Virginia Values Vets (V3) program
is making good headway in both state and corporate hiring.
Commissioner John Newby (DVS)
1. Outlined the need for $1.75M
to fund five additional Veterans Services officers/claims agents and two
more claims offices.
2. Stated homeless veterans will need
additional funding.
3. Observed that the V3 Program’s veteran’s
transition program is working to get pledges for 10K jobs for veterans.
4. Stressed the need for 2 long term
care facilities; one in Hampton Roads area, another in northern Virginia.
Discussed the need for legislation for Veterans Court Bill to create a
link between the veteran and the existing Court System. |
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President’s Message
Fellow Officers and Spouses:
I am truly honored to have the opportunity
to serve you for the next two years as your Chapter President. I
appreciate your confidence in electing me and look to your support going
forward as we work together in advancing National MOAA and our Chapter’s
goals. I thank COL Jim Edge, USA (Ret) for his service in
guiding this Chapter, which continues as he serves as the Immediate Past
President and the Personal Affairs Committee Chairman. I could not
be more proud than to be a part of this stellar and most respected organization,
and I dare say the best MOAA Chapter in Virginia and our Nation.
It’s a mighty task to continue the legacy of eleven consecutive MOAA Five
Star Levels of Excellence and perennial Marvin G. Harris Communication
Awards, but I believe you have a team of elected and appointed Officers
and Board Members that are up to the challenge. This team is truly
the workhorses of the Chapter. Most of them not only dedicate themselves
selflessly to their programs, which include legislative, membership, transition
assistance, community affairs, and ROTC just to mention a few, but often
volunteer on our behalf to attend functions that our chapter supports.
I will highlight those events in upcoming newsletters and would like to
encourage you to find time from your busy schedules to attend an event
as a chapter representative on occasion. I think you will find it
as worthwhile, rewarding and enjoyable as I have.
One of our top priorities is supporting
MOAA legislative goals at not only the National level, but more specifically
at the local and state level. Recently, a delegation from our chapter,
led by our Legislative Chairman, COL Jack Hilgers, USMC (Ret) and
COL
Jim Smith, USA (Ret) our Virginia Council of Chapters (VCOC) Representative,
attended the VCOC “Storming of the Hill” in Richmond in support of state
and local legislative objectives. A couple of events we have upcoming
to further our advocacy will be the VCOC Congressional Appreciation Luncheon
and National MOAA “Storming of the Hill” in Washington D.C. I would
like to also mention that our Chapter now has two appointed Congressional
Liaisons, CAPT Chris Vatidis, USN (Ret) for the 2nd District and
CDR
Linc Smith, USN (Ret) for the 4th District to assist us in supporting
our legislative goals and interests.
Another priority is increasing our local
chapter membership. We can do this by having every member encourage
a friend who is either on active duty, about to retire, or recently retired
to join our local chapter of MOAA. Not only does MOAA provide our
Chapter monetary incentives for our efforts, but this adds immensely to
our Chapter vibrancy. We have developed brochures and if you need any,
please just ask anyone on our team. An easy way is just to point
them to our award winning web site, www.hrcmoaa.org, and have them explore
what this Chapter and MOAA has to offer. Our monthly Membership Meeting
and Luncheon Program have been very successful and enjoyable. If
you have yet been able to attend one, I hope to meet and speak with you
there soon. We have been fortunate to attract some notable speakers
including the Mayor of Chesapeake, Dr. Alan Krasnoff and our February
speaker, VADM Nathan, the Surgeon General of the Navy. So
come on out to our luncheons and hear what’s going on. The meals
are fantastic and the opportunity to meet your fellow officers and enjoy
the comradery is well worth your time. You may even pick up a nugget
or two from our guest speakers.
Lastly, I would like to encourage any member
who is interested in becoming more actively involved in MOAA or just interested
in finding out more about the Chapter to attend one of our Board
meetings, which are open to any member. The breakfast meetings are
typically held on the 1st Saturday of every month at the Virginia Beach
Resort Hotel and Conference Center and begin at 0830. I serve you
and this Chapter and to that end, I am always open to your comments, suggestions
and ideas. Please feel free to contact me any time.
Yours in Service,
Bert Ortiz |
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| Legislative Update |
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| President Silent on Sequestration
President Obama did not directly address
sequestration in his January 20 State of the Union address, but his February
2 budget proposal is expected to include a fix. The administration’s
FY 2016 budget proposal will be unveiled in less than two weeks.
What’s unclear is how the President might
pay for budget relief. It could be through a combination of alternative
spending cuts, closing corporate tax loopholes, and increasing the capital
gains tax – all proposals laid out in his annual address. Such a
plan may collide with a fiscally-wary Republican-controlled Congress, but
it could serve as an important starting point for negotiations.
Outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel
added urgency to repealing sequestration: “The progress we have made will
quickly evaporate if sequestration returns in 2016. We need long-term budget
predictability and we need the flexibility to prioritize and make the difficult
decisions…we will not be able, this institution, to fulfill the commitments
of the president’s defense strategies with the kind of continued abrupt,
steep, large cuts that sequestration will demand.”
Legislators on both sides of the aisle
agree that sequestration’s across-the-board cuts must be avoided. Congress
succeeded in passing a bipartisan proposal to temporarily avoid sequestration
in FY 2014 and 2015. Agreement on a way to fund a new fix remains elusive. |
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| End Sequestration
In a familiar scene, the Joint Chiefs of
Staff testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 28
imploring legislators to avoid and eventually repeal the across-the-board
cuts of sequestration scheduled to return on October 1.Committee Chairman
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) captured the mood of the panel saying, “Warnings
from our senior military and national security leaders have become frustratingly
familiar…and yet, here we go again.”The service chiefs once again painted
a grim picture of readiness should sequestration return. It forces the
services into a “budget based strategy,” according to Chief of Naval Operations
(CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert. The CNO also noted the strain sequestration
places on military personnel and its adverse effects on retention. Air
Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said, “we are the smallest Air Force
that we have ever been.” Less than 50 percent of the force meets readiness
requirements, and competition from the airlines could seriously degrade
retention in the coming years. Commandant of the Marine Corps Joseph Dunford
expressed concern that Marines were averaging an operational tempo of seven
months deployed to 14 months at home. This high tempo threatens Marine
families, readiness and morale. Despite agreement between lawmakers, military
leadership, and the administration that sequestration should be repealed,
there is no consensus on how to pay for it. It is widely expected that
the administration’s budget will propose sequestration relief, but a bipartisan
proposal to pay for it isn’t expected. Without a new “grand bargain” compromise
on entitlements, government spending, and revenue reform, Congress will
once again be left scrambling for a short-term fix from the meat-axe cuts
of sequestration that are nearly universally deplored, MOAA continues to
call for Congress and the administration to rise above partisan politics
to eliminate this serious threat to both service members and our
national security. |
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| From the Editor |
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| NJROTC – Princess Anne HS
Each year the Hampton Roads Chapter MOAA
supports the Princess Anne High School (P.A.H.S.) NJROTC by providing the
many trophies required for the Annual Cavalier Drill Meet that they sponsor.
There are 12 to 14 high schools that participate in this event and the
competition was held at the Little Creek gym, Rockwell Hall. Our
Chapter President or his representative assists in presenting the trophies
to winning participants. This year’s competition took place on Saturday,
31 January 2015 and the trophies were presented by CMDR Raul Gandara,
USN. Shown below-left is Cadet Ensign Aiden Tuck, the Operations
Officer at Landstown High School accepting the trophy for placing 3rd in
“Unarmed Basic Drill” and on the right is CMDR Gandara. CAPT Lou
Giordano, USN (Ret) is the Senior Naval Instructor at P.A.H.S. |
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HRCMOAA ROTC Scholarship
Fund
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| HRCMOAA is committed to funding
the MOAA scholarship fund at $25,000 in 5 years. That translates into $5,000
per year.
Please consider contributing this year!
Members may submit checks, made out to
the MOAA Scholarship Fund, to the chapter treasurer, LT Stephen Hackney,
USN (Ret) at 1736 Rally Dr. Virginia Beach, VA 23454-1233 or in person
at our luncheons. The checks are consolidated and submitted
to MOAA who sends receipts to the donors.
Note on your check that it is for the Hampton
Roads Chapter ROTC Scholarship Fund. MOAA will continue to send receipts. |
Hampton Roads Chapter ROTC
Scholarship Fund
Goal for 2016: $25,000.00 Collected to date; $16,037.00.
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2014
Contributions
PLATINUM $500
and above
CAPT Williams, USN, $1000
COL Jim and Sylvia Smith, $500 in Memory
of Ms Jo Carter
GOLD $250 to $499
Clif Furedy $300
Bud Statzer $300
Helen P. Lowther $250
SILVER $100 to
$249
Jack Hilgers $200
John Vermillion $200
Jim Edge $100
Dave Wade $100
Jim Daniels $158
Daryl Holland $100
Jim Dellaripa $100
Bronze Under $100
Theodora Rink $50
Karin Barrett $20
Holly Hollandsworth $55
Carl Thoren $50
Steve Hackney $35
David Yacavone $39
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Military ID Card
Notification Program
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| This program is designed to help Chapter
members and their dependent’s to renew their ID cards in a timely
fashion. Once you and your dependents are enrolled, you will
be notified of your impending ID card expiration date in sufficient time
for renewal prior to the expiration date.
Note: Over age 75 members, who
are eligible uniform family members and survivors of deceased personnel
are now eligible for Permanent Identification Cards. Apply within
90 days of expiration of current ID card. |
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| To enroll in this voluntary program, fill
in the form at the link below for each dependent and Send by Email or Print
and Mail to: Military ID Card Notification Program, HRCMOAA, P.O. Box 4612,
Virginia Beach, VA 23454-0612. |
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Newly Elected Officers
and Board Members
January 2015
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| New president CDR Bert Ortiz (far
left), read the Oath of Office to all of our newly elected. From
the left CAPT Holly Hollandsworth, BD member; CAPT Jim Jones,
BD member; CAPT Jim Daniels, Secretary; LT Steve
Hackney, Treasurer; CAPT Loren Heckleman, 1st VP; LCDR Jeff
Barrett, 2nd VP; COL Dave Wade, BD member; COL Larry King
“Live”, BD member. |
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97 Year-Old Doris
Baker Inducted as
Honorary Member of the
Special Forces Regiment/Green
Berets
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| November 5, 2014 marked an historic date,
as 97 year-old Atlantic Shores Retirement Community resident Doris Baker
was
inducted as an Honorary Member of the Special Forces Regiment, recognizing
her 20 years of service with the 1/10th Special Forces Group (Green Berets).
As they tipped their berets to make her one of their own, Miss Baker joined
the ranks of a select category -- one of only nine other distinguished
individuals worldwide, and one of only three women to ever receive this
elite membership. The honor was bestowed in a Regimental Induction Ceremony
at Atlantic Shores Retirement Community in Virginia Beach, Virginia, presented
by the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, the
U.S. Army’s Special Forces Center of Excellence. Miss Baker was also
presented with a certificate of recognition stating that she was the first
USDESEA, (now Department of Defense Education Activity - DODEA) employee
ever to have been given Honorary Membership in the Regiment. She was also
given a coveted Silver Honorary Life Membership from Special Forces Chapter
65 (Bad Tolz Germany, Flint Kaserne Chapter). Attended by almost
100 friends and admirers, the special ceremony also included the presentation
of a Green Beret Foundation Challenge Coin and bullet pen, as well as the
reading of an official proclamation designating November 5 as Doris C.
Baker Day in the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
While serving as a teacher in Michigan,
Doris heard about better pay and a world of adventure in overseas teaching
opportunities. She signed up, thinking she was going to be sent to Japan.
Instead, she was sent to Germany where, from 1950 to 1979, she served the
DoD with great distinction as a teacher and principal of the U.S. Army
Elementary and Junior High Schools in Flint Kaserne, Bad Tolz, Germany,
the first overseas assignment base for the 1/10th Special Forces Group
Airborne (Green Berets).
Her experiences of living among the first
Special Forces Group in Europe served as the basis for Doris’ book “The
Originals” -- the first book about the Green Berets written by a woman
-- which chronicles an American woman caught in the dangerous lives and
fortunes of these extraordinary men. (Left to right) H.C.
Woody Woodward, SGM SF Regt Chris Raube, Col Matthew Carran,
Cmdt SF Regt, SFA Chapter 84 President Charlie Venable, Doris
Baker, Green Beret Foundation Director Randy Nantz, Atlantic Shores
Pastry Chef Tara Nieves, Former SFA Chapter 84 President Tom
Begnon. |
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23 January Luncheon
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| COL Jim Edge, USA-Ret, Chapter
President, presents the Jefferson Cup to Chesapeake Mayor, Dr. Alan
P Krasnoff. The Mayor thanked all Veterans for their service
and discussed the proposed Veterans Service site to be located in Chesapeake.
There are over 25,000 Veterans in the city of Chesapeake. The new
bridge in Chesapeake, on Dominion Blvd, which is 50% complete, has been
named The Veterans Bridge. |
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Oath of Office
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| Outgoing chapter president COL Jim
Edge, USA-Ret reads the Oath of Office to Incoming president CDR
Bert Ortiz, USN-Ret. |
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Shadow Box with Gavel
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| After the Oath ceremony, New President
Bert
Ortiz presents Past President Jim Edge with the ceremonial gavel. |
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Flowers
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| Evelyn Edge, wife of Past president
COL
Jim Edge USA (Ret) receives a bouquet of flowers for her two years
of service as the president’s wife. |
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Virginia Wounded Warrior Program
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| The Virginia Veterans Services Foundation
is taking contributions to support the Program.
I am enclosing/pledging my most generous
contribution in the amount of:
__ $1,000 __ $500 __
$250 __ $100 ? __$50 __ Other $_________
Please make checks payable to and Mail
contributions to:
Virginia Wounded Warrior Program
c/o Veterans Services Foundation
900 East Main Street, 6th Floor, West
Wing
Richmond, VA 23219
Your contribution is tax exempt under Internal
Revenue Service Section 170 (c) and Code of Virginia Section 2.2.2719.
Please provide the following;
Name(s) ______________________________________________________
Address _______________________________________________________
Phone _______________________
Email_______________________________________
HRCMOAA Member
Yes ___ No ___
You may donate on line by visiting the
Virginia Veterans Services Foundation at;
www.vvsf.org |
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Chapter Schedule
For the most current and up-to-date schedule
of chapter events,
click on Calendar
of Events
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20 March 2015 Luncheon
The luncheon will be held at the
Atlantic Shores Community in the Magnolia Room. Our guest speaker will
be Force Master Chief William Slingerland, USN-Ret. He is a Military
Benefits Programs Specialist/Educator with the Navy Mutual. |
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VCOC Schedule / Storming
the Hill
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| COL Victoria Revilla announced
several important future events:
27-28 February 2015 – MOAA Northeast Region
Seminar for Council and invited Chapter Presidents.
13-16 April 2015 – “Storming the Hill”
in DC; Council President, plus one, and certain independent Chapter Presidents.
21 May 2015 – Congressional Luncheon in
DC at the Capitol Hill Club. All hands.
For more information and/or to join in
this effort, contact COL Jim Smith, Chapter VCOC Representative
at 425-5934. |
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Virginia Wounded
Warrior Program
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| The Tidewater McDonald’s Association Donated
$16,541.00 – a portion of November 2014 sales of Big Mac and quarter pounder
with cheese meals – to the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program. The
association includes McDonald’s locations in Hampton Roads and northeast
North Carolina. A similar donation round earlier in May raised $18,555.00
for the program for a total donation of over $35, 000.00.
Pictured above from left to right is Ty
Lorenzo, The Face of FOX 43, Mr. Paul Smith, Owner/Operator
of several McDonald’s restaurants in Virginia Beach and COL Jim Edge,
USA (Ret), Immediate Past President of the Hampton Roads Chapter of the
Military Officers Association of America (HRCMOAA). This idea was
born in late 2013 when Paul and Jim were brainstorming fund raising for
the Program. Paul came-up with this idea, took it to the other owner/operators
in the Tidewater McDonald’s Association who bought in to the plan 100%.
Then we put together Paul, a Marine Veteran himself, and COL Jack Hilgers
USMC (Ret), HRCMOAA Board of Director’s member who also serves in the Virginia
Department of Veteran’s Services. The rest is history. |
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IN MEMORIAM
CAPT Steven William Perand
USN (Ret)
CAPT. Clifford D. Hopkins
USN (Ret)
BGEN George H. Gray
USA (Ret)
CAPT Walter J. Malone
USN (Ret)
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