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The Bi-Monthly Newsletter
of the
Hampton Roads Chapter
Military Officers Association
of America
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A MOAA Five
Star Level of Excellence Chapter Since 2004
A Runner-Up Web
Site For 2009
A Runner Up Printed
Newsletter 2009
Winner E Newsletter
2009
Serving Chesapeake,
Norfolk, and Virginia Beach since 1959
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VOL 35-NO 1
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ONE POWERFUL VOICE
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JANUARY 2011
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The Tribute
In honor of those who have
sacrificed
to keep our country free.
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Courtesy
of the Arlington National Cemetery Website Images
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Five-Star
Levels of Excellence Awarded to HRCMOAA
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| MOAA’s Chairman of the Board Gen. Richard
Neal, USMC-Ret., presents a Five-Star Levels of Excellence Award to
CAPT
Paul “Holly” Hollandsworth, USN- Ret., President of the Hampton Roads
Chapter. Photo by Kris Ann Hegle, MOAA .
MOAA kicked off its 2010 “A Capital Event”
with a Levels of Excellence Award dinner, held Nov. 15 from 6:30 p.m. to
9 p.m. in the South Ballroom of the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington,
Va.
MOAA President Vice Adm. Norbert Ryan
Jr., USN-Ret., welcomed the guests of honor at the evening’s event
— representatives from 71 of the 100 chapters that won a 2009 Levels of
Excellence Award and their spouses — MOAA state council leaders, and members
of the association’s board of directors and staff.
"No outfit in this country has depth and
breadth of leadership that MOAA has outside our uniformed services," Ryan
said during his opening remarks.
Keynote speaker, Gen. Richard I. Neal,
USMC-Ret., chair of MOAA’s board of directors, thanked the chapter members
in attendance for their hard work on behalf of the association.
The Levels of Excellence Award recognizes
the best chapters in MOAA’s chapter system. Each year, chapters may submit
an application for review against a set of rating criteria. The very best
chapters receive a five-star award; excellent chapters receive a four-star
award.
The HRCMOAA has won a Five Star Level of
Excellence Award since 2004. This is a tribute to the hard work of
our Officers, Board of Directors, Committees, and Chapter Members. |
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| Visit our website at www.hrcmoaa.org,
read the Electronic Newsletter, access 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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President’s Message
Fellow Officers and Spouses:
Thank you for choosing me as President
of the HRCMOAA. I shall do my utmost to verify the trust you have
placed in me to continue the outstanding program handed down from Maj.
Norm Crews and his predecessors. As Norm out lined at our last luncheon,
much was accomplished under his tenure for the good of the chapter as well
as for MOAA in general. With the able help of the officers and board
members, I shall endeavor to build on to the excellent works that, together,
we have accomplished.
To the new officers and board members I
welcome you and thank you for volunteering your time. The pay is
not the best, but expect a doubling of your salary each month. To
you old hands, please "keep on keeping on." Because of
your continued support we have won the Five Star award seven years
in a row, the highest honors given by MOAA Headquarters.
An old Chinese curse laid on to an enemy
was "May you live in interesting times." These are going to be some
interesting times that lie a head of us. Budget cuts, base closings,
fewer personal, more deployments, ship movements, and a continuing
uneasy world. All these thing will impact the people we are here
to support, retired and active duty. So as you read this article,
if you are so inclined, please volunteer to help out. Col Dave Wade and
Col Jim Smith would most certainly use your help.
Numbers count! Capt. Jack Colgan
is doing an outstanding job as our membership chair. We gained 90
new members last year. Since our primary reason for existing is to
insure our congress lives up to its promises made to us vets and the active
duty folks, the larger our numbers the more clout we have with congress.
And don't forget it works on our state delegates also, i.e., tax relief
for 100% disabled veterans in this last election. Every
member get a new member!
Come to our luncheons. Meet your
fellow officers. See who can tell the biggest "Sea Story."
We strive to have a speaker of interest, but it's the camaraderie that
is great.
Hope you and yours enjoyed a very Merry
Christmas, and a happy, healthy, prosperous New year. God bless.
Holly |
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HRCMOAA Directory
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Officers
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Directors
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Committees
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| MOAA Legislative Update
(Weekly Issue) |
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| Vet Benefits Bill to
Become Law |
| After a year of effort, four short-term
delays, and 300,000 messages from MOAA members, the House and Senate finally
agreed to a one-year fix for the 25% cut in Medicare and TRICARE payments
to doctors that had been set to take effect on Jan. 1. The legislation
also extends important relief from the Medicare cap on payments for physical,
speech, and occupational therapy.
As this update was being written, the one-year
patch was awaiting the President's signature. While this is miles
better than having to deal with another year of multiple month-to-month
stopgap measures we saw throughout 2010, it's far from a permanent fix
to the underlying statutory payment formula that causes the problem.
And that means Congress will have to act again before the end of 2011 to
stop an even bigger cut - in the range of 30% - from taking effect on Jan.
1, 2012.
Meanwhile, Congress is still wrangling
over the proposal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years, and competing
initiatives to fund the government for fiscal year 2011 - which actually
started more than two months ago on Oct 1. The House passed a $1.1
trillion continuing resolution to address the latter need, which also included
a two-year pay freeze for federal civilians. As this was being prepared,
it was unclear whether the Senate would accept the House proposal or build
its own plan and consume even more of the few remaining legislative days. |
| Defense Bill Toast? |
| The FY2011 Defense Authorization Bill
- the most important bill of the year for our wartime military – may have
been doomed by the continuing battle over the "don't ask, don't tell" provision.
On Thursday, the Senate failed on a 57-to-40 vote to bring the measure
up for action – three votes short of the required 60.
The vote left the defense bill on life
support, raising the serious prospect that 2010 will mark the first time
in 50 years that Congress won't pass a defense authorization bill.
Failure to pass a defense bill poses significant risks for our troops and
retirees, including termination of authority to pay enlistment and reenlistment
bonuses and imposition of a $110 per day increase in inpatient hospital
copays.
The House-passed continuing resolution
to fund the government for 2011 would guard against some of the worst scenarios
by including authority to renew bonuses and authorize a 1.4% military pay
raise. But without a new defense bill, the Army won't get 7,000 more troops,
currently serving people won't see any increase in family separation allowance
or imminent danger pay, and retirees who need hospitalization will see
significantly higher out-of-pocket costs, among many other things.
MOAA thinks it's unfathomable that legislators
have left so much of the nation's important business unacted upon until
the 59th minute of the 11th hour. We’ve seen many, many highly controversial
issues included in various House or Senate defense bills of the past, but
the threat of having no defense bill at all was always so dire that leaders
found a way to either craft a compromise or delete the controversial provision.
It’s astounding they couldn't find any solution other than burning the
whole defense bill down.
Still, the legislative process can be amazingly
resilient if leaders of both chambers and parties want it to be, and MOAA
isn't ready to completely give up on any possibility of getting a defense
bill passed in some form. It's doubly important this week to send
your senators a MOAA-suggested message asking them to do what it takes
to pass the defense authorization bill. |
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| From The Editor
CDR John E. Vermillion, USN, Ret |
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| Honor Flight |
Early on Saturday morning, October 16th,
some fifty World War II veterans
gathered in the VDOT parking lot off Indian
River Road and I-64 to board
buses which would take them to Washington,
DC.
The trip was provided by the Historic Triangle
Virginia Honor Flight to enable the veterans to visit the World War II
Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, and several other
war memorials and monuments. On
their return, the veterans dined at and visited the Marine Corps Museum
at Quantico.
Sending them of on their visit to the Nation's
capitol were two Color Guards, one from the ODU Army ROTC Battalion and
one from the Landstown High School Naval Junior ROTC unit. In addition,
contingents from the Hampton Roads Naval ROTC Consortium Battalion and
the Princess Anne High School Naval Junior ROTC unit were there to pay
their respects to the departing veterans. The sendoff was organized
by the Hampton Roads Chapter, Military Officers Association which supports
the ROTC and Junior ROTC units in the area. Another visit by the
World War II veterans is scheduled in April of next year.
Shown below are members of the Landstown
High School NJROTC Color Guard and the Princess Anne HS NJROTC members,
as the Veterans board. |
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| Shown above are the NROTC Consortium representatives
saluting along with the ODU AROTC Color Guard, as the buses loaded with
WWII Veterans depart on their trip to Washington, DC. |
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| Shown above are Chapter members, COL
David Wade, USA Ret. and COL James Smith, USA Ret. with
representatives from the NROTC and AROTC from ODU. |
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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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Transition Officer Placement System
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| The HRCMOAA (TOPS) Liaison is Captain
Loren V. Heckelman, U. S. Navy (Ret.). Loren can be reached at email
address; Loren.Heckelman@cox.net.
Check out our Networking and Jobs page on the chapter website at www.hrcmoaa.org.
Click on the “Networking and Jobs” link on the left hand side of the home
page. |
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MOAA Scholarship Fund
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| Memorial contributions may be made to the MOAA Scholarship Fund, for
deceased members of our Chapter, at Dept 889, Alexandria, VA 22334-0889.
Contributions may also be made at www.moaa.org.
Or you may call 800-234-6622. |
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Armed Forces YMCA of Hampton Roads Five Star
Military Family Recognition Luncheon
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| The chapter participates each year by
"buying" a table which seats five chapter members and five active duty
military or family members who are being recognized. The Chapter
paid $425. The event was held at the Murray Center, 455 E. Brambleton St.,
Norfolk. CAPT Jim Jones, our Chapter Representative, is shown
above with some of the unidentified guests. |
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Virginia Wounded Warrior Program
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How can I help?
Virginia has provided a limited amount of funding for the Wounded Warrior
Program. The Commonwealth anticipates that its citizens will want to help.
The Virginia Veterans Services Foundation is available to receive contributions
to support the Program. The Foundation is an agency of the state
and is eligible to receive tax deductible contributions under Internal
Revenue Service Section 170 (c) and Code of Virginia Section 2.2-2719.
Donations are placed in the Veterans Services Fund and cannot revert to
the Commonwealth’s General Fund. In this case, they only can be used for
the Wounded Warrior Program. Donations to the Foundation are audited
annually by the Commonwealth’s Auditor of Public Accounts. This assures
that the maximum amount of citizens donations will go to our veterans and
not to administrative overhead. Information about contributing is
provided on the following page.
Contribution/Pledge of Support
Yes! You can count on my support to assist Virginia’s veterans, members
of the Virginia National Guard, Virginia residents of the Armed Forces
Reserves not on active federal service, and their family members, who are
dealing with the effects of traumatic brain disorders, combat stress, and
post-traumatic stress disorders resulting from their combat service and
sacrifice in the U.S. Armed Forces.
I am enclosing/pledging my most generous contribution in the amount
of:
__ $1,000 __ $500 __ $250 __ $100
__ $50 __ Other $________
Please make checks payable to:
Virginia Veterans Services Foundation
For: VWWP: 900 East Main Street, Ground Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Your contribution is tax exempt under Internal Revenue Service Section
170 (c) and Code of Virginia Section 2.2.2719. Donations are placed in
the Veterans Services Fund and cannot revert to the Commonwealth’s General
Fund. Please complete the following five lines for contributions
of checks or cash, or when making a pledge.
Name(s) ______________________________________________________
Address _______________________________________________________
Home Phone _______________________
Work Phone _______________________
Email_______________________________________
Employer __________________________
Occupation ________________________
For additional information about the Foundation or about contributing,
contact Col. Jack Hilgers (USMC, Ret) at the Department of Veterans
Services, 900 East Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219, 804-382-3715 or 757-481-4164
or Steven Combs at the Department of Veterans Services, 804-786-0294. |
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19 November Luncheon, Annual Business Meeting
and the Toys for Tots in support of the Marine Air Control Squadron 24
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| The meeting featured the election and
installation of Officers and Board Members. Shown above are, left
to right, CAPT Jack Colgan, USN Ret., Board Member, COL Jim Edge,
USA Ret., Board Member, MAJ Norm Crews, USA Ret., Board Member,
CAPT
Paul “Holly” Hollandsworth, USN Ret., new President, LCDR Dale Hendren,
USN Ret., Board Member, COL David Wade, USA Ret., Board, Mrs.
Jo Carter, new Auxillary Rep. and Board Member, Aaron Zielinski,
Prior LCDR USN, 1st Vice President, and CDR Bert Ortiz, USN Ret.,
2nd Vice President (not shown). |
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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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| Board Meetings; normally held the
first Saturday of each month. |
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| January Function: The Friday 21
January 2011 Luncheon will be at Atlantic Shores.
The Programs for January and February are
both TBD. The announcement and reservation cards will have the programs
as appropriate. |
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| VCOC Schedule |
| The January meeting is scheduled for 6
January 2011 in Richmond at the Virginia War Memorial/Galanti Education
Center. Storming of the Hill in Richmond will take place on 24 January.
Contact Jim Jones, 777-5872 for details and transportation. |
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“NOTICE”
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Any Chapter Member who flew the B-58,
B-47, or the B-36, please contact LCOL Edward “Buck” Cummings, USMC
Ret. His email is terriermac@cox.net.
Also info CDR John Vermillion,
USN Ret. at vermillj@cox.net. |
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October 22 Luncheon
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| The luncheon was held at the NAS Oceana
Officers Club. Our guest Speakers were Capt. Louis Giordano
and Capt. Mike Barea.
Capt Giordano discussed the NJROTC programs
at the five Virginia Beach High schools. It is a four year curriculum
where the students learn ship knowledge, leadership, how to be a follower,
nautical science, maritime history. They also have field
meets and academic meets. The cadets also learn core values,
community service, and citizenship.
Capt. Berea talked about the NROTC Consortium
which was established in 1982. It consist of students from Hampton
, Norfolk State and Old Dominion Universities. The nearly 450 students
have a 3.15 GPA. The cadets highlight academics, military and physical
performance. The curriculum consist of naval science, calculus and
calculus based physics, Navy Nurse Option, and Marine Option. |
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| President Norm Crews (center) thanking
Capt. Giordano (left) and Capt. Barea for their presentations on
the NJROTC and NROTC programs in the Hampton Roads area. |
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| The picture above shows new members, CDR
Don Buzard, USN Ret. (left), and CDR Bert Ortiz, USN Ret. (right)
with CAPT Mike Barea, USN (center).
The picture below shows new member Capt
Ron Ball, USN Ret. with his wife Brenda on the left and guest
Patricia
Bowler on the right. |
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IN MEMORIUM
Captain Carl J. McCann, USN (Ret.)
CDR Donald White, USN (Ret.)
CAPT Robert S. Stone, USN (Ret.)
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