| Close
Window |
|
 |
|
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 2011, a Runner Up, Printed Newsletter 2010, and Winner E Newsletter
2011.
Serving Chesapeake,
Norfolk, and Virginia Beach since 1959
|
|
|
|
|
VOL 37-NO 1
|
ONE POWERFUL VOICE
|
JANUARY 2013
|
|
|
|
|
The Tribute
In honor of those who have
sacrificed
to keep our country free.
|
|
|
Courtesy
of the Arlington National Cemetery Website Images
|
|
|
25
January 2013 Luncheon
|
|
| The luncheon will be held in the Westin
Hotel at the Town Center located in Virginia Beach. Captain John Andrews,
USN-Ret. will be a guest speaker. CAPT Andrews is the Special Assistant
of the Norfolk City Manager for Veteran Services and Military Affairs.
The captain was a top aide to Adm. John C. Harvey Jr., the four-star leader
of the Navy's Fleet Forces Command, prior to joining the city. His
new job is unique to South Hampton Roads. No other city has a staffer solely
dedicated to military affairs. |
|
|
22
February 2013 Luncheon
|
|
| The luncheon will be held at Atlantic
Shores Community in Virginia Beach. Our scheduled guest speaker is
CDR
Rene A. Campos, USN-Ret. Rene is MOAA’s Deputy Director, Health
Care Issues, Wounded Warrior/Seamless Transition Issues, Government
Relations Department; and co-advisor Health Care Committee.
Her last assignment was at the Pentagon as the associate director, Office
of Family Policy in the office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense,
Military Personnel and Family Policy. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
President’s Message
Fellow Officers and Spouses:
It has been my honor and pleasure to serve
as your president the last two years. I have been most ably aided by some
of the finest people it has ever been my pleasure with whom to serve. Past
Presidents Rip Dellaripa, Norm Crews, and Ray Hart
have given me guidance from their expertise and their long service to this
chapter;
The Chapters most capable and very active
secretary, Loren Heckelman. Loren still is in the work force with
a full time job which includes travel but still takes the time to do mail
pick ups, write letters and come to our board meeting on his days off.
Jim Edge is your treasure who also
works but finds time to take care of our finances and keeps an eye on your
money, which our Community Affairs, officer, Dave Wade wisely uses
in his efforts to make a positive impact for our Chapter on our community.
In particular, aided by "Breeze" Barea, they help coordinate the
WWII and now Korean veterans bus trips to D.C. to view the memorial that
honor them. Dave also works with the home that provides shelter to homeless
veterans, the college and high school AROTC/NROTC units sponsoring drill
team meets and graduation and commissioning recognition of new/future officers.
I need to also recognize Jim Smith and his efforts on behalf of
the Wounded Warrior program and his design and purchase of welcome home
and departing banners for the Independent Deploying Personal.
Clif Furedy quietly goes about his
businesses as our Information System/Webmaster. He along with John Vermillion,
our Newsletter/Publicity officer in their jobs gain our chapter many accolades
and awards given by the National Headquarters. Every year for the past
several they have collected first place awards for their particular endeavors
beating out all other chapters from every state in the Union.
Our trio of people responsible for our
luncheons and speakers, Jo Carter, our auxiliary chair, First Vice
President Aaron Zielinski, and Bert Ortiz, Second Vice President,
as demonstrated by our last luncheon, have provided us with a wide range
of informative speakers. The November affair really raised the bar as far
as an informative and entertaining event.
Jack Colgan and now Larry King
(Live) have worked very diligently to try to increase our membership as
well as keeping track of members as they move or forget to renew their
membership.
Jim Jones represents our Chapter
with the Virginia Council of Chapters, (VCOC). Jim along with Jack Hilgers
our Legislative Affairs Rep. briefs and lobbies for MOAA initiatives with
our state and national representatives. Jack spends a great deal of time
in Richmond starting in January during the Legislative Session. Dale
Hendren rounds out your Board of Directors and Committee Chairs. They
have done exceptional work on your behalf.
To all of you, you are all my heroes. We
have lived and served in extraordinary times . The many changes in our
society had to be reconciled in our military and, you, the officers had
to make it happen while continuing to be combat ready and in many cases
being in the mist of combat. WELL DONE!!!
The holiday season is fast approaching.
May you and yours enjoy all the joys and blessing this season can bring
and may 2013 be a prosperous and happy year.
God bless.
Holly |
|
|
|
HRCMOAA Directory
|
Officers
|
Directors
|
Committees
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| MOAA Legislative Update
(Weekly Issue) |
|
| How Will the Election Results Affect
the Military Community?
Every passing presidential election seems
to be more and more polarizing, and adherents of whichever party loses
tend to bemoan an alleged national decline. But the fact is that
the military community is much more affected by the issues than by whoever
wins the White House. In the current situation, the country, the
Pentagon, and military members and families of all ages face some of the
most daunting economic conditions in generations. No matter who is
president, the next few years are likely to see increasing calls for force
reductions, pay raise caps, retirement changes, TRICARE fee hikes, and
more.
Even presidents who initially pledged to
support/rebuild the military after periods of budget shortfalls ended up
proposing new cutbacks by the end of their terms. And virtually every
Administration of either party has proposed whacking pay raises, health
care and more at one point or another. Almost all of the big legislative
gains of the past dozen years, from restoring full pay comparability to
winning TRICARE For Life, concurrent receipt, SBP improvements, and the
GI Bill, have been won despite strident objections of the Administration
in charge at the time – whether Republican or Democrat.
And no matter what rosy campaign promises
were made by anybody, the solutions to the country's current fiscal problems
are going to involve significant sacrifices for every segment of Americans,
including the military. With a still-sharply-divided Congress, where
the Republicans control one chamber and the Democrats control the other,
no president can ram programs through without significant support from
the other party. It's that system of checks and balances that (hopefully)
helps avoid the worst possible outcomes – and lets the politicians blame
"the system" for the failure of any proposals that aren't good enough to
win at least a modicum of consensus. |
|
| Will Lame Ducks Waddle or Fly?
Before all the new congressional faces
take office as a result of the election turnover, the lame duck Congress
has a full plate of major issues to address in the post-election session
that started Nov. 13. What's on their plate? The most important things
include:
-
Avoiding across-the-board spending cuts (sequestration)
that would cut more than $54 billion from defense accounts in 2013
-
Acting to extend some or all of the tax cuts
due to expire at the end of the year
-
Passing a defense authorization bill for our
wartime military (and hopefully fending off big TRICARE pharmacy copay
hikes)
-
Stopping a 27% cut in Medicare and TRICARE
payments to doctors now scheduled for Jan 1.
Taking on all these issues is an enormous
task. But some legislators will want to get out of town after doing that
minimum essential task, so it's quite possible that they'll simply punt
some of these problems to the next Congress to fix. Many legislators
believe lame duck sessions are worthless. Defeated legislators have to
vacate their offices by the first week in December, so they won't even
have a place to work after two weeks. And the election winners usually
want to defer any substantive action until the following year when they'll
be driving the train. There’s hope that the defense authorization
bill will be addressed by the Senate next week, but amendments and debate
on the bill may be limited. What can you do to urge Congress to take
action in the lame duck session? You can start by visiting MOAA's
legislative alerts page and sending your legislators MOAA-suggested
messages. |
|
|
|
|
| From the Editor |
 |
|
In December the chapter had gold bars
and free electronic memberships presented to those being commissioned in
the military services from local ROTC programs.
On 7 December they were presented to five
commissioned in the Army from Norfolk State University AROTC and on 15
December they were presented to five commissioned in the Marine Corps and
fourteen commissioned in the Navy from the NROTC Unit Hampton Roads. |
|
|
|
|
NROTC/AROTC
|
| The Toys for Tots luncheon also is an
opportunity to recognize the NROTC and AROTC units from our local colleges.
ODU AROTC CO, LTC Brian Kerns, USA and XO MAJ Jenn Cope,
USA, plus ODU NROTC XO CDR Joey Mones, USN were guests at the luncheon.
Shown below are, l-r MIDN Viton Garbesi
ODU, MIDN Tevon Davis ODU and LtCol David Bohn, USMC,
CO of HMM 774. |
|
|
|
|
|
HRCMOAA ROTC Scholarship Fund
|
| HRCMOAA is committed to funding
the MOAA scholarship fund at $25,000 in 5 years. That translates into $5,000
per year. The contributions come primarily from membership donations.
Members who already donate to the national MOAA Scholarship may continue
to do so. You just need to note on the check that it is for the Hampton
Roads Chapter ROTC Scholarship Fund. MOAA will continue to send receipts
to the donors.
Members may submit to the chapter treasurer,
Col. Jim Edge, by mail (628 Secotan, Virginia Beach, VA 23451-7107) or
in person at lunches. The checks will be consolidated and submitted
to MOAA who will send receipts to the donors. |
Tracking Chart
Hampton Roads Chapter ROTC
Scholarship Fund
Goal for 2012: $5,000.00
|
PLATINUM $500 and above
Ruth Dodson, AUX USN -Ret.
GOLD $250 to $499
CAPT Michael Barea, USN-Ret.
Maj Clif Furedy, USAF-Ret. and Mrs Furedy
SILVER $100 to $249
CDR Bert Ortiz, USN-Ret.
LtCol Jim Dellaripa, USAF-Ret.
CAPT Jack Colgan, USN-Ret.
CAPT Holly Hollandsworth, USN-Ret.
COL Jim Edge, USA-Ret.
COL David Wade, USA-Ret.
CAPT Bill Lehr, USCG-Ret.
Aaron Zielinski
CDR John Vermillion, USN-Ret.
COL Jack Hilgers, USMC –Ret.
Ms Theodora Rink, AUX.
CAPT Jim Jones, USM-Ret.
CDR Pat Grillo, USN-Ret.
Bronze Under $100
LT Stephen Hackney, USN-Ret.
CDR Frederick Johnson, USN-Ret.
CAPT Ronald Ball, USN-Ret.
CAPT Michael Nickelsburg, USN-Ret.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Military ID Card Notification Program
|
| 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. |
| |
| 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. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Veterans Day Celebrations
|
| Our Chapter celebrated Veterans Day in
Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Shown below placing a wreath at the
Chesapeake Veterans Memorial near City Hall are Chapter members CAPT
Frank Driscoll, USN-Ret., CDR Matt Krakower, USN-Ret. and CDR
Bert Ortiz, USN-Ret 2nd VP. |
|
| The Chapter also participated in the Parade
and Luncheon held at Virginia Beach which is sponsored by the Hampton Roads
Council of Veterans Organization. The Co-Sponsor this year was the
Marine Corp League. Two active duty marines joined the Chapter for
lunch, they are below l-r 1st Sgt John Preston, Maj Fred Galvin
with Col Jack Hilgers, USMC-Ret. |
|
| Next is CAPT Jim Jones, USN-Ret.
and LtCol Jim Dellaripa USAF Ret. |
|
| Next is Jo Carter, Aux Rep.
and Sandy and Jack Wood. |
|
| The Veterans Day Proclamation was read
by The Honorable William D. Sessoms, Jr., Mayor of Virginia Beach.
Remarks were given by Councilman William R. DeSteph. Our Luncheon
guest speaker was Co-Marshal SgtMaj William S. McCoy, USMC-Ret.
The Grand Marshal was Earl “Wally” Timmons, a Past President of
the HRCVO who is recovering from cancer. There were over 80 organizations
participating in the parade this year. |
|
|
|
|
Toys for Tots
|
|
| The 16 November Luncheon with LtGen
Paxton, USMC was also our USMC Toys for Tots program. The Marine
representatives were above l-r, LCorp Christopher Umber, SSgt
Daniel Easterhoff and LtCol David Bohn. Shown with the
Marines was Col Bud Statzer, USMC-Ret., a chapter member.
Shown below is SSgt Easterhoff with
the member donated toys for tots. All members were encouraged to
donate a toy or give a check to the USMC program. |
|
|
|
|
|
Virginia Wounded Warrior Program
|
| The Virginia Veterans Services Foundation
is available to receive 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:
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.
Please provide the following;
Name(s) ______________________________________________________
Address _______________________________________________________
Phone _______________________
Email_______________________________________
HRCMOAA Member
Yes ___ No ___
You may also donate on line by visiting
the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation at;
www.vvsf.org |
|
|
|
|
Chapter Schedule
For the most current and up-to-date schedule
of chapter events,
click on Calendar
of Events
|
| |
25 January Luncheon (Westin Hotel)
Town Center
CAPT John Andrews, USN-Ret., Special Assistant
to the Norfolk City Manager for Veteran Services and Military Affairs. |
22 February Luncheon (Atlantic Shores)
National MOAA speaker CDR Rene A.
Campos, USN-Ret. Deputy Director, Health Care, Wounded Warrior covering
Seamless Transition Issues. |
22 March Luncheon (Westin Hotel) Town
Center
Major General Daniel E. Long Jr., Adjutant
General Virginia National Guard. |
| |
|
VCOC Schedule
|
13 January VCOC Meeting (Va. War Memorial)
The meeting will start at 1300 and end
at 1700. This meeting will highlight the “Storming of the Hill” at
the General Assembly on the next day. |
14 January Storming of the Hill
This is a big day at the General Assembly
for engaging with your local legislators and discussing the JLC’s list
of priorities for the Military, Dependents and Veterans. Contact
our VCOC representative CAPT Jim Jones, USN-Ret. at 777-5972 or 427-0395
for transportation details. |
|
|
|
|
19 October Luncheon
|
|
| HRCMOAA President CAPT Holly
Hollandsworth, USN-Ret., presents the Jefferson Cup to CAPT
David Culler, USN, Commanding Officer Naval Station Norfolk.
Captain David A. Culler, Jr., a second generation Naval Aviator, was born
in High Point, NC. He graduated from the University of New Mexico in December
1987 with a BA degree in Political Science. Commissioned in 1988, he earned
his Naval Flight Officer wings of gold in 1989.
CAPT Culler covered the mission and vision
for Naval Station Norfolk. The Naval Station supports the operational
readiness of the US Atlantic Fleet, providing facilities and services to
enable mission accomplishment. “We are committed to safety, security, and
continuous improvement in quality of life and quality of service for our
Sailors and families.” |
|
|
|
|
Cellphones for Soldiers
|
| The HRCMOAA recently received a Certificate
of Appreciation for outstanding support for the Cellphones for Soldiers
program in the year 2011– 2012. CDR Bert Ortiz is shown presenting
Cell Phones for Soldiers Award to COL Jim Edge, USA-Ret. who was
the chapter coordinator. |
|
|
|
|
|
16 November Luncheon
|
| President CAPT Holly Hollandsworth,
USN-Ret., presents the Jefferson Cup to Lt General Paxton, Jr. USMC
, Commander, US Marine Forces Command, Commanding General Fleet Marine
Force Atlantic, Commander, US Marine Corps Bases Atlantic and Commander
US Marine Fores Europe. The General discussed the Expeditionary
Forces involvement in Afghanistan including the Army, Marine Corp, Navy,
Air Force and the Joint Forces. He covered the many difficulties
in training the Afghan forces to replace the existing joint forces now
in place. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IN MEMORIAM
COL P. Lee Starkey, USA-Ret.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
