Military Officers Association of America
Minutes of the Third Quarter 2011 Meeting Council President, Col Fred Black, called the meeting to order at 0900, welcomed all present, and thanked the Charlotte-Metrolina Chapter for hosting the Council. (see attachments 1 & 2) He then asked Chapter President Col Harley Ellinger to provide the invocation. Council Secretary Petty led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. Council Secretary next called the roll and 4 Chapters were absent. He also discussed any changes for the directory need to be submitted directly to him, so that we can keep the directory as up to date as possible. The Treasurer's report was next. Needed was a date change to 17 Sep. (see attachment 3) Col Black commented on Col Graham's low cost for the last Council meeting. He then asked each attendendee to introduce themselves and state their position. He then stated that the Executive Committee made a $250.00 donation to the USO North Carolina. He also mentioned that any donations to the USO should only be directed to USO North Carolina and not national USO because national does not pass all of that back to the state. Col Pike gave a little background on the USO facilities in North Carolina. The first three USO centers were started here in North Carolina. In April 1941, the first center was opened in Fayetteville to support Camp Bragg. In October 1941, the second center was opened in Jacksonville to support Camp Lejeune. In April 1942, a third opened in Aberdeen, NC to support solders at Camp McCall. Today, we operate four centers and about to open a fifth. One at RDU, a second at the Charlotte airport, the one in Jacksonville, and the one on board Fort Bragg. On the 28th of this month, the fifth center will open at the Fayetteville airport. He state that his responsibility as chairman of the 70th anniversary committee is to focus on areas throughout the state that do not have centers. The 1st was conducted up in Elizabeth City during Coast Guard Week where almost 3,000 people attended. They had a country and western theme and they are looking forward to USO returning next year. The next 4 events with the MOAA family begins in January in Asheville; February in Greensboro; in March down in Wilmington and April we may be in Pinehurst. The Asheville event will be the 8th annual Big Band weekend with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and it'll be a Black Tie affair. The February event in the Greensboro Winston-Salem area is also to be a Black Tie event. There are some who are leaning towards a semi-formal affair on February 11 and a local group does a tribute to the Andrew Sisters. They plan to tie in with Valentines Day so it will be a dinner, dance type ball. Col Graham is the event coordinator for Wilmington and passed out information on renewing marriage vows on the Battleship North Carolina on 31 March. That will be from 1100 to 1300. Then, Saturday evening, the next event will be at the Hanna Block Historic USO in downtown Wilmington. There will be big band sounds, dancing, a big silent auction and a big raffle and just a lot of fun. Pinehurst was to be a golf tourney with Arnold Palmer as the guest speaker. There was little support for that so the state level committee cancelled the event. When the Pinehurst Resort learned of the cancellation, they asked if USO would reconsider. They are putting a plan together, but it may not be inside the 70th anniversary window and may turn out to be in the May June timeframe. Col Black made the comment "you see this is how we get out in the community". MOAA will be branded on these events; we might pick up some members as a result of this type of sponsorship who may have let their membership lapse or who have never joined. There was some discussion on what was happening at Fort Bragg and the USO on base and at the airport; especially with all the generals that are coming to Fort Bragg. Col Black made comments on all the contractors there or coming and where we were 41st in Defense Contractor dollars. Some of the big projects were sourced out of North Carolina because our contractors didn't qualify. That may change in the future because of ForceCom coming to Fort Bragg. It was stated that there were 586 contractors that supported ForceCom in Atlanta and 400 of them have come to Fayetteville with the rest to follow. Vice President Garman mentioned the handout on membership. (see attachment 4) He stated that he has no idea if chapters are doing a great job of getting people to join chapters. He did state the chapters should use the rosters MOAA sends as an aid in getting members to join chapters. Someone in the chapter may know someone on the list who could make contact and get them to come to a meeting and give them a reason to join. He stated that we're not doing well with Give Me Ten. He state the Chris with the Osborne chapter is leading the pack with 35 Give Me Tens and we only have 2 other chapters that got 10 new members. Fayetteville has moved from 13 to 21 and the total for the state moved from 83 to 91. We have some chapters that haven't even broke ground yet. We need to get at least one! Col Black stated visibility in the community is paramount. He followed by using an analysis from the Mid West's Symposium to last years symposium in Florida. Number one success story – personal contact, face to face beats mail. Direct mail still does work. We have to find a better way to access emails and we can't from national. Stay with the potentials list and get a quarterly update. Assign members of chapter to work the list, not just the membership chair or the president or the secretary. Do you know how many chapters that's the same person? Not just here, but across the country. If the president is doing more than one job, something else is not going to get done. One the chapters provided an example of how one of their members is contacting people. Also, working with your local papers, your radio stations, your PSAs, interview opportunities, show the flag opportunities. Work the 5 populations. The largest is MOAA members not in chapters. Next are lapsed MOAA members. Guard and Reserve in your area. Next, Chris Canipe provided information on the Guard and Reserve and what's happening. The last of the populations is JROTC, ROTC Instructors, ROTC Cadets who are now eligible for membership, and the newly commissioned officers who are awaiting reporting dates. One chapter then provided an example of what they are doing with regard to new members. Next, Vice President Graham discussed the developed survey for computer usage. (see attachment 5) The survey is designed to be sent out to chapter members either by newsletter or electronically. Hopefully, someone in each chapter will take this on as a little project. Next, she discussed our web site looking to improve it and if someone sees or knows of something needed please forward your suggestions. She also mentioned the quick turn around by our webmaster. Next, she mentioned that on 10 November in Fayetteville, there will be a luncheon to honor Army nurses that served in Viet Nam. She then mentioned that she is chairing the Veterans Standown and Homeless Fair this year in Wilmington and it's a really big event. There are many different agencies that are supporting this event. Next, Vice President Keck stated that we are combined with 2 other major organizations – one being the 4th Branch (the driving force behind Bailey-Patton) and the other group is the North Carolina Veterans Council, which is made up of a significant number of other military fraternal organizations. (see attachment 6) He then discussed the "Storming of Jones Street" and the implications of knowing our legislators and what it means to meet them face to face, especially away from Raleigh. As a result of the meetings on Jones Street, the impression was that many issues that we're interested in had a slim to no chance of being passed. The reasoning was because of the shortfall in the budget. They did support the extension of Bailey-Patton. At the last 4th Branch meeting, it was decided not to take one big bite, but a series of small bites. (see attachment 7) He did state that several smaller bills were passed because the monetary amounts were small. There was more discussion on the Bailey-Patton extension and who will be the most affected. This was mostly centered on teachers, some of whom think they are already exempt. The next area of discussion was an act permitting community colleges to include the cost of textbooks in the tuition charged to members of the armed services. This allows for members to go ahead and have their books paid for and not be pursued for additional charges if they have to be deployed before the course is over. He indicated that there are additional inserts in the handout. (see attachments 8, 9, and 10) There was some discussion on pay days this year and how it may affect those who estimate their taxes. Next, he reinterated how important it is to know not only your legislative representative, but also the staffers. Col Black went on to discuss some of the organizations we support and/or are dues paying members and how important those organizations are. After the break, Col Black talked at length concerning the "war on information" and all of the information that is available to members and chapters. Also, he brought to light about the bad information we get in emails from all over. He then briefly discussed the importance of the TOPS program. Following that, he went over the "voices for Americas troops" and its structure. He then went over the DOD decal debate and the various issues that DOD has legislated and what the base commanders can do. The second phase of this is they are going to start a new project that will require you to register individually at every installation that you want to enter. It is called the Defense Biometric Identification System or DBIDS for short. This is a positive identification system that will be required for entry on every installation in the future. Once the system is installed at the installation you wish to visit, you'll be required to register at that installation and it will read your ID card or your CAT card and then you'll do your little gizmo thing and if you've gotten a new ID card you know that they have already taken your finger prints and it's embedded in the code on your ID card. The reason for getting rid of decals is to keep your cars from being targets. He then covered changes in Tricare with regard to prescriptions and copays and the benefit of express scripts. Next, he discussed mailing from National MOAA. They'll do it for when a National officer is attending your chapter plus any chapter can request 2 per year. Col Black then discussed the issue of auxiliaries. He is the state Auxiliary Coordinator and he elaborated on some of the information on this subject. He then went into the "Three Big Questions". The 1st key question is what are we doing really well and why is it working? When we look at it, there are many things we are doing really well. An example is the Cape Fear and Sandhill Chapters that are 5 Star Chapters and the 1st time for New River and Catawba Chapters. Each of the chapters expounded on their successes. There was much discussion about these good things and JROTC programs. The chapters have a homework assignment – send us what we can use as successes, so we can consolidate and tell what the North Carolina Council of Chapters are doing. Also, tell us what we need to be doing or need to get help from National MOAA or anything else. Lastly, he covered the future meetings. The 4th Quarter is 13-14 Jan 2012 at Fort Bragg. The 1st Quarter we're asking First Flight in the March time frame. For the 2nd Quarter we're looking at Catawba Valley. Western volunteers for the 3rd Quarter. The 4th Quarter we'll be at Lloyd A Osborne Piedmont. The meeting was adjourned at 1200 by President Black. Col Fred Black, USA (Ret) LtCol Les Petty USMC (Ret) Attachments: |
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