THE SEVEN SERVICES NEWSLETTER January 2014 MONTGOMERY COUNTY CHAPTER MARYLAND

CHAPTER OFFICERS suggest also those speakers or subjects that President you would like to hear from or about. Capt. Dave Peterson, NOAA (Ret) As the year progresses, we will make an effort to attract more currently-serving of- 301-921-6357 [email protected] ficers to chapter membership. We will do this Vide President by presenting a couple of programs in the evening, rather as mid-day events. The first Lt. Cdr. Art Glover, USN (Ret) evening event will be in March. (More on this Secretary below.) We will also try to make some inroads Col. Ray Surman, USA (Ret) into expanding our membership from the lo- cal retired community. It may interest you to Treasurer know that MOAA National has sent us a Lt. Cdr. Bill Schultz, USN (Ret) “Potentials List” that has some 4000 names on it. These are National MOAA members who reside in our catchment area, but who PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE are not chapter members. There has been a change in policy at the national level, and Happy New Year to all! I trust we now have access to the email addresses everyone had a joyous holiday season with of several hundred of these “potentials,” family and friends, and you are all looking which should ease the administrative and forward to the promise of the New Year. In cost burdens of contacting them. the second year of my term as chapter presi- dent, I hope to continue to offer programs In addition to my duties as president, I that will interest the membership, be the sub- will try to produce at least six newsletters dur- ject matter of a military nature, or just some- ing this calendar year. Achieving six will give thing generally age-relevant. While our pro- us the maximum credit under the Level of Ex- grams have been suggested by members of cellence program, and hopefully will help us the chapter Board, you should not be shy to earn another 5-star banner for

1 our MOAA flag. We will continue to support HOLIDAY CELEBRATION the JROTC program at the Montgomery County high schools that offer it, as well as As with most years, our annual holiday continue support for the two youth leader- celebration in December is one of our best ship programs we have been helping in the attended events. 2013 was no different. The past. Further, our Operation HeroBox com- Manor Country Club crew put on a marvel- mitment will give us an opportunity to help ous meal and we were honored to provide some of our deployed troops, and I look for- them each with a modest honorarium for ward to seeing the program expand if all their fine efforts at our events throughout the goes well with our current plan. year. We were able to have a wonderful holiday raffle, with more items donated than There is much to do this year on the we had tickets for...first time that has hap- legislative front, both nationally and at the pened! state level. Expect to hear regularly from me on this aspect of our chapter mission. Con- Our secretary was doing his usual ex- gress and the Maryland General Assembly cellent job of recording the festivities with his will need to hear from you on a variety of is- trusty digital camera. Some photos will give sues. When you are asked, please take the you an idea of what a good time was had time to add your voice to MOAA’s “One by all. Powerful Voice,” by contacting your elected representatives. I know I can count on each Merry Christmas to Steve and of you to do what you can, and on the state his Manor Country Club ser- level, I’ll try to make it as painless as possible vice staff! for you. If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for MOAA National’s Legisla- tive Alert service by visiting the national web- site...www.moaa.org.

As we begin the new year, I’d like you Council President John Whitman (center) and Kevin O’Reilly (lower all to think ahead to next year. The chap- left) enjoy a good laugh ter’s board members have served you well for the past several years and it is coming time for some other folks to step up and be- come involved in chapter governance and leadership. It does no good for “burnout” to threaten the viability of our chapter, when all it will take is for some willing folks to step up Chaplain Jim Campbell and MOAA Government Relations and offer themselves as candidates for Deputy Director Bob Norton chat chapter leadership roles. Again, I ask you to think about it.

Yours in service...Dave

2 MOAA Becomes a Veterans Ser- year are expected to be completed. MOAA will begin taking claims in the National Capi- vice Organization (VSO) tal area first. Through its claim representation (MOAA Press Release) efforts, the MOAA VSO staff is learning how to improve access to veteran and survivor MOAA has expanded its support of benefits. MOAA has created a MOAA Claims veterans, survivors and their families by add- Assistance blog and discussion forum to in- ing VA claims assistance to its suite of transi- form and educate the military community tion services. The new status will be officially about veteran and survivor benefits. MOAA’s announced on Thursday, Jan. 9, from 11:30 government relations team has made this is- a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at MOAA headquarters in sue a top priority and, as top advocates on Alexandria, Va. Retired Brig. Gen. Allison A. the Hill, will provide comments and sugges- Hickey, Under Secretary for Benefits at the tions on proposed laws and regulations. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will be the guest of honor. Veterans in need of claims assistance do not need to be a member of MOAA or “MOAA felt we could not stand on the Voices for America’s Troops to take ad- sidelines of the VA claims backlog without vantage of these services. Those interested supporting the VA’s good-faith efforts by be- can schedule an initial consultation by call- ing part of the solution," MOAA President ing or emailing MOAA at 1-866-739-3046 Vice Adm. Norb Ryan said. “We are helping (Staffed Monday through Friday, 8 am to 6 to file fully developed claims, providing VA pm Eastern) or [email protected]. The claims with the information they need to adjudicate service will be provided at MOAA headquar- the claim and shorten the wait time for the ters office in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, veteran. We are very proud to attain recog- and satellite office at the Pentagon. An ap- nition as a Veterans Service Organization pointment is necessary. (VSO) and believe that providing this new service is meeting an important need of the —————— military community.” Any member of the chapter who has Due to the significant backlog of VA the interest and the time to assist in this claims, causing disabled veterans long waits MOAA National effort is encouraged to call for benefits, the VA has invested in people, the number cited above for additional infor- processes and technology, all of which is de- mation. signed to process veterans’ claims more quickly and accurately. The claims process is complex and about 50% of veterans do not use a VSO for help. MOAA is seeking to serve the veterans who do not already have a rep- resentative and will provide detailed articles, worksheets and resources for self-help that are available free online at http:// www.moaa.org/vso.

MOAA has two full-time employees and 7 accredited representatives dedicated to the effort and though not as large as some of the other VSOs, 2,000 claims per

3 Luncheon Presentation Maryland General Assembly January 15th 2014 Session

The Maryland General Assembly is now in session in Annapolis. Your chapter leader- ship will be tracking legislation of interest to the uniformed services community, and will apprise you of any legislation the Maryland Veterans Task Force seeks your support on to Our first speaker in 2014 was Colonel get the message out to our legislators. Stanley John Whidden, USA Ret), a man of a fascinating background...Special Forces of- Last session, the Budget and Taxation ficer, medical doctor, and Ph.D. His topic Committee unanimously adopted SB103, dealt nominally with strategies that veterans which increased the amount of the retired could use for re-integration into civilian life. pay income tax subtraction from $5000 to However, he expanded that to a much wid- $10000, but it limited the increase to those er swath of folks by focusing on cross-cultural retirees age 65 or older. That legislation died communication and its importance in our in the House at the end of the session. daily lives. He applied this to not only the In the current session, Senator Peters separating military community, but also to has re-introduced this legislation, this time as age groups, ethnic groups dealing with one SB143. It is a verbatim bill from SB103. This another, familial groups, the genders, and legislation is co-sponsored by every Mont- other cohorts. gomery County senator, three of whom are During the questioning following his re- on the B&T Committee. marks, several members probed for his views On behalf of the chapter, the chapter on the difficulties that separating service president has written to each of the senators members face in finding employment in the to encourage them to amend SB143, to civilian sector. He cited his own experience make it applicable to retirees of any age. as an example, referring to his use of the Uni- The body of SB143 appears in this newsletter, formed Services Employment and Re- as well as a copy of the letter sent to each employment Rights Act (USERRA) law to senator, this one was to Senator Manno. challenge threats to re-employment rights for reservists. He acknowledged that this aspect Your chapter leadership encourages of re-integration was a daunting problem for you to respond to appeals to contact your some. His view is that folks just need to keep elected representatives and indicate your at it and to take advantage of every option position on legislation we bring to your atten- available as they pursue a job search. tion. A handy sheet of legislators contact in- formation is also provided with this newslet- His presentation was well-received, ter. with several members following up with him.

4 Consistent with our chapter’s effort to support worthwhile endeavors within the State of Maryland to assist deserving veterans, the chapter board authorized a contribution to the Maryland Veterans Trust Fund. Below is Secretary Chow’s acknowledgement letter.

5 SEVEN SERVICES REVIEW

This issue — U.S. Air Force

Hurricane Hunters transition from tropical gales to arctic blasts

Maintaining constant awareness of what storm systems are doing is a concerted effort between the National Weather Service and the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron here, also known as the Hurricane Hunters.

Each year, to combat the persistent threat of winter storms, the 53rd WRS fly out over the icy waters of the East and West Coasts, as well as the Gulf of Mexico, in order to collect barometric pressure, temperature and pre- cipitation data.

Some winter storms can last for weeks and dump a lot of expenses on the American population that ranges from snow plowing, and destroyed crops and livestock to infrastructure damage. The official winter storm sea- son begins in January and lasts through March.

"Winter storms, on average, kill more Americans each year than hurricanes," said Lt. Col. Jon Talbot, the 53rd WRS chief meteorologist. "On average, an inch of snow removal … like New York City can cost $1 million. If the data we collect provides the National Weather Service with a more accurate prediction, cities can be better prepared lives and property can be saved."

To help gather data in the Pacific, the 53rd WRS forward deploys to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. However, this year the National Weather Service is experimenting with not tasking the Hurricane Hunters with these mis- sions.

"Unlike the Gulf and East Coast storms, which only give us a few days' notice before they hit land, the Pacific storms begin to develop further away from land, which gives meteorologists more time to correct the storm models and give a more accurate prediction of the storms intensity," Talbot said. "They are trying to determine how much value is in having a plane fly into a storm's path versus how much can be saved if it determined that a flight is not necessary."••

In addition to tracking storms in the Pacific, the 53rd WRS provides the National Weather Service with observa- tions in areas of uncertainty on storm-tracking models. Areas of uncertainty occur due to the lack of weather data collection devices in the middle of the ocean.

"The data stream is low out over the ocean; there are not any data points to collect from like we have on land,” Talbot said. “You can use satellite data, but it will usually only give you so much information."

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Reproduced below is the text of the bill being considered by the Senate in this year’s ses- sion of the Maryland General Assembly.

7 8 Reproduced below a copy of the identical letter sent to all senators representing legislative districts in Montgomery County.

9 10 MONTGOMERY COUNTY LEGISLATORS

D14 Senator Karen S. Montgomery [email protected] Delegate Anne R. Kaiser [email protected] Delegate Eric G. Luedtke [email protected] Delegate Craig J. Zucker [email protected]

D15 Senator Brian J. Feldman [email protected] Delegate Kathleen M. Dumais [email protected] Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo [email protected] Delegate Aruna Miller [email protected]

D16 Senator Brian E. Frosh [email protected] Delegate C. William Frick [email protected] Delegate Ariana B. Kelly [email protected] Delegate Susan C. Lee [email protected]

D17 Senator Jennie M. Forehand [email protected] Delegate Kumar P. Barve [email protected] Delegate Jim Gilchrist [email protected] Delegate Luiz R. S. Simmons [email protected]

D18 Senator Richard S. Madaleno, Jr. [email protected] Delegate Alfred C. Carr, Jr. [email protected] Delegate Ana sol Gutierrez [email protected] Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher [email protected]

D19 Senator Roger P. Manno [email protected] Delegate Sam Arora [email protected] Delegate Bonnie Cullison [email protected] Delegate Benjamin F. Kramer [email protected]

D20 Senator Jamie Raskin [email protected] Delegate Tom Hucker [email protected] Delegate Heather R. Mizeur [email protected] Delegate Sheila E. Hixson [email protected]

D39 Senator Nancy J. King [email protected] Delegate Charles Barkley [email protected] Delegate Kirill Reznik [email protected] Delegate Shane Robinson [email protected]

NOTE: The Senate Budget & Taxation Committee is chaired by Senator Edward J. Kasemeyer. ([email protected]). Montgomery County senators serving on this committee are: Manno, Madaleno, and King.

The House Ways and Means Committee is chaired by Delegate Hixson. Montgomery County delegates serv- ing on this committee are: Barve, Frick, Kaiser, Luedtke, and Miller.

The Maryland General Assembly web page can be found at: mgaleg.maryland.gov

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Upcoming Events

Feb 19: Luncheon — Our guest speaker will be Mr. Phil Alperson, BRAC Coordinator for Montgomery County Feb 24: Chapter board meeting March 19: Evening meeting — Our guest speaker will be Col. Bob Norton, USA(Ret), MOAA Deputy Director for Government Relations March 31: Chapter board meeting April 16: Luncheon — Speaker TBD April 28: Chapter board meeting

TRYING SOMETHING NEW

To emphasize my “message” comments, the continued existence of our chapter de- pends upon your continued participation, of course, but we also need to grow our mem- bership. To that end we are adopting two strategies. One, as noted, in order to attract the interest of more currently-serving officers, we plan to conduct a couple of evening events this year, one in March and one in the fall. Our focus for these meetings will be locally as- signed active duty officers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, US Public Health Service officers, and NOAA Corps officers. It has been difficult for these potential members to leave their duty stations in the middle of a business day to attend one of our monthly luncheons. Perhaps an evening event will make it easier for them to join us. The second strategy is to make a greater effort to reach out to locally-residing MOAA members who are “potentials” on the extensive list provided by national MOAA. For the first time, many of these prospects have allowed the sharing of their email addresses with the chapter. To take advantage of this, we will be contacting all those for whom we now have an email address, inviting them to attend a chapter event and get to know us as an affiliat- ed organization to MOAA itself, but with a more local perspective. We were able to sign up eight new members in 2013, so we look forward to continued success in 2014. ______Harken ye, to truth…

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might get what you need.” Mick Jagger — The Rolling Stones Here endth the lesson...let us all remember it

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