MOAA and other members of the Veterans Coalition were instrumental in pushing
for the 1.9% increase vice the 1.4% proposed by the Obama administration. A small fraction of our population bears the
total responsibility for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our estimate of $320 million for the additional increase
pales in comparison to the buy off of unions and other politically favored groups.
God Bless our troops.
More
Money for Troops: The House Armed Services
military personnel panel on May 12 opted to ignore Pentagon pleas not to increase military pay beyond the Administration request
for 2011, adding 0.5 percent to the Administration's 1.4 percent during budget markup. Pentagon comptroller Robert Hale in
February noted that adding another 0.5 percent would deprive the Pentagon of about $500 million it needs to sustain troop readiness. Defense Secretary Bob Gates, in his May 8 Kansas "cut overhead" speech, acknowledged that lawmakers simply want "to take good care of our troops" when they "routinely" add
this extra half percent. Panel chair Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) maintained the bump would simply "further reduce"
the military-private sector pay gap. Ranking member Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) derided "the assertion that personnel costs
are crowding out other priorities" and said budget woes "should not be solved by asking military personnel to take
less.
As I See It — Thanks, But No Thanks For Your Service
2009/12/11
00:00:00
By Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret.
Unlike the receptions experienced by many of their Vietnam and Korean
War-era counterparts, today’s active duty, Guard, and Reserve veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have
experienced sincere and demonstrative public expressions of support for their service and incredible wartime sacrifices on
the nation’s behalf.
But how do we truly thank these servicemembers and their families who already have suffered
through eight years of war — and who now are being asked to pick up the beat in Afghanistan?
We’ve
never previously had a war in which virtually everyone in theater was at risk every day and in which the same limited cadre
was asked to return for extended combat tours again and again, year after year after year, with no end in sight.
It’s
never fair to compare relative sacrifices, but it’s hard not to feel a special empathy for guardmembers and reservists
and their families, hundreds of thousands of whom have experienced two or three — or more — combat tours in Iraq
and Afghanistan since 2001.
Defense leaders assert they’re now part of an “operational reserve,”
but that’s not the concept on which their 50-year-old personnel and compensation systems were built.
Those systems
assume they have full-time civilian careers with a commensurate civilian retirement plan, to which their reserve retirement
is merely a supplement.
But the military now is consuming 25 percent to 50 percent of their working lives in many cases.
Others effectively have put their civilian careers on hold to serve multiple years on active duty in support of wartime needs.
The Senate has been so consumed by the partisan politics
of national health reform that other end-of-year crises have had to take a back seat.
In recognition of one urgent
issue, the Senate will pause Saturday morning to pass the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 3326) – a mere 80
days after FY2010 actually started.
Included in that legislation is an emergency measure to delay a 21% cut in
Medicare and TRICARE payments to doctors that otherwise would take effect on January 1.
Unfortunately, because
Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on funding issues, the new legislation will only delay the Medicare/TRICARE payment
cuts until the end of February.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) has introduced a bill, H.R. 1864, to provide a 3.4% military pay raise for 2010, vs. the 2.9% proposed in the defense budget.
His bill would continue
Congress' decade-long effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate the military pay gap. Currently, military pay lags behind
private sector wages by 2.9%.Wilson's bill would reduce the gap to 2.4%.
Send a MOAA-suggested message to ask your U.S. representative to support this important initiative.
MOAA Storms Hill for Troops, Survivors, Retirees State and national MOAA leaders teamed up to visit almost every U.S. representative's and senator's office this
week, urging them to oppose disproportional TRICARE fee increases, fix Survivor Benefit Plan and concurrent receipt inequities,
push for a bigger military pay raise, and sustain military manpower increases.
MOAA Federal Charter Bill Introduced Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Representatives Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Walter Jones (R-NC) have reintroduced
legislation to award a Federal Charter to the Military Officers Association of America.
MOAA Honors Hill Champions On April 21, MOAA honored several legislators, congressional staff members, and private citizens for their efforts in
supporting the military community.
MOAA Storms Hill for Troops, Survivors, Retirees
MOAA Council and Chapter Presidents from the 50 states
and Puerto Rico, accompanied by members of the national Board of Directors and headquarters staff, plus members of MOAA's
active duty, Guard, Reserve, spouse and auxiliary advisory committees, swarmed Capitol Hill on April 22 to visit representatives'
and senators' offices on key MOAA legislative initiatives.
This year, the "Hill-stormers" literally walked through the rain to get their legislators focused on three main issues:
Oppose disproportional TRICARE fee increases
Eliminate
unfair compensation penalties imposed on thousands of disabled retirees and military survivors
Sustain much-needed
military manpower increases to ease deployment burdens and upgrade the military pay raise to 3.4% (vs. the 2.9% budget proposal).
MOAA representatives carried a wealth of information supporting those goals, including an information brochure illustrating the fixes needed to eliminate survivor benefits and concurrent receipt inequities.
MOAA Hill-stormers
received very positive feedback from most legislators, and we've already seen a jump in the number of cosponsors for MOAA-supported
bills on these topics. Check your representatives' and senators' cosponsorship status for the bills listed below:
H.R. 816 - Protect against disproportionate health fee increases
H.R. 1592, H.R. 1864 - Continues progress toward eliminating the military pay gap
You can enhance MOAA's Hill-storming results
by entering your ZIP code in the applicable box for each bill to send your legislator a MOAA-suggested "please cosponsor"
or "thank you for cosponsoring" letter, as applicable.
Congress has long recognized various military, veteran and patriotic
organizations by enacting honorary Federal Charters. A Federal Charter simply signals that a particular group - in this case,
MOAA, serves the public interest by providing member services and community support.
Although a charter does not confer
any special rights, privileges or benefits, MOAA's North Carolina Council of Chapters was denied a representative on the
state's veterans' council, because the state limited membership to congressionally chartered organizations. Subsequently,
MOAA has learned that at least six additional states - including Alabama, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania
- impose similar limitations.
Recognizing that it's inappropriate to exclude the largest military association and
fourth-largest veterans association in this way, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and a group of 19 other bipartisan senators introduced
S. 832 on April 20 to authorize a charter for MOAA. The House companion bill, H.R. 2017, was introduced on April 21 by Reps.
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Walter Jones (R-NC).
MOAA is grateful to all of these congressional leaders for their support.
You can help by sending a message urging your senators and representatives to co-sponsor S.832 and H.R. 2017.
At a packed-house Capitol Hill ceremony on April 21, MOAA presented its top annual awards
to eight individuals for their support of the military and veterans' community.
MOAA's Arthur T. Marix Award
for Congressional Leadership (named in honor of MOAA's founder) was presented to:
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) for spearheading
last year's successful effort to enact major Post-9/11 GI Bill upgrades. The new program, which takes effect on Aug. 1,
covers the full cost of tuition at any public college or university and pays a stipend for books and housing.
Rep.
John McHugh (R-NY) was honored for his long-standing leadership and activism as past Chairman and Ranking Member of the Military
Personnel Subcommittee, and now as the Ranking Member of the full committee. In winning enactment of the FY2009 Defense Authorization
Act, he had a lead role in protecting against steep TRICARE fee increases, improving the military pay raise, increasing military
manpower levels to ease deployment stress, and much, much more.
Rep. Susan Davis, Chair of the Personnel Subcommittee,
has been a champion of much-needed manpower increases, wounded warrior protections, and family support programs to help those
serving on the home front. She and her subcommittee led the charge to defeat proposals for unfair TRICARE fee increases.
MOAA's
Distinguished Service Award was presented to:
Mr. Toby Keith (see award photo), a country music star and songwriter who has participated in six previous USO Tours, entertaining nearly 120,000 troops
and making innumerable hospital visits and individual meetings with service men and women. Immediately after the MOAA ceremony,
he departed his seventh USO tour, including sites in Afghanistan.
Union Pacific, for its service as a model Guard/Reserve
employer. The company continues pay and benefits for the more than 530 employees deployed since 9/11, and has four full-time
staff dedicated to recruiting military people.
Mr. Tom Day, who in 2000, after learning that many veterans were being
provided only recordings of "Taps" at their funerals, started Bugles Across America to ensure that every veteran
possible had a live bugler at his or her last service. Bugles Across America now has more than 5,000 bugler volunteers located
in all 50 states, and Mr. Day has personally participated in 4,000 veterans' funerals.
MOAA's Colonel
Paul W. Arcari Meritorious Service Award for congressional staff members (named for MOAA's former director of government
relations, who retired in 2001) was presented to Ms. Jeanette James and Mr. Dave Kildee, minority and majority professional
staff members, respectively, for the House Military Personnel Subcommittee. Their bipartisan work was essential to prevent
adverse TRICARE fee increases, reduce Guard/Reserve TRICARE premiums, restore military medical manning, protect special-needs
children, and much more.
LAKELAND | A national nonprofit military memorial organization
and the Army ROTC unit at Florida Southern College are planning a day of events April 26 to honor a fallen comrade.
Army 2nd Lt. Charles R. Rubado was an armor officer assigned to the 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment, commanding a squadron of
four Abrams tanks, when he was killed Aug. 29, 2005, in Tal Afar, northern Iraq. He was 23 years old.
He was a
2004 graduate of Florida Southern College with a degree in criminology and was commissioned through the FSC ROTC unit.
Rubado was born in Hawaii, and had lived in Louisiana and New York before moving to Clearwater with his parents in
2000, the year he enrolled at FSC.
He was married to the former Mary Ann Hollingsworth. The couple met at Florida
Southern and had lived in Fort Carson, Colo., until Rubado went to Iraq.
The American Ideals Foundation will conduct
a special Honor Ceremony for Rubado's family and friends at 10 a.m. in FSC's Annie Pfeiffer Chapel.
Artist
Greg Crumbly will present an original painting, referred to as a "Portrait Of Life," of Rubado. A special musical
score, "The Military Hero," composed for such memorial events, will be performed.
A poem about the fallen
officer was written by poet Gareth R. Schumacher and will be read at the ceremony.
The American Ideals Foundation
was established to present memorial events for families of fallen U.S, soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen.
Following
the ceremony, a charity golf tournament will be held to benefit the Charles R. Rubado Memorial Scholarship Fund. For information
about participating in the tournament or donating to the fund, call the Florida Southern Army ROTC at 863-680-4235.
[ Bill Rufty can be reached at 802-7523 or bill.rufty@theledger.com ]
A Veteran - whether Active Duty, National Guard, or Reserve, is someone who at
some point in their lives, wrote a blank check made payable to "The People of the United States of America" for
an amount of "up to and including my life".
The Polk County Veterans Council
endeavors to unite all of Polk County's Veterans Organizations to better serve the
Men and Women whom have served our country so valiantly.
The Polk County Veterans Council is - Veterans helping Veterans.
