THE BULLETIN BOARD     DINNER MEETING -  Wednesday, 16 March 2005     BAE Systems Dining Hall         6500 Tracor Lane (Highway 183, South of Webberville Overpass, Just off Ed Bluestein Blvd)                       1830 hours          Attire: Men: Business Suit, Uniform always appropriate                     Ladies: Business dress or Pant Suit or Uniform                             Charge: $18.00 per person  [check payable to AMOAA ] Note: Reservations may be made with your assigned caller or with your service representative by calling before 2100 hours on the Sunday before the Wednesday dinner. Cancellations should also be made by the aforementioned time. Individuals who do not honor reservations will be billed.

COME AND JOIN YOUR FELLOW MEMBERS - SUPPORT MOAA!" If you don't participate in the activities, you have no standing to complain if you are unhappy. Let's resolve to attend the meetings. Try it-I guarantee you will like it. (Not a money back guarantee, though)

EVENTS FOR MARCH 16 MARCH-dinner meeting-1830 hours       -BAE systems (Tracor) 22 MARCH- Board Meeting-1330 hours      -CAMP MABRY NAVAL RESERVE BLDG. * * * NOTICE-PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF  DATE FOR THE ROWC LUNCHEON 30 MARCH- WEDNESDAY-ROWC-        LUNCHEON      --AUSTIN Woman's Club-

PROGRAM-- Rendezvous with Freedom-What a wonderful title for this personal account of the struggle of one downed Pilot to escape capture and the unselfish help of the local people-all of whom knew they would suffer an unpleasant fate if their actions became known to the enemy. Your editor was privileged to see the film in its entirety when first previewed at the KLRU studios. All of you members of the "greatest generation" will find this wonderful. Would it happen in today's world? DON'T MISS IT!!!! --Please Note: If you are not being called each month concerning the dinner meeting on the third Wednesday, please call your service representative [listed elsewhere in the Bulletin] and ask that he/she add your name to the calling lists. Your Service Rep may have changed, and your caller may have, also lf you have not been called by Sunday Evening and wish to attend the dinner, and cannot reach your own Service Rep, please call one of the others. They will be glad to accommodate you and turn in your reservation. MOAA Name tags available-Members who wish permanent name tags should contact COL Ben A. Meharg at 280-2569. E-mail bmeharg@austin.rr.com .  The cost is 3.00, but they will last a lifetime-unless you lose them.

ORDER OF THE EVENING SEATING CHARTS WILL BE PLACED ON TABLES AT 1830 HOURS 1830-1900: -Social Period - Bar Open--  Pay for Dinner, Check in with Service Representative, Select Seats (sign form at end of table)  1900-1910 : Invocation Pledge of Allegiance National Anthem  1910-2000: Dinner and Door Prizes 2000: Barbershop Quartet MENU Spinach Salad  with Blue Cheese and Almonds  Corned Beef Pastrami Roast  Roasted Potatoes and Apples Cider and Beer Glazed Cabbage  White Rolls-Butter  Lemon Bundt  with fresh berries and Cream Coffee-Tea-Iced Tea ATTENTION SINGLES     We try to sit together at MOAA dinners. Look for the sign-SINGLES- and sign your name if you want to sit with us.    We are not guaranteeing a singles spot -You do not have to sit there. We cannot spell SUCCESS without U.        from Hong Kong by way of Bits & Pieces

CHAPTER OFFICERS 2004-2005 President Col. Maurice Quigley USA 327-0285 email Duties First VP Major Stanley Bullard USAF 926-8438 email Duties Second VP Col. Ben A. Meharg USMC 280-2569 email Duties Third VP LtC. Hal Hampton USAF 327-2378 email Duties Secretary   Patricia O. Eagan FMS 894-4036 email Duties Treasurer LtC. Rogerio Rabago USAF 345-8193 email Duties USA Representative Col. Bill Del Vecchio USA 244-3248 email Duties USAF Representative LtC. J. R. Howard USAF 996-4142 email Duties USN/USMC/USCG/USPHS/USNOAA LCdr. Joyce Hoover USN 452-9786 email Duties

Appointed Board Members
Chaplain	LtC. Ernest S. Dean	USAF	477-5390	email	Duties
Assistant Chaplain	Col. Leon Holland	USA	335-1224	email	Duties
Personal Affairs Officer	Capt. William K. Brown	USN	345-5420	email	Duties
Austin Military Coalition Representative	Col. Bruce Conover	USAF	282-1844	email	Duties
Legislative Affairs Officer	LtC. Carlos W. Higgins	USAF	258-3564	email	Duties
ROTC Awards Coordinator	Col. Bill Del Vecchio	USA	244-3248	email	Duties
Newsletter Editor	LtC. Mary Kelso	USA	346-7140	email	Duties
Webmaster	LtC. J. R. Howard	USAF	255-2206	email	Duties

 

RETIRED OFFICERS WIVES CLUB change LUNCHEON-Wednesday-30 March, 2005-Austin Woman's Club Program- Guest Speaker-Dr. Craig Nazor-(PhD in Music)  He will speak on "Birdsongs in Classical Music" This is sure to entertain you. Social time---10:45 a.m.       Luncheon---11:30  Reservations: Martha Kirby 259-0423 or Jo Jean Gillespie 345-3069       No later than the Tuesday before the meeting.  Club Dues are Due-($13.00) to insure you are correctly listed in the 2005-06 Roster. Luncheon----    First Monday of each Month -1300 hours-that is 1:00 PM      Caring and sharing Widows Group-          LUBY'S CAFETERIA ON STECK AVE (OFF MESA OR MOPAC)              Contact Genevieve Bruce (453-0871) BRIDGE ---------- Second Friday of each Month- 0915 hours Bridge - Cafeteria in the Headquarters building of CAMP MABRY        Contact-Shirley Bone (1-246-9829) or Eva Costello (458-9064) NEW MEMBERS OF AMOAA LTCOL CHARLES BUERACHINGER, USAR  MAJ NORMAN JEFFERSON, USAF  MAJ JACK NELSON, USAF LET'S BE SURE TO MAKE THESE NEW MEMBERS FEEL WELCOME!!!  There are no menial jobs; anything that needs to be done is important.              Cheryl Haas, Sacramento, from Bits & Pieces

 

MEMBERS-Have you removed the post cards, read  them, signed them, stamped them and mailed them? What Postcards?????? The ones on the back cover of the March issue of "Military Officer" The subject is relevant to every one of us. If the Military member is still alive the concern is for the time when your SBP coverage will be considered paid up-if deceased, the concern is for the unfair deduction of DIG from the SBP that was deducted from retired pay for all those years.. MILITARY OR WIDOW OR WIDOWER-SIGN THOSE CARDS-ADD A HAND WRITTEN POST SCRIPT IF YOU WILL, AND SEND THEM IN. The DIC-SBP problem is not a concern only to the Retired Community. For service members killed on active duty since Nov., 24, 2003, a surviving spouse with children can avoid the dollar-for-dollar offset by assigning SBP to the children. But that forces the spouse to give up any SBP claim after the children attain their majority-leaving the spouse with only the DIC payment from the VA. Some help is on the way. As the "Military Officer" went to press, Congress was considering action to increase the lump-sum death gratuity to $100,000 for active duty deaths and increase military life insurance coverage to $400,000 of which the first $150,000 would be premium free for members serving in the combat zones. The increased sums would replace the miserly $12,000 death gratuity now in effect (only half of which has been tax-exempt]    A Jan 11 New York Times op-ed article wrongly concluded that the cost of TRICARE for LIFE, concurrent receipt, SBP, and other recent legislation is a weight on the DoD Budget and doesn't do anything to help current retention. The same themes were echoed in a Wall Street Journal story claiming that Military spending feels the freeze as benefits for Veterans climb. The story quoted a senior Pentagon official as saying that military retirees are taking budget money that military leaders want for equipment and troops now. The writer conducted an extensive interview with MOAA President Ryan, but relatively little of his remarks survived the Journal's editing process. A key, but unprinted point is that Congress also passed legislation requiring that funding for TFL and concurrent receipt is to come from the Treasury Department not the Defense budget.    Pentagon leaders who think that improving retiree and survivor benefits does not affect retention are living in a dream world. ..Active duty troops are not stupid-they know if they live they will be retired some day too. And that is why, considering the tremendously increased sacrifices the country is imposing on Guard and Reserve members and their Families, they need to act on Guard and Reserve compensation and benefit upgrades, as well as increased authorization for Active Service numbers, all of which DOD has been resisting. You can't save the world alone. Bits & Pieces

EXCERPT FROM "THE AFFILIATE" FOR FEB. 05 The 2003 Medicare Mod Act provided for a special enrollment period for TRICARE beneficiaries who had never signed up for Med, Part B. It also authorized a prospective waiver of late penalties for mil. beneficiaries who signed up for Part B in 2001 or later. The purpose was to ease penalties for retirees who had not signed up before but had to do so to get TRICARE For Life [TFL] benefits. Last fall, DoD sent a letter to the 68,000 TFL-eligible service members not enrolled in Part B, saying they would need to take Part B to keep TRICARE benefits and that Medicare would be sending them a follow up letter telling them how to enroll. However, about 30,000 of those individuals never received any letter from Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services-and because of this system failure have not been enrolled in Part B, For various reasons, some individuals do not wish to take Part B-because they still are covered by employer- sponsored insurance, because they get care from the VA health system, or because they are active duty family members. However, TRICARE will not pay claims for any beneficiaries who are Medicare Part B eligible but were not enrolled in Part B by Jan. 1. They will regain TRICARE eligibility [ and will not have to pay any late enrollment penalty] if they enroll during 2005. Please help spread the word that the 30,000 Part B- eligible beneficiaries who never received the second letter from Medicare should contact their local Social Security Admin at 1-800-772-1213 to enroll, or do so via the SSA Website atwww.ssa.gov/legislation. Beneficiaries who have claims denied because they are not enrolled in Part B have two options:  *wait until their enrollment has been processed in DoD records and then ask the provider to resubmit or  *take their Medicare card to a local uniformed services personnel ID office for assistance, or contact the Defense Manpower Data Center Support Office at 1-800-538- 9552 *-----end of Excerpt----------- - DoD has issued clarifying information that Scouts will continue to be allowed to use Military facilities on the same basis as other organizations. The Army, by regulation, is authorized to support the Boy Scouts, as long as Soldiers and their families receive some legitimate benefit in return, usually through morale, welfare and community activities. Other non-federal organizations must be granted the same support as the Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts are no different than any private Organization that's chartered and complies with DoD's private organization regulations to meet on Federal Installations. In bringing this issue to closure, Sec-Def Rumsfeld has written Congressional Leaders to clarify the DoD's continuing support for scouting events. Our local Boy Scout officials indicate the DoD ruling is "more administrative" than mission oriented. When asked if the Boy Scouts have ever considered dropping the requirement to believe in God, they said, "We never have, and we never will." - The above is taken from "The Officer Review", the MOWW magazine. for March. 2005.

DUES FORM Please fill in the form below, detach it, and mail it with your check (payable to AMOAA) to: Military Officers Association of America P.O. Box 1071 Austin TX 78767-1071 o New Member          o  Returning Member     o Current Active Member Dues for 1 Jan thru 31 Dec            are $ 15 for Officers and $ 10 for Widows and Widowers   Name, Rank, Service ___________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________ City ___________________________________________ State _______________Email________________________ Telephone no. _______________ Fax________________________