The Association for all Military Officers
Companion Bulletin- January 2011

Words from the Commander: HAPPY NEW YEAR!    As we see the end of another decade and bid farewell to 2010 with its joys, sorrows and challenges, we are blessed to welcome the bright beginnings of 2011.    Chapter members who attended the Holiday Dinner Dance hosted by the Austin Military Officers Association of America were not only entertained by the outstanding Corky Robinson Band, but also by a special performance by members of a local dance club. It was a fun evening. Hopefully, this event will become an annual event shared among local military organizations.    To begin our year, we are pleased that Companion Patterson has arranged for his brother, Andrew Patterson, to be our January guest speaker. See details elsewhere in The Companion.    We have several wonderful programs scheduled through May, but if you have a recommendation, please do not hesitate to let us know. Speaking of the future, it is not too early to begin our succession planning for our 2011 -2012 session of AMOWW.

We need and honor your input and participation to maintain our chapter's viability. So, let us hear from you soon regarding the position that you would like to serve during the next session.    In closing, Peggy and I wish all of you a very happy New Year filled with good health, happiness and prosperity.    We look forward to seeing you on January 13, 2011. ---COL Leon Holland, USA (Ret.) Next Meeting. January 13  at the Holiday Inn Northwest (Mopac & Hwy 183).  Please join us. "The Spartans do not enquire how many the enemy are, but where they are." --Agis II, 427 BC "Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it's the quality which guarantees all others." -Sir Winston Churchill "Oh Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I in my haste forget Thee; do not Thou in Thy grace forget me." -- Sergeant Major General Sir Jacob Astley before the Battle of Edgehill, Oct 1642

MOWW Scripture and Commentary January 2011 (Chaplain Ernie Dean) Praise the Lord! Praise God in his Holy Temple! Praise his strength in Heaven! Praise God for the mighty things he has done. Praise his supreme greatness. Praise God all living creatures! Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150:1-2, 6) There is no better way to approach this next year of our lives than to live lives of praise. This year of 2011 will challenge us, for sure, as each year does. The issue, then, is not whether or not we will encounter times of hard decisions, but whether or not we face life with appreciation for God's presence with us during those times of difficulty. Psalm 150 is the last Psalm. The first Psalm tells us about "True Happiness" and calls us to obedience. This last Psalm calls us to praise, an act of obedience. The 148 other Psalms speak of the entire spectrum of human need, emotions, and opportunities. The Book of Psalms gives us a prayer book and worship guide for the holy life. If the Psalms sit there unread and unappreciated, they do us little good. To read the Psalms (and all scripture) with conviction and faithfulness places us on the proper path for renewal. Whatever else we plan for the renewing of our lives in 2011, let's make these endeavors blend with our religious devotion. This way, we can live with more assurance that God's way for the good life is our way, also, and that we, in turn, are a blessing to others. What a true blessing!

Andrew Patterson was born in Cisco, Texas, the son of Andrew and Vera Patterson. He attended the Cisco public school through the 7th grade. He was then sent to Butler College Academy in Tyler where he finished his bachelors degree. He earned his Masters in Education from Prairie View University.    Patterson began teaching in the Brenham ISD and then Hawkins ISD. After four years he was hired in the Fort Worth ISD and spent seventeen years as a teacher, lead teacher, Elementary School Principal and Special Assistant to the Assistant Superintendent of Instructions.    The last fourteen years of his career was spent at the Texas Education Agency in Austin, Texas as an Education Program Consultant.    Patterson has felt through-out his career that he had a great desire to help children complete their education and grasp the benefits that this great nation has to offer to those who prepare themselves.    He was recognized at all levels of his career as an educator that worked very hard, was professional at all times and exemplified the role of his profession.    In 1987 he joined the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church of Plano, Texas where he still serves as a deacon of the church. He is involved in the Training, Christian Education, Sunday school and various ministries of the church.    Since his heart transplant in 1995, he has spoken and campaigned for more people to volunteer to be organ and tissue donors.

 

Chapter Officers Commander Col Leon Holland 335-1224 Vice Commander Treasurer Col Andrew McVeigh 261-6272 Adjutant Mrs. Patricia Egan 750-1399 Chaplin LtCol Ernest S. Dean 477-5390 Youth Leadership Conference LtCol Thomas W. Anderson 445-4480 ROTC Awards Col Leon Holland 335-1224 Newsletter & Web Site LtCol J. Robert Howard 848-0285

Schedule: 1830-1900 - Social 1900-1905 - Invocation & Salutes 1905-1945 - Dinner 1945-2000 - Break 2000-2045 - Program 2045-2100 - Adjourn. "The price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle, anywhere, anytime, and with utter recklessness" -Robert A. Heinlein

 

"What this country needs are more unemployed politicians." -- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995) "Commanders should be counseled, chiefly, by persons of known talent; by those whose knowledge is gained from experience; by those who are present at the scene of action, who see the country, who see the enemy; see the advantages that occasions offer, and who, like people embarked on the same ship, are sharers of the danger. If, therefore, anyone thinks himself qualified to give advice respecting the war which I am to conduct, let him come with me to Macedonia." - -Lucius Aemilius Paulus, circa 172 B.C. According to a study released 6 DEC and conducted with the help of Military.com and Sperling‘s BestPlaces, a private research firm, Waco and Oklahoma City, Okla., were the top places to retire in the U.S. for military retirees and their families. Austin/Round Rock was number 3 and College Station number 4. "Regulations are all very well for drill, but in the hour of danger they are no more use…You have to learn to think." -French Marshal Ferdinand Foch "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools." -- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

 

Philippine-American War 1899-1902, a war between the United States and Filipino revolutionaries. The Treaty of Paris (1898) transferred Philippine sovereignty from Spain to the United States but was not recognized by Filipino leaders, whose troops were in actual control of the entire archipelago except the capital city of Manila.    Commodore George Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on the morning of May 1, 1898, but could not occupy Manila until ground troops arrived three months later. On August 13 Manila fell after a bloodless "battle." Spanish Governor Fermín Jáudenes had secretly arranged a surrender after a mock show of resistance to salvage his honour. With American troops in possession of the city and Filipino insurgents controlling the rest of the country, conflict was inevitable.    The war began with shooting on the outskirts of Manila on the night of Feb. 4, 1899. Throughout the spring of 1899, American troops pushed north into the central Luzon Plain, and by the end of that year the Filipino general Emilio Aguinaldo retreated into the inaccessible northern mountains.    Fighting flared with increased bitterness on the island of Samar in 1901. General Jacob F. Smith, enraged by a guerrilla massacre of U.S. troops, launched a retaliatory campaign of such indiscriminate ferocity that he was court-martialed and forced to retire.    Hostilities broke out on the night of February 4, 1899, after two American privates on patrol killed three Filipino soldiers in a suburb of Manila. Thus began a war that would last for more than two years. Some 126,000 American soldiers would be committed to the conflict; 4,234 American and 16,000 Filipino soldiers, part of a nationwide guerrilla movement of indeterminate numbers, died.    The Filipino troops, armed with old rifles and bolos, were no match for American troops in open combat, but they were formidable opponents in guerrilla warfare. For General Ewell S. Otis, commander of the United States forces, who had been appointed military governor of the Philippines, the conflict began auspiciously with the expulsion of the rebels from Manila and its suburbs by late February and the capture of Malolos, the revolutionary capital, on March 31, 1899. Aguinaldo and his government escaped, however, establishing a new capital at San Isidro in Nueva Ecija Province.    Still more serious was the murder of Luna, Aguinaldo's most capable military commander, in June. Hot-tempered and cruel, Luna collected a large number of enemies among his associates, and, according to rumor, his death was ordered by Aguinaldo. With his best commander dead and his troops suffering continued defeats as American forces pushed into northern Luzon, Aguinaldo dissolved the regular army in November 1899 and ordered the establishment of decentralized guerrilla commands in each of several military zones.    Aguinaldo was captured at Palanan on March 23, 1901, by a force of Philippine Scouts loyal to the United States and was brought back to Manila. Convinced of the futility of further resistance, he swore allegiance to the United States and issued a proclamation calling on his compatriots to lay down their arms. Yet insurgent resistance continued in various parts of the Philippines until 1903.