MOWW SCRIPTURE AND COMMENTARY           (By Chaplain Ernie Dean) May 2013:  This Is Who We Are!      David, son of Jesse, was the man whom God made great, whom the God of Jacob chose to be king, and who was the composer of beautiful songs for Israel. These are David's last words: The spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his message is on my lips. The God of Israel has spoken; the protector of Israel said to me: "The King Who rules with justice, who rules with reverence for God, is like the sun shining on a cloudless dawn, the sun that makes the grass sparkle after rain." II Samuel 23:1-4      David, from the first, was an appealing individual. He caught God's eye and God approved of David as King (See I Samuel 16 for this beautiful story.) God made it clear he looked upon the heart when decisions were to be made. God still functions this way, so we are challenged to live with pure hearts. David, as we all do, had his ups and downs. Particularly unsavory was his liaison with Bathsheba (see II Samuel 11) that was based on trickery, lies, and murder. Yet, David grew from that and became the most favored of all kings. We can detect in today's reading quoted above that David possessed, and learned to use for the good his superlative attributes. David gave praise to God in word and deed for the balance of his life, and was a prolific and important writer of poetry. "The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me, his message is on my lips." (v.2) Let us remember, and be glad, that this same Spirit moves in our hearts and souls and enables us to rise above any past mistakes and the habit of falling into the ordinary and become extraordinarily active and faithful believers. This is what God wants for us-to think, say, and live the worshipful, rise to our calling as servants of God and as servants to one another. Reverence and commitment combine to bring us the power to be just, merciful and helpful, to be a great light in the otherwise dark and foreboding chaos that rules the unruly. David's words are carefully crafted and elevate us to a high calling. Listen once again to colorful and specific language that dramatizes what it means to do what is right: The King who rules with justice, who rules in reverence for God, is like the sun shining on a cloudless dawn, the sun that makes the grass sparkle after rain. (v.3b-4)

The imagery grasps us and pulls us up so that we can live with a new and renewable sense of fellowship and at-onement. We reflect the sun's rays, we sparkle from a life-giving rain, and there is a deep and abiding sense of peace that engulfs us. And we are glad! Comander's comments continued. The Executive Board will convene this summer to reassess and re-evaluate the chapter's direction and future. Your input, thoughts, and suggestions are always welcome. Maintaining the viability of our chapter this year was the result of the continued support and interest of you, the companions, spouses and friends. Thank you! Don't forget the upcoming regional and national conferences this spring and summer. Your attendance will be greatly appreciated. It has been an honor and pleasure to serve as your Commander for the past two years. ---COL Leon Holland, USA (Ret.)  WWII Underage enlistments.  Over time, nearly 50,000 were detected and sent home. Among the many who eventually managed to enlist, a handful was discovered - court martialed - and then stripped of any valor awards they might have earned. But the great majority - some 200,000 -- went unnoticed and served honorably for the duration. Calvin Graham, the USS South Dakota's 12-year-old gunner, served in 1942. Bananas  There are many health benefits of bananas, like preventing high blood pressure due the presence of potassium and sodium, helping to make stronger bones through absorption of calcium, and cheering up the mood due to the presence of tryptophan. Along with these benefits, it is also a rich source of fiber. It will help you loose wait, beneficial for diabetes patients, protects against colon cancer and hermonhoids.

 

AUSTIN MILITARY ORDER OF THE WORLD WARS MEETING SCHEDULE 9 May --- Formal/regular evening meeting at 6:30 (install new officers)              Crowne Plaza Hotel6121 North IH-35512-323-5466 Our meeting area is the Waterloo room. It is located down the hall to the right of the Gift shop located toward the back of the lobby.

 

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  1905-1945 - Dinner 2000-2045 - Program 2045-2100 - Adjourn. Earthquake in Washington-- obviously government's fault. You are not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on

 

How to get military discounts on line. The participating company would have a Troop ID widget on their checkout page.  You would sign up at www.troopid.com which was set up by some Harvard students.  About 1000 people sign up everyday. I verified my service as a member of USAA.

TRICARE for Life - The administration has proposed fees.  The fee would equal one half of one percentage point of gross retired pay in 2014; one percent in 2015; 1.5 percent in 2016, and two percent in 2017 and in 2018. But the fees would have ceilings: no more $150 a year in 2014; no more than $300 in 2015, $450 in 2016, $600 in 2017 and no more than $618 in 2018.

 

The DoD sponsored Retiree-At-Cost Hearing Aid Program (RACHAP) and the Retiree Hearing Aid Purchase Program (RHAPP) are designed to help military retirees purchase hearing aids through an Audiology Clinic at a special government negotiated cost. The hearing aids available through this program are the same state-of-the art technologies available to active duty service members. The program is open to all military retirees who have hearing loss or tinnitus (ringing in the ears). TX Lackland AFB 554-5421 210-292-5421

 

Guadalcanal-Tulagi Invasion, 7-9 August 1942 The long fight for Guadalcanal formally opened shortly after 6AM on 7 August 1942, when the heavy cruiser Quincy began bombarding Japanese positions near Lunga Point. In the darkness a few hours earlier, what was for mid-1942 an impressive invasion force had steamed past Savo Island to enter the sound between the two objective areas: Guadalcanal to the south and, less than twenty miles away, Tulagi to the north. These thirteen big transports (AP), six large cargo ships (AK) and four small high-speed transports (APD) carried some 19,000 U.S. Marines. They were directly protected by eight cruisers (three of them Australian), fifteen destroyers and five high-speed minesweepers (DMS). Led by Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, this armada was supported from out at sea by three aircraft carriers, accompanied by a battleship, six cruisers, sixteen destroyers and five oilers under the command of Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, who was also entrusted with the overall responsibility for the operation. The great majority of these ships (9 AP, 6 AK and most of the escort and bombardment ships), with Marine Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift and the bulk of his Leathernecks, was to assault Guadalcanal a few miles east of Lunga Point. Tactically, this part of the landing went very well. There were few enemy combat troops present, and these were some distance away. The first of the Marines came ashore soon after 9AM at "Red" Beach, a stretch of grey sand near the Tenaru River. By the afternoon of the following day they had pushed westwards to seize the operation's primary object, the nearly completed Japanese airfield near Lunga Point. The surviving Japanese, mainly consisting of labor troops, quickly retreated up the coast and inland, leaving the Marines with a bounty of captured materiel, much of which would soon prove very useful to its new owners. While the Marines consolidated their beachhead and began to establish a defensive perimeter around the airstrip, the landing of their supplies and equipment proceeded less well. Typically for these early amphibious operations, arrangements were inadequate to handle the glut of things brought ashore by landing craft. Mounds of supplies soon clogged the beaches, slowing the unloading of the ships offshore. A series of Japanese air attacks, which forced the ships to get underway to evade them, didn't help, and when the catastrophic outcome to the Battle of Savo Island and the withdrawal of Vice Admiral Fletcher's carriers forced the the big transports and cargo ships to leave on 9 August, none of them had been completely unloaded. Though the Marines had taken their objective, supply shortages would plague them in the coming weeks, as the Japanese hit back by air, sea and land in an increasingly furious effort to recover Guadalcanal's strategically important airfield. Both sides then began landing reinforcements by sea, and bitter fighting ensued in the island’s jungles. The Japanese forces on the island reached a peak strength of 36,000 troops by October, but they were unable to overwhelm the Americans’ defensive perimeter and retake the airfield. Six separate naval battles were also fought in the area as the navies of both sides sought to land reinforcements. By November, the U.S. Navy was able to land reinforcements on Guadalcanal faster than were the Japanese, and by January 44,000 U.S. troops were on the island. By February 1943 the Japanese, badly outnumbered, were forced to evacuate 12,000 of their remaining troops from Guadalcanal. Along with the naval Battle of Midway (June 3–6, 1942), the fighting on Guadalcanal marked a turning point in favour of the Allies in the Pacific War.