OWRC-MOAA Briefing BoardA Publication of The Ohio Western Reserve Chapter–Military Officers Association of America

May 2012 • Volume 12 Issue 5 • www.owrc.net and moaa.org

PTSD: What Is it, Cause, Symptoms, Treatment

P.O. Box 4272 Copley, OH 44321

Fmr CPT Brandon Calhoun, USA of Uniontown, gave those who sat beside him an education on fracking.

Our newest members Sara Beis, LTC Ron Smetana.

CSM James Jones and Col Dick Calta, display their winning 50/50 tickets. The chapter receives 50% of the drawing, then the remaing 50% is awared to two winners. Jim donated his $10 and Dick donated his $27 to the educational fund.

MAJ David Sears, presents Theresa Ga-valya with OWRC-MOAA flag set.

“Storming the Hill”

Dan Hahn had a wonderful opportu-nity to meet with Congressional leaders from Ohio during the week of April 16th. Terry Cooney, the Ohio Council 1st Vice President and member of the Dayton Chapter, and Dan were the Ohio MOAA representatives this year and they split the state in half with each seeking to meet with eight Congress-men and women and one Senator from Ohio while in Washington. Dan met with Congresswoman Betty Sutton, and Congressmen Steve La-Tourette and Tim Ryan and with five Congressional Staff persons from the other offices. The Congressional leaders and staff members were very supportive and engaged with our issues. The three issues that MOAA had prepared for this year’s “Storming the Hill” were: 1 Disproportionate TRICARE in-

creases which amount to over 300% increases for the average TRICARE recipients in the next five years followed by medical cost of living increase of 6.2% or more starting in year six.

2 Preventing premature draw down of military forces while the war in Af-ghanistan is still being waged and to ensure that the draw down does not affect the dwell time of our troops and place more stress on an already overstressed force.

3 Resisting a “fast tracking” for military retirement changes”. The proposal in the President’s budget is to have a BRAC style commission that would

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Our guest speaker was Theresa Ga-valya, Family Therapist/Clinical Social Worker from the Veterans Center in Maple Heights. Theresa’s presentation and handouts enabled all those present to have a better understanding of what Posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD is: the cause, symptoms and treatment that is available. PTSD can occur after someone goes through, sees, or learns about a trau-matic event: combat exposure, child sexual or physical abuse, terrorist attack, sexual/physical assault, serious accident or natural disaster. Most people have some stress-related reactions after a traumatic event. If your reactions don’t go away over time and they disrupt your life, you may have PTSD.How Common Is PTSD?About 60% of men and 50% of women experience at least one traumatic event during their lifetime. Of those who do, about 8% of men and 20% of women will develop PTSD. For combat and sexual assault, the rates are higher.What Are the Symptoms of PTSD?PTSD has four types of symptoms.Reliving the event Memories of the trauma can come back at any time. You may feel the same fear and horror

http://www.owrc.net http://moaa.org

President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MAJ David Sears, USA, Ret . DAVIDBSEARS_MAj@YAHOO.COM . . . . . . . . 330-242-3739First Vice President . . . . . . LTC Tony Cookro, USA, Ret . MARTOnY8@junO.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-882-6525Second Vice President . . . . . . .MG Dan Hahn, USA, Ret . DHAHn51@AOL.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-313-1465Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LTC Dave Riegler, USA, Ret . DARIEGLER@GMAIL.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-666-2257Trustee (3 year) . . . . . . . . Lt Col Tom Menza, USAF, Ret . WCMEnzA@nEO.RR.COM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-929-3734Trustee (2 year) . . . . . . . . . . Col Dick Calta, USAF, Ret . TRAILERDC@GMAIL.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-576-6404Trustee (1 year) . . . . . .CWO3 Don Oglesby, USCG, Ret . DjO52800@nEO.RR.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-568-4456

Legislative Affairs . . LTC Larry M . Ashbaugh, USA, Ret . BuCKEYEVETERAn@AOL.COM . . . . . . . . . . . 330-990-1361Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . MAJ David Sears, USA, Ret . DAVIDBSEARS_MAj@YAHOO.COM . . . . . . . . 330-242-3739National Veterans Cemetery MAJ David Sears, USA, Ret . DAVIDBSEARS_MAj@YAHOO.COM . . . . . . . . 330-242-3739Newsletter Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . Janet & Don Oglesby jLO52800@nEO.RR.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-568-4456Chapter Programs . . . . . . . LTC Tony Cookro, USA, Ret . MARTOnY8@junO.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-882-6525ROTC/JROTC . . . . . . . . . CW4 Dave Rivedal, USA, Ret . THOR4458@zOOMInTERnET.nET . . . . . . . . 330-723-7410

Chapter Officers, Trustees, Chairpersons

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OWRC–Briefing Board May 2012

Articles in this newsletter, OWRC–MOAA Briefing Board are the opinions solely of the individual authors and do not necessarily express the policy or opinions of the newsletter’s editor or publisher. Also, the individual opinions do not reflect an endorsement by the Ohio Western Reserve Chapter or the national organization of the Military Officers Association of America, unless so indicated [Copyright 2012 Military Officers Asso-ciation of American All rights reserved.]For the benefit of the members. Questions or comments should be direct-ed to:MAJ David Sears USA-Ret. • P.O. Box 4272 • Copley, OH 44321 E-mail: owrcmoaa@owrc.net

Toiletries for Waterloo Road VA CenterWe continue to collect toiletries to take to the VA clinic on Waterloo Road The VA welcomes hotel-size, unused sham-poo, toothpaste, mouthwash, lotions etc. and makes them available to out-patient visitors to the clinic. Our members are welcome to drop items at the clinic or they may bring them to any of our activities and items will be collected and delivered to the clinic. Bring your contributions to our gen-eral membership meetings.

you did when the event took place. You may have nightmares or feel like you’re going through it again. This is called a flashback. Sometimes there is a trigger—a sound or sight that causes you to relive the event. Seeing someone who reminds you of the trauma may bring back memories of the event. You may think about the trauma at work or school when you need to concentrate on something else.Avoiding situations that remind you of the event You may try to avoid situations or people that trigger memories of the traumatic event. You may even avoid talking or thinking about the event. You may avoid crowds, because they feel threaten-ing. If you were in a car accident or your military convoy was bombed, you may avoid driving. Some people keep busy or avoid seeking help. This keeps them from having to think or talk about the event.Feeling numb You may find it hard to express your feelings. This is another way to avoid memories. It may be hard to remember or talk about parts of the trauma. You may find it hard to experience your emotions. You may not have positive or loving feelings toward other people and may stay away from relationships. You may not be interested in activities you used to enjoy, spending time with family and friends.Feeling keyed up (also called hyper arousal) You may be jittery or always on alert and on the lookout for danger. You might suddenly become angry or irritable. This is known as hyper arousal. You may want to have your back to a wall in a restaurant or waiting room. A loud noise may easily startle you. If someone bumps into you, you might fly into a rage.How Likely Is a Person to Develop PTSD after a Trauma?How susceptible you are to PTSD can depend on many things: how intense the trauma was or how long it lasted, if you lost someone you were close to or if you were hurt, how close you were to the event, how strong your reaction was, how much you felt in control of events, or how much help and support you got after the event. What Treatments Are Effective for PTSD?There are successful treatments available for PTSD. The two main types are psychotherapy, sometimes called “counseling,” and medication. Often people combine psychotherapy and medication. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most effective treatment for PTSD. CBT usually involves meeting with your therapist once a week for 3-6 months. There are different types of CBT that are effective for PTSD. Medication Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) can raise the level of serotonin in your brain, which can make you feel better. The two SSRIs that are currently approved by the FDA for the treatment of PTSD are sertraline (zoloft) and paroxetine (Paxil).Where Can I Get Help for Myself or a Family Member?This link is accessible online at http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/where-to-get-help.asp

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/where-to-get-help.asphttp://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/where-to-get-help.asp

A MOAA Chapter in Action Page 3

May 2012 OWRC–Briefing Board

OWRC-MOAA—2012 Calendar of EventsMay 1– Exec. Board Meeting, Veterans Service

Center (VSC) 17:30–18:45 17– ROTC/JROTC Recognition Mem-

bership at Prime 93 1800–2030 hrs . RSVP: Check must accompany res .

June 9– Membership Annual Picnic

Silver Lake, Ohio 1200–1600 hrs . Bring a dish-to-pass nOTE DATE CHAnGE

14–Army Birthday 1775

July10– Membership Golf/Picnic Loyal Oaks

Golf Course 1200/Golf—1730 /Picnic

28– OH Council—Wright Patterson AFB31– Exec. Board Mtg. (VSC) 17:30–18:45

August 4–Coast Guard Birthday 179019– Membership Steak Fry & Corn

Roast Tadmor Picnic Pavilion 1400–1700

29–Marine Force Reserve Birthday 1916

September17–Air Force Birthday 194720– Membership at Prime 93 (order

from early bird menu at restaurant) 1800–2030 hrs

October13–navy Birthday 177518– Membership at Prime 93 (order

from early bird menu at restaurant) 1800–2030 hrs

27– OH Council—Wright Patterson AFB30– Exec. Board Meeting, Veterans Service

Center (VSC) 17:30– 18:45

November10–Marine Corps Birthday 1775 15– Membership at Prime 93 (order

from early bird menu at restaurant) 1800–2030 hrs

Annual business meeting and election of officers

December6– Membership Christmas Party,

Galaxy Restaurant, Wadsworth, Ohio 1800–2100 hrs RSVP: Check must accompany reservation . Officer Installation

16–national Guard Birthday 1636

notes: All members and spouses are encouraged to attend all chapter/board meetings and activities “VSC” = Veterans Service Center – 1060 E. Waterloo Road, Akron

Plan to Attend Every WednesdaySocial LuncheonMichael’s AMRestaurant1130 hours

1562 Akron Peninsula Rd # 120 at W. Portage Trail Akron, OH 44313

May Membership Meeting–ROTC/JROTC Recognition and Awards ProgramWhere: Prime 93 Restaurant (formly Anthe’s)

4315 Manchester Road Akron, OH 44319-2697

When: Thursday, 17 May 2012

Social: 1800 (6:00 p.m.) with hors d’oeuvres

Dinner: 1900 (7:00 p.m.) Note later dinner time

Program: 1930 (7:30 p.m.)

Attire: Coat & Tie/Service Dress

Guest Speaker: LTC Mark Piccone, USA Professor of Military Science Kent State Army ROTC

Reservation Form: Each entrée includes: salad, roll, bean salad, baked potato, beverage, dessert, tax and gratuity.Stuffed Pork Chop ______ @ $22.50=$ ___________Chicken Cordon Bleu ___ @ $22.50=$ ___________Broasted Chicken ______ @ $22.00=$ ___________Broiled Scrod __________ @ $25.00=$ ___________My check is enclosed for this amount $ ___________

Mail your reservation to: OWRC-MOAA • P.O. Box 4272 • Copley, OH 44321

Include the following information:

Rank/name

Spouse/Guest name

Address

City/State/zip

Phone

Look our best

–

for the cadets

RSVP: Please send reservation by mail no later than Fri-day, May 12th or call LTC Dave Riegler at 330-666-2257. Can email using OWRC.net web site.

RESERVATIONS ARE MANDATORY The number of meals that are prepared are based on the reservations Dave receives.

http://www.owrc.net

OWRC–MOAA Briefing Board Ohio Western Reserve ChapterP.O. Box 4272Copley, OH 44321

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develop a retirement change and then Congress would approve with a thumbs up or down vote.

In all cases MOAA provided suggested solutions which all of our Congressional leaders like. Most lobby groups only tell them what they don’t like without any suggestions for a way ahead. MOAA agrees with TRICARE costs increases tied to COLA, ensuring that the draw-down is properly paced without taking issue with the actual drawdown num-bers, and a recognition that retirement changes may need to be studied but wants the full debate of the Congress in the process. Congress is responsible for the readiness of our Armed Forces and MOAA believes that proposing changes to the retirement system is a clear readi-ness issue.During the preparation for “Storming the Hill” and the MOAA Conference our national organization was extremely professional and well prepared. Dan stated that he was extremely proud to be a part of such a great organization.

Congressman Steven LaTourette, with 14th Congressional Distirct with Dan Hahn. Dan also met with Rep. Steve Stivers from the 15th District who is a serving LTC in the OH NG and has served in the Iraq.

Congresswoman Betty Sutton, 13th Con-gressional District.

Congressman Tim Ryan, 5th Congressional District.

Congressman Jim Renacci, 16th Congres-sional District with LTC Larry Ashbaugh. See Legislative News section.

Legislative News for Ohio Western Reserve Chapter Page 1

Interview withU .S . Congressman Jim RenacciOn April 23rd, I had the great honor of spending over an hour with local u.S. Congressman jim Renacci, Representative for the 16th Congressional District of Ohio in his offices in Can-ton. Congressman Renacci is a local businessman who for-merly served on Wadsworth City Council and as Wadsworth mayor. He was elected to Congress in 2010, and is running for reelection against Congresswoman Betty Sutton, who currently represents the 13th Congressional District. I had requested some private time to speak with the Congressman on issues that I felt were important to both today’s current military and to our military retirees. He was most gracious and gave me as much time as needed to discuss the items posed, and I am now pleased to pass on what we discussed.

As an entry into the discussion, I asked jim of his, or his fam-ily’s contact with military service, and he told me that his fa-ther, uncle, and most male members of his family have served, including recent service by his brother-in-law. Although Congressman Renacci is not a veteran himself, he related that he is a very strong supporter of both current active duty mili-tary and the families who stand behind the force in the field, knowing that today’s military is the force that maintains our country’s freedom. When I asked his thoughts on how our government currently supports our active duty military, jim reiterated that the government needs to ensure that we not only need to support and maintain our active force, but to also ensure that we uphold “promises made”. He also empha-sized that we must have good jobs and quality job training for veterans when they return from active duty.

Further into the discussion, I asked about reports that DoD and others have brought forward about the need for a signifi-cant reduction of active duty forces, especially from the Army and Marines, requiring a greater reliance on technology and a lessened reliance of ‘boots on the ground’. jim told me that he would prefer to listen to Senior Military Officers to make good recommendations, and base our decisions on military, vice political needs, with the realization that our military is our greatest asset. We then talked about the fact that our troops, both active and reserve, would be greatly impacted by a shorter ‘dwell time’ that currently allow them to re-train, re-fit, re-educate, and re-invigorate, and the impact that the shortened turn-around time for our forces between deploy-

ments with fewer soldiers would have on families, on recruit-ing and retention, and on how the number of veterans who would be eliminated by a draw-down would add to the unem-ployment rolls in today’s bad economy. Congressman Renacci heartily agreed that we need to keep sufficient dwell-time to help our troops, and jumped ahead into the subject of an urgent need to get the economy moving through individual entrepreneurship and a sharp reduction of job and economy-killing government regulations. With the ‘draw-down’ issue still developing on the national stage, we moved to other items.

We then spoke about talk that a change of the military retire-ment system, possibly with a ‘BRAC’ type of plan that would ‘fast-track’ the legislative process, and would limit congressio-nal amendments and debate with an up-or-down vote, as well as talk of attempting to equate military service with industry through a 401k-type of retirement option. Congressman Renacci flatly said that Congress and the nation must ensure that we “protect benefits as promised, with no ‘fast-tracking’, that we grandfather benefits, and use full debate and amend-ments” before any changes move through Congress. Then, the Congressman reiterated that before any bill moves through Congress, that we must “debate and amend” any possible changes.

Moving to TRICARE and the proposals that would add significant fee increases, including a tiered “means-testing” for active-duty military and retirees that is nowhere else used in government, Congressman Renacci talked about the Ryan budget proposal for Social Security and Medicare, which if adopted, would lessen the pressure to raise TRICARE fees. jim said that the option to pass the burden to the military through TRICARE increases must be looked at only as a last resort because of the services our military and retirees have already provided to the country. He agreed that a ‘means-test’ which penalizes active-duty or military retirees who have per-formed at a high level should not be applied due to the great differences between the military and the business world. He also said that it is important that Congress look at health care costs and overall costs across the board before imposing fees that negatively impact the military and TRICARE partici-pants.

Concurrent Receipt of retirement benefits for disabled retirees was the next issue we discussed. I acknowledged that this may not be the best economic climate to discuss this subject, but

LegislativeNews

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May 2012 Legislative News for Ohio Western Reserve Chapter

that there remains a feeling that the current system is inher-ently ‘unfair’ to many disabled veterans. jim reiterated his desire to protect military benefits, and not put the burden “on the backs of the military”. I asked if Congress currently had the will and courage to address this inequity, and jim said that Congress must “get past the rhetoric”, but that he was not sure that Congress currently had the will, and illustrated how some in Congress vote ‘for’ an issue before later voting ‘against’ the same issue on a Motion to Re-commit, but will only talk of the vote they registered that will generate votes at elections. jim said that he consistently supports the military, and agreed that the necessity to forfeit retirement pay when drawing a disability was an unfair burden when our military should have an added bonus vice other state or federal retire-ment programs.

The last topic we addressed was the idea proposed by some in the economic arena of the government using a ‘chained Consumer Price Index (CPI)’ to limit annual CPI numbers, which would result in lower COLA raises for military retirees. We discussed the chained-CPI theory that assumes that when a product rises in price, consumers substitute other products, such as chicken for beef when beef costs rise. The government would then base the CPI (and thus COLA increases) on the lower-priced item, saving COLA dollars. jim said that maybe we need to “tell them to go serve”. He agreed that with a fal-tering economy and rising gasoline, food, and medicine costs, that this is not a time to cut COLA for a struggling military middle-class.

With that, I thanked Congressman jim Renacci for his time, his honesty, and his support for our military and our military retirees, and headed back north through another blustery Ohio Spring day. I hope to ask the same questions to other local Congressional members, and to our Ohio Senators and Senate candidate. If you have a question or issue you would like me to raise, please let me know.

To find out more about Congressman jim Renacci and his views, please go to his websites:

http://renacci.house.gov and

http://www.renacciforcongress.com

LTC Larry M. Ashbaugh, uSA Ret. Legislative Affairs Chairman, OWRC-MOAA BuckeyeVeteran@aol.com

See picture of Congressman jim Renacci with LTC Larry Ashbaugh on page 4 of the newsletter.

MOAA renamed the award in 2011 after Colonel Marvin j. Harris, uSAF (Ret), who served with loyalty and dedication as MOAA’s Director of Public Relations from 1996 until 2011, delivering effective communica-tions to both military and civilian audiences. Each year, national MOAA holds a Communications Award contest to identify those councils and chapters that do an outstanding job commu-nicating with their members. There are seven categories of competition.

Print newsletters;Electronic newsletters;Web Sites;Best Legislative Coverage (Print newsletter);Best Legislative Coverage (Web site);Best Recruiting Brochure; andunique Communication (examples include phone tree net-works and specialized publications).Category IV (120-199 members) Print NewslettersWinner Columbia River Chapter newsletter Columbia River (Wash.) Cmdr. Richard Wersinger, uSn-Ret. 1st Runner-Up The Eagle’s Eye Gainesville (Fla.)Col. james Gleason, uSA-Ret.2nd Runner-Up OWRC-MOAA Briefing Board Ohio Western ReserveCWO3 Don Oglesby, USCG-Ret., and Janet Oglesby

Web SitesWinner Superstition Mountain (Ariz.)www.smcmoaa.org Ann Ferguson1st Runner-Up Central Oregonwww.comoaa.com Brig. Gen. Dennis Merrill, ARnG-Ret.2nd Runner-Up Ohio Western Reservewww.owrc.net Lt. Col. David Riegler, USA-Ret.

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Way To G

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Janet & D

on!

Way To G

o Dave!