(reservation form on last page) military beginnings...
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2014 2015 2016
Find us at www.starspan.org
2014 2015
Chapter Level of Excellence
“Never Stop Serving” Communications Award
SEPT. / OCT. 2016 NEWSLETTER
September 28, 6 pm Mt Washington Tavern
(reservation form on last page)
Military Beginnings: Development of American and Maryland Forces
----Chapter Member Richard J. Martiny (MAJ USA (Ret.) On Long Island in late August 1776 a small number of Maryland
soldiers repeatedly attacked and delayed several thousand British and
Hessians troops, covering the frantic retreat of a disintegrating
American army to the safety of fortifications. They became known as
the Gallant 400. Military Beginnings traces the background and roots
of this unit, Smallwood’s Maryland Regimen, back through
Maryland, English, European and Middle Eastern military history. It
then follows the development of the militia concept, i.e. every able-
bodied man is called on to defend family/clan/tribe/village/country/society. The military force
that protected America during its early periods of growth, for over 150 years, were the
militia. Maryland’s evolved into the Continentals who successfully held off the British
attackers. Military Beginnings tells how it happened.
MAJ Martiny received a BA in History from the University of Notre Dame, a
MSA in Personnel Management from George Washington University and did
additional post grad work at Johns Hopkins and Georgia State Universities. He
served as a mechanized Infantry Platoon Leader and Company Commander in
Viet Nam and Germany. He had staff Operations and Personnel Management
positions at Battalion, Brigade and Post levels. His final two assignments were
with the Recruiting Command as a Battalion XO and Brigade S1. He spent 17
years helping manage and managing auto parts retail stores. He currently lives
in Columbia, MD with his family, doing volunteer work, historical research and writing.
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MOAA Pres. Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, USAF (Ret) is confirmed as our GUEST
SPEAKER: 52nd Annual Banquet, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, 6 pm, Mt Washington Tavern!
Two symbols in the Newsletter Heading:
Five Star Level of Excellence Award: Every year, MOAA’s affiliates compete to receive a four- or five-star Levels of Excellence Award. This year, 121 of MOAA’s very best councils and chapters earned five-star awards. The Star Spangled Banner Chapter was awarded Five Stars. Chapters are judged on growth and retention of membership; National MOAA membership; active programs; full slate of officers, directors and chairs; newsletters; websites and active participation in legislative and advocacy
events of significance such as ROTC and the VA. 2015 Five Star Communications Award: From the June Military Officer magazine. “Webmaster Lt. George Wright, USN (Ret), received the highest score in the website category for the Star Spangled Banner (Md.) Chapter’s website (www.starspan.org).” This was the top score of all Chapter entries! Note how comprehensive our website www.starspan.org covers Chapter and member information and
references MD Council and National MOAA.
Share This Tip of the Hat … to members of the Star Spangled Banner (Md.) Chapter who assisted
the ROTC Alumni Association of Morgan State University with a cookout June 11 for the resident patients of the Loch Raven VA Rehabilitation Center. In addition to volunteering at the cookout, the chapter donated $200 to help with event costs. Thanks for your contributions to this great summer kick-off that puts smiles on the faces of veterans! - See more at: http://www.moaa.org/Content/ChWeapters-and-Councils/Council-and-Chapter-eNewsletters/The-Affiliate/2016-Affiliate/August-2016/Tip-of-the-Hat.aspx#sthash.g11cjtK7.dpuf Thanks to LTC (Ret) Annette Brown for coordinating this event and all members who helped!
Special Thanks! The Chapter Board regrets to inform the membership that since we had less than
the required number sign up to finance the bus for the Antietam Staff Ride we had to cancel the event. We thank Col (Ret) Randy Everett for his thorough effort in planning this event and he and Maj (Ret) Glen Williams with a new Ph.D. in Military History from the Univ. of Maryland for what would have been a terrific professional presentation!
July 3, 2016 at Fort McHenry - Tattoo Ceremony by the Old Guard
Fife and drum corps Ft. Mc Henry Flag Drill Team
Ft McHenry will celebrate a Star Spangled Banner Weekend Sept. 9-11. See nps.gov
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Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Commemoration in Pictures. LZ Maryland June 18-19, Timonium, MD Fairgrounds
A generous and grateful “Welcome Home” Huey gunship
from a multitude of sponsors!
Cobra gunship individual soldier equipment
Agent Orange Soldiers of the Army Field Band Veteran’s signatures on Vietnam map
1017 Marylanders KIA or MIA
Vietnam Veterans Memorial replica
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Chapter supports new ROTC 2nd Lieutenants with shoulder board gift certificates
Morgan State Program
McDaniel Program
Who Cares About TRICARE for Life? By: Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF (Ret)Vice President, Government Relations
An Aug. 1 op-ed on Politico.com by Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies, rightly took the Senate to task for proposing very large housing-
allowance cuts for thousands of service members.
It called the Senate initiative “perhaps the most misguided proposal with the greatest potential
for unintended consequences.”
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Rather than highlighting, as MOAA did, the devastating financial impact of the plan for various
types of service members, the op-ed cited other downsides, including potential effects on local
housing markets and the possibility of raising DoD housing costs.
Unlike MOAA, again, it didn’t take issue with making significant cuts in personnel
accounts. Indeed, it cited bogus arguments to the effect “rising personnel costs are squeezing out
investments in new technologies and weapon systems.”
In fact: (a) personnel costs are no longer growing, (b) the growth in the first decade of the
century was a necessary correction for more than a decade of previous cutbacks that caused
retention and readiness problems in the late 1990s, and (c) personnel costs have remained steady
at a little over 30 percent of the DoD budget for the past 30 years. (What’s actually squeezing
new technologies and weapon systems is exploding cost overruns in both acquisition and
operations and maintenance accounts.)
But the author’s main argument against cutting housing allowances is that “immediate cash
compensation is what employees value most — more than noncash forms of compensation (like
health care) and deferred benefits (like retirement pensions).”
So the author’s recommended alternative is to cut “benefits many service members don’t even
know they have and therefore do not value, like the Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care
benefit [TRICARE For Life (TFL)].”
In effect, this is the old argument that we could gut retirement benefits and give the troops a
pickup truck and they’d be happier.
If we only checked first-termers, this might prove true. But the longer people serve, the more
value they place on those longer-term benefits — and the stronger the benefits get as retention
incentives.
Twenty years ago, Congress and DoD went down the “let’s cut future benefits” path by cutting
retired pay value 20 percent (remember the “Redux” retirement change?), closing large numbers
of military hospitals and clinics, and effectively locking Medicare-eligible retirees out of any
military health care.
In the ensuing years, declining career retention and exit surveys indicating the main difference
was Redux led the Joint Chiefs to urge its repeal. Concerned that angry retirees were influencing
younger friends and family members not to enlist/reenlist over broken promises of “lifetime
health care,” the Chiefs also urged a health care fix for Medicare-eligibles. These were major
factors in Congress’ repeal of Redux and subsequent enactment of TFL.
So op-ed authors can make all the assertions they please that troops don’t know or care about
retirement and health care.
History shows those who pursue a military career care about them — a lot.
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Results of MOAA’S Recent Questionnaire--About 6,000 responded, and here's your reported
priorities in order: #1 Retiree Concern: Force Cuts 24% Rx Copay Hikes 24% Pay Raise Cap 22%
#1 Active Duty Concern: Pay Raise Cap 23% BAH Cut 21% Force Cuts 16%
Update for Spouses and Surviving Spouses - June 2016
Health Care Proposed Reforms House Armed Services Committee proposed major military health care changes. Committee Chair Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) would like to apply a new fee structure for those entering the service beginning in 2018, but not changing Tricare For Life or Tricare Prime. Currently serving and retired military would not be affected by the large fee hikes proposed in the FY 2016 defense budget. He would like to change the current Tricare Standard progam to a preferred-provider system with flat-dollar copayments for most doctor visits. This program which would be called Tricare Preferred and those wishing to stay in it would need to enroll and pay a yearly fee of $100/$200 (individual/family) starting in 2020. ("Storming the Hill," back in April, focused on the rationale for not raising fees for Tricare, Tricare for Life, and drug co-pays.) Other Proposed Reforms The Chairman's Bill would extend the Survivor Indemnity Allowance for military survivors affected by the deduction of VA survivor benefits from their Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities. This would be for one year at the FY2017 $310 monthly rate. MOAA will continue to work for a longer extension and a rate increase as the defense bill progresses through Congress. This was another one of MOAA's focuses when MOAA did its storming. MOAA wants a change in the SBP calculation for guard members and reservists who die on inactive duty for training. It proposes using the same formula used for calculations as those used for active duty death. Also proposed was that both men and women must register for the Draft when they become 18 years old. Furnished by Naomi M. Kaplan, Spouse / Surviving Spouse Liaison, MOAA Maryland Council of Chapters
MOAA Answers Your Top Questions (from Website)
Q. Is concurrent receipt still a priority for MOAA?
Definitely. MOAA continues to support full concurrent receipt of both military retired pay and VA disability pay-regardless of the percentage of disability. This issue remains one of MOAA's key legislative priorities, and our goal of full elimination of the offset is specified in MOAA's Resolutions, under Resolution No. 6-Career Force Compensation and Retirement System. Members are able to see up to date bill status information and send letters of support through MOAA's key bills webpage.
MOAA is committed to advocating for concurrent receipt until the offset is eliminated for all disabled retirees. We believe strongly in the principle that career military members earn their retired pay by
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service alone, and those unfortunate enough to suffer a service-caused disability in the process should have any VA disability compensation added to, not subtracted from, their service-earned retired pay.
The main challenge, as it is with so many of our legislative goals, is funding. Under congressional rules, the only way the Armed Services Committees can propose such fixes is by identifying equal spending cuts in other programs in their purview. That's why it's been so difficult winning further progress.
In all likelihood, progress will come as it has in the past - in increments rather than in one big change. In that regard, MOAA's top concurrent receipt priority is providing relief for severely disabled medical retirees with less than 20 years of service. Under current law, a 100 percent (non-combat) disabled medical retiree with 19 years of service still loses most or all of his retired pay to the disability offset.
We're convinced the offset will be fully eliminated for all disabled retirees at some point. But the current budget environment poses a huge obstacle for the short term.
Some Interesting Data:
MOAA Military Family Initiative: Did you know you can donate a small portion of every dollar you spend on Amazon.com to the MOAA Military Family Initiative (MMFI)? Simply go online to www.moaa.org/foundation and click on the /amazon /smile icon. You will be directed to the Amazon Smile sign-in page, where you will be prompted to sign in using your Amazon account credentials. The Amazon smile homepage is your next stop, be sure to check the upper-left corner of the screen, where you should see MMFI as your preferred charity. As long as you sign in to Amazon Smile each time you shop, 0.5 percent of the purchase price of eligible products will be donated to MMFI to help support service members and veterans of all ranks and their families and survivors and address lifelong military family transition needs. Never stop serving by donating through Amazon Smile today. (Military Officer, July 2016)
Newsletter Online: www.starspan.org Newsletter Production & Editor: Newsletter Distribution: LT George Wright, USN (Ret) COL Tom Seybold, USA (Ret) COL Jim Shelley, USA (Ret) Webmaster President 410-561-5377 1st Vice President 443-570-5775
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Chapter Events for 2016 & 2017:
November 15, 2016,
Tuesday, 6pm, Class A
Uniform or Business Suit
52nd ANNUAL MEETING & BANQUET, 6 pm, MT WASHINGTON TAVERN
MOAA Pres. Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins USAF (Ret) GUEST SPEAKER
confirmed. Past Chapter Presidents honored. Dedication of Chapter Flag.
February 7, 2017 Tues.
Luncheon,
noon
Tuskegee Airmen, noon Col. Charles McGee, Guest Speaker (lively
95 years old and one of the originals! Mt Washington Tavern or Joey
Chiu’s at Green Spring Station.
April 12, 2017 Wed.
6:00 pm “How MD Legislates” MD Legislator–Delegate Nick Kipke Mt Washington
Tavern A comprehensive explanation of Maryland’s legislative process.
June 6. 2017 Tues.
Luncheon,
noon
D-Day, June 6, Joe Balkoski, Author, Historian
5th Regiment Armory, Baltimore
Dinner RESERVATIONS Mt Washington Tavern - Sept 28, 2017, 6 pm
PIMLICO ROOM, MT WASHINGTON TAVERN, 5700 NEWBERRY ST. BALTIMORE, MD 410-367-6903
DIRECTIONS and PARKING: From the JFX (I-83), take the Northern Parkway East exit, left at first signal onto Falls Road north, left at first traffic light onto Kelly Ave. bridge, cross bridge back over the JFX, turn right at second light onto Sulgrave Ave., the restaurant is the large building on the left. There is a side entrance on Sulgrave Ave. The main entrance is at the end of the block on 5700 Newbury Street. There is metered street parking and down Newbury Street a free parking lot by the light rail line as well as a parking lot with meters just west of the light rail line. Our Banquet is in the Pimlico Room on the second floor and there is an elevator near the side entrance. MTWASHINGTONTAVERN.COM
Menu: $38/person DRESS: coat & tie, duty uniform or casual Cocktail Hour: Marsala Meatballs, Corn & Edamame Quesadillas, Cheese/Fruit Display Dinner: Mediterranean Salad, Vegetable Pasta, Sirloin Kabobs, Chicken Piccata, Sautéed Green Beans, Roasted Redskin Potatoes Dessert Tray Coffee, tea, soft drinks included Cash Bar Make check out to the Star Spangled Banner Chapter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RESERVATION FORM: Star Spangled Banner Chapter Dinner at Mt Washington Tavern, Sept 28, 6:00 pm
(Please cut off and mail reservation with check to the Treasurer to arrive by Sept 24, 2016)
Name___________________________________ Guest Name(s) _______________________________
Number of Reservations: ________ Total Dinner Reservation Amount @ $38/person $___________
Donation (circle) MOAA Scholarship Fund or SSB Chapter $_________
TOTAL CHECK $______________ Make check out to the Star Spangled Banner Chapter.
Mail to the Treasurer, LCDR (Ret) Adrian Das, 6601 Phaedra Ct., Sykesville, MD 21784-6246.
For further event information call Adrian or “A.D.” at 410-795-4252 or Col Jim Shelley at 443-570-5775.