N O W H E A R T H I S! S P O K A N E C H A P T E R M I L I T A R Y O F F I C E R S A S S O C I A T I O N O F A M E R I C A

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1 N O W H E A R T H I S! S P O K A N E C H A P T E R M I L I T A R Y O F F I C E R S A S S O C I A T I O N O F A M E R I C A President Ralph Shrigley, LTC, U.S. Army (Ret.) rshrigley@earthlink.net 1st Vice President Merl Gorton, COL, U.S. Army (Ret.) mdgorton@aol.com 2nd Vice President & Mbrship. Chair Clif Collier, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.) clifcoll@msn.com Secretary Eddylou Fred Donovan, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.) fredonovan@sisna.com Treasurer Rufus Hoefer, LTC, U.S. Army (Ret.) rands@comcast.net Auxiliary Liaison, Widows & Wives Beth Ann Daigre bethanndaigre@comcast.net Chief Recruiter, Newsltr. Ed. & IPP Marilyn Hunt, CDR, USN (Ret.) cinc@frontier.com Director & Legislative Chair Chuck Latimer, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.) spokanemoaa@aol.com Director & Travel Point of Contact Richard H. Oates, LTC, USMC (Ret.) rhoates@roadrunner.com Director & Program Chair Robert Imle, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.) robertmargaretimle@gmail.com Program Committee Members Barbara Thornbrugh, AUX (509) bjthornbrugh@comcast. net Betty Krafft, LCDR, USN (Ret.) bkrafft@spocom.com Director &Web Page Coordinator Chuck Lund, CAPT, USN cplund3@comcast.net Director Gary Whitman, CAPT, USN gary_whitman@msn.com Personal Affairs Chairman Elaine Anderson (Aux.) d122123@msn.com Newsletter Coordinator Dean Thie, LTjg, USN deanthie@gmail.com, Volume XXII Number 2 Bring Something to the 29 April Social for SUPPORT THE TROOPS 2012 Chapter Socials 18 Mar Northern Quest Casino 29 Apr FAFB Deel Center 10 Jun TBD 16 Sep Hopefully, Farragut 21 Oct Coeur d Alene Resort 9 Dec Mukogawa Ft. Wright 5 Star Chapter President s Message By Ralph Shrigley March 2012 Based on responses to our recent chapter survey, the Board has decided to send paper newsletters to all members for the next couple times and reassess your preference (please see p. 6). Those who ve elected to receive the newsletter via will receive it both ways. With proceeds from the March Raffle and donations from 19 members, we have kicked off the JROTC Scholarship Fund. An outstanding JROTC Cadet from each of the four high schools we support will each receive a $300 cash scholarship. With your continued generosity, we hope to increase this to $500 next year. Thank You! The speaker for 29 APR at Fairchild AFB will be Chapter member COL Rich Kelly, CO, 141 st Air Refueling Wing. We ve got a new raffle prize now: 2 free tickets to the next social.! I m pleased to announce that Dean Thie was the winner at the 18 March social! Recruiting is off to a strong start in 2012, but we need to pick up the pace. Most everyone knows at least one eligible officer who could join MOAA. We re in a tough legislative struggle this year due to budget tightening. We need many voices to be heard loud and clear. I encourage all of you to write letters to your local newspaper opposing the reduction of retiree medical and other benefits and civilianization of military retirement. We need to widely disseminate the adverse effect this will have on current and former military personnel. You can get updated information on these and other issues at Chapter Widows & Wives Club Meeting Dates 3 Jan Black Angus Steakhouse 7 Feb Thai Bamboo 6 Mar Ambrosia Bistro & Wine Bar 3 Apr Beverly s, CdA Resort 1 May Chaps Coffee Company 5 Jun Christ Kitchen 3 Jul C. I. Shenanigans 7 Aug Clinkerdagger Restaurant 4 Sep Grille from Impanema, CdA 2 Oct Twigs Bistro & Martini Bar 6 Nov A Taste of Dome at Asian 4 Dec Ripples, Red Lion River Inn Co-Chaplains: Ann Hurst, Capt, NC, USAF ann_hurst@comcast.net Rev. Betty Krafft, LCDR, USN (Ret.) bkrafft@spocom.com Page 1

2 Now Hear This! Welcome New Members LtCol Robert Auvil, USAF (Ret.) and wife JoAnn, Spokane Ann Donaldson, AUX, Coeur d Alene LTC Randy Griffin, USMC (Ret.) and wife Carol, Spokane 1LT Ryan Hedlund, USAF and wife 1LT Lauren Hedlund, USAF, Spokane Member Recruiters TAPS COL Ray Zuleski, US Army (Ret.) (3/2/2012) COST OF SOCIALS By Bob Imle, Program Chairman Social attendance has declined a bit, perhaps because of cost. However, I recently ate at the Olive Garden for $28, including a $4 tip. By comparison, our chapter has eaten for less than that at Northern Quest Casino, the CDA Resort, and Mukogawa for $ I will continue to schedule only 2 3 socials per year that require payment of $26 - $27 per attendee. The April social will only be only $10. The coupon is on page 5. Our Hat Is Off To: Chapter 2012 GMT 2012 Clif Collier 1 1 Merl Gorton 1 1 Marilyn Hunt 5 6 Dick Oates 1 2 TOTALS 8 10 Support the Troops MAR: 2 boxes (17#) to 12M Arabian Sea (USN), 2 boxes (15#) to 7M & 1W in Afghanistan (USAF), 2 boxes (16#) to 40M & 20W in Afghanistan (Army), 2 boxes (18#) to 10M & 5W in Afghanistan (USMC). 2 boxes to 150M & 25W Afghanistan (USMC); 2 boxes to 37M & 8W Afghanistan (USAF), 2 boxes to 10M & 2W on USS Abraham Lincoln (USN), 2 boxes to 42M Afghanistan (US Army) pounds total STT Summary: 16 boxes (145.5 lbs.) to 308M & 61W in USAF, Army, USMC and Navy in the Arabian Sea and Afghanistan, and onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Legislative Letters, Postcards & s: 434 as of 26 Mar Raffle Donations: MAR: $140 JROTC Units. Widows & Wives: $87 & 36 lbs. food to Spokane Food Bank. Yarn, knitting needles & crochet hooks to Spokane Veterans Home. Spokane Chapter, MOAA 2010 First Prize Winner Best Legislative Coverage for Website Third Consecutive Year! WIDOWS & WIVES CLUB By Beth Ann Daigre, President The March 6 th luncheon at Ambrosia Bistro turned out to be one of the best, and I missed it! But I can t complain because I was in Hawaii with my daughter and her family. Diane Gorton let us know we donated $62 and 11 pounds of food to the food bank this month. Elaine Anderson reports we donated a very large bag of yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks to the veterans home. Our newest program is helping the homeless veterans when they get their own apartment. Pat Tolley, Chair of this program, tells us these are the items needed: Kitchen pots and pans, dishes, flatware, towels and dish cloths, etc., linens of all kinds and sizes new or gently used bath towels, wash cloths, bed sheets, blankets, pillows, bed frames but NO mattresses. Furniture is also needed tables, chairs, small pieces of furniture (apartments are small and large pieces might be too much). The furniture can be picked up by the Homeless Veterans program truck. Please note, some of our homeless vets have families, so kitchen tables, chairs and desks would be a must for some households. If you have furniture to donate, please contact our Chair, Pat Tolley, at so she can arrange for the pick-up. If you have non-furniture items, you may bring them to our luncheons and have lunch with us! Widows and Wives Club dues are $10 per year, which is in addition to the chapter dues. If you would like to join our club, we are the surviving and current spouses of military officers. We meet the first Tuesday of each month at a different restaurant, we order off the menu and we pay our own bill. Join us if you would like to add to your circle of friends. Questions? Please call me at (509) Page 2/Mar 2012 We are a 5 Star Chapter proudly serving northeast Washington and north Idaho for 37 years!

3 Now Hear This! AUXILIARY CORNER By COL Ana R. Smythe, USMC (Ret.) - Auxiliary Member Advisory Committee Liaison Survivors of MOAA members have held a special place in the association since their addition to the ranks of then TROA in Although the group receives the same level of membership benefits as officer members, auxiliary members have never had the opportunity to vote in MOAA s board of directors elections or officially make their voices heard on national platform issues. That status should change this year. In August, the general membership will have the opportunity to vote on approving a change to the MOAA bylaws that would grant auxiliary members full voting rights. Several efforts in the past have examined this issue. In 2003, the Auxiliary Membership Working Group evaluated MOAA s chapter policies using focus groups and member surveys. The group released a report to MOAA s board of directors detailing their findings after a year of research. The decision was made to not pursue a change to the association s bylaws, but the board of directors did approve the creation of a special advisory group you know today as the Auxiliary Member Advisory Committee (AMAC). Since 2004, the AMAC has served the MOAA membership in an advisory capacity to the board of directors, and the success of the committee helped put the voting issue back on the table in An ad hoc study committee, formed in July, reported back on its findings to the board of directors in October The committee used extensive demographic data and input from major stakeholders such as the Council and Chapter Affairs Committee, the AMAC, and various other chapter leadership groups to support their unanimous recommendation that auxiliary members as soon as possible should be granted full voting privileges at the national level. Auxiliary members make up about 17 percent of the association s One Powerful Voice and play key roles in leadership at all levels of the association. This summer, the general membership will have the opportunity to make its voice even stronger by granting auxiliary members the right to vote in official MOAA matters. Current voting members should look for the national ballot in the August issue of Military Officer. SPOKANE CHAPTER JUNIOR ROTC SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM To Make a Pledge to This Program call Merl Gorton at (509) or Bob Imle at (509) In a recent article in the Military Officer magazine, individual MOAA chapters were encouraged to support local high school Junior ROTC units. For the past several years the Spokane Chapter has presented MOAA medals at unit ceremonies, recognizing individual cadet achievements. Cash awards have also been made by our Chapter to these units to assist in their exercises. In January the Spokane Chapter Board authorized a program for providing scholarships to cadets in the four schools located in our area, depending on member response. The schools that have Junior ROTC units are Rogers High School (Air Force), Wellpinit (Army), Medical Lake (Air Force) and Kellogg High School (Marine). A question asking about individual Chapter member financial support for scholarships was included in the January Chapter Survey. In response, 19 members have pledged amounts ranging from 25 to 125 dollars. The goal was to provide an annual scholarship award of up to 500 dollars for a cadet at each school. At present, sufficient pledges or monies have already been received to award four scholarships of $300 each. Based on this response, ROTC administrators in each school have already been contacted by Board member Bob Imle. They have been given information about standards for the scholarships for this school year. The final decision for scholarship awards will be made by a board chaired by a Chapter Board member and two Chapter members. Information on the administration of this program will be sent on request. NOW HEAR THIS! Is published 6 times per year by the Spokane Chapter, Military Officers Association of America, P O Box 466, Veradale WA Editor: Marilyn Hunt cinc@frontier.com Advertising limited to members/ spouses only. No subject matter that would preclude non-profit mailing. Page 3/Mar 2012

4 Now Hear This! 10 JUNE SPEAKER from SENATOR MURRAY S OFFICE Mr. John Culton from Senator Patty Murray's Spokane office will be the speaker at our social on 10 June. Patty is the Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. The majority of John s time will be a "listening session." He wants to know the concerns and issues of our members. He also plans to bring along 1-2 people to write down specific problems anyone is having with the VA. These people can only address the specific concerns of our Washington members, but they should be able to refer our Idaho members to appropriate contacts/agencies. This should be a very informative meeting. WASHINGTON STATE CERTIFICATION FOR MILITARY WELDERS Adapted by Permission of Deryl McCarty, President Mt. Rainier Chapter A military welder/electrician/boilermaker goes for a job interview in Washington, states that he s certified to weld under the sea, in space and on metals the employer has not yet heard of. He s welded (or rewired a junction box or repaired a sub hull) while being shot at or underway at 600 feet deep and has done it perfectly and is alive to prove it. The employer is eager to hire him, but needs to see his state welder s (or other) certificate, but he doesn t have one. All he has is his USAF (USN, USMC, USA) Journeyman AFSC (MOS) and certification weld. Oops, no state certification, no job. The only way to get the certificate is to attend classes at the local junior college, get apprenticeship training and join the union. It only takes a year or so and then he ll be an apprentice. However, even with the GI Bill pretty much paying for books and tuition, a WDVA stipend, and apprentice bucks from the union, it still means he ll end up as an apprentice, just like he would have when he was 19 years old. In the meantime, he still has a wife and two kids to feed and clothe (and perhaps send to college), and a mortgage to pay. The result of this conversation? McDonalds gets a great night manager who can fix the grill or the French fryer hood when it cracks. No, this is not an anti-union diatribe. If fact, the reverse. The IBEW or Boilermakers or the Welders unions are actually acting in the classic Guild mode of the Middle Ages. They provide the training, the certification, the quality control, the research and development of new techniques and tools, or the adaptation of old techniques to new or harsher environments. And it is they who develop the safety precautions. In effect, the union guarantees that a member dispatched to a work site or hired by a company will do the job right, with the right tools, within optimal timelines and always with high quality. But the military provides the same level of training and quality control in environments harsher than any civilian would even dream of and within work deadlines (pun intended) that seem impossible. This is an incredibly valuable skill. So, what to do? We should call our WA legislators (directly or through our representatives on the Veterans Legislative Coalition) and suggest that we develop a compromise. Let s figure out a way to value very hard-won military experience and skills, and expedite any local classroom and local procedure training. Let them do certification welds and let s get these folks on the job fast. Maybe even in 2-3 weeks or less. Yes, they must join the union, because in Washington, the Welders Union label IS the quality control stamp. Legislative Contacts President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington DC Washington Senator Patty Murray 10 North Post St, Suite 600 Spokane WA Fax (509) Senator Maria Cantwell 920 W. Riverside, Suite 697 Spokane WA Fax (509) Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers United States House of Representatives 10 N. Post St, 6th floor Spokane WA Fax Idaho Senator Mike Crapo 610 W. Hubbard Suite 209 Coeur d Alene ID Fax (208) Senator Jim Risch 610 W. Hubbard, Suite 213 Coeur d Alene ID Fax (208) Representative Raul Labrador, United States House of Representatives 1250 Ironwood Dr. Suite 243 Coeur d Alene ID (208) Fax (208) Page 4/Mar 2012

5 Spokane Chapter of MOAA PO Box 466 Veradale WA Now Hear This! 29 April 2012 at Fairchild AFB Deel Center - Deel Center - Deel Center! 1230 Social time, 1315 Luncheon begins Catering by ARAMARK Sandwiches, soup, salad, dessert IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ID CARD, WE MUST RECEIVE YOUR RESERVATION NLT 18 APRIL FOR BASE ACCESS!!! With ID, please mail reservation so we receive it by Saturday, 21 April. Please reserve places for the Sunday 29 April 2012 FAFB social at $10 per person. My check in the amount of $ is enclosed ($10 x ). Make check payable to Spokane Chapter MOAA - mail to chapter mailbox above. Questions? Call Bob Imle at (509) Name: member/assoc /guest Name: member/assoc /guest Circle one Circle one Name: member/assoc /guest Name: member/assoc /guest [ ] Please write in your phone number if you can provide a ride to the luncheon If you need a ride, please call Bob Imle (509) and we will find a ride for you. [ ] Future Program suggestions (food, location, speakers, etc) Cut here^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Cut here^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^Cut here^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Cut here Sunday 29 April Social at Fairchild AFB. Social time starts at 12:30, luncheon begins at 1:15 p.m. Directions: I-90 west to exit 277 (Fairchild AFB/airport exit). Stay on Hwy 2 until Fairchild AFB on left. Enter through the main gate. If you do not have an ID in your vehicle, the gate guards should have your name on an access list. Continue straight ahead until you see a large white building on your right (Headquarters). The next building on the left is the Deel Center, 5 W. Bong St. Questions? Call Bob (509) Raffle will support the Ladies & Gentlemen of the WA State Veterans Cemetery Please bring: 3 stamps and 6 return address labels per person for legislative letters Something for the raffle Something for our troops serving in harm s way. (Postage fees also appreciated). Membership Chair/Committee REQUEST, CHANGE OF ADDRESS or PHONE, or Spokane Chapter, MOAA TEMPORARILY AWAY: P.O. Box 466 Clip and complete this form and send it to the Veradale WA address on the left so we can update our database. Thank you. NOTE: We do not send junk or spam. Also, we do not give away, sell or trade your address. Member name: (Please print clearly) [ ] I would like to be added to the chapter list. I specifically request to (check all that apply): [ ] Receive the chapter newsletter by instead of U.S. Mail. [ ] Receive important information in a timely manner. [ ] My address is (Please print clearly) [ ] My mailing address, address, and/or phone number has changed to: [ ] I will be temporarily away starting and returning. I do / do not (circle one) wish to receive the newsletter while I m away. If do please send it to: Signed: Page 5/FMar 2012

6 WE RE ON THE WEB! Spokane Chapter Military Officers Association of America P.O. BOX 466 Veradale WA Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Permit No Spokane WA Need a Ride to a Chapter Social? Call Anyone Listed Below IDAHO WASHINGTON Richard Oates Clif Collier Chuck Latimer Ralph Shrigley Floyd Geiger Clinton Piper Please Circle Your Answers Below, Cut This Out and Mail It to Spokane Chapter MOAA, PO Box 466, Veradale WA What type of chapter newsletter are you most likely to read? or U.S. Mail (Circle one) 2. What type of social reservation coupon are you most likely to cut out and send in? or U.S. Mail (Circle one) Two years ago we had nearly 500 chapter members, but we now have about 375. Social attendance has also declined since then. We re wondering if newsletters have something to do with it. Sending the newsletter by to those who want it that way has reduced our postages costs, but it might have been penny wise and pound foolish. A number of Board members think we might retain more members and get more people to attend socials if they got a newsletter that they could touch and feel, not just press Delete and forget it. We need to know, so please answer the questions above and mail this back to us. You can send it with your social reservation coupon if you want to. The social s only $10 this month! Casualty Assistance Officer: Bernie Fritz is the casualty assistance officer for Fairchild AFB and surrounding area. He is in Bldg. 240 at 7 W. Arnold St., If you leave a message, he will call you back. Page 6/Mar 2012 FAFB Retiree Activities Office Bldg. 240, 7 W. Arnold St., The Retired Affairs Office needs volunteers. Serving at the RAO is a perfect excuse to travel out to the base and visit the exchange/commissary at the same time. Call them!