|
Maryland Council (MD MOAA) |
Last Update: Aug 2020
BREAKING NEWS:
Military Medical
Care Op-Ed: MOAA Board Member RADM Tom Jurkowsky
has written another Op-Ed
piece for the Annapolis Capitol/Maryland Gazette. Although the council does
not have any specific wording, all members are encouraged to contact their Representative
and the two Senators to ask that they ensure cuts to military medical
facilities and staff are not allowed to occur. (24 Aug
2020)
2019 Levels of
Excellence: MOAA has announced the winners of Four and Five Star
Levels of Excellence for the Maryland Council of Chapters and the following
Chapters: Star Spangled Banner, Montgomery County, Susquehanna, Upper Eastern
Shore, and Upper Potomac. Congratulations to all.
Welcome new
Commissioner on the Maryland Veterans’ Commission: Your
Webmaster, Maj, Jim Shiffrin, USAF (Ret), was recently sworn in as the newest
Commissioner on the Maryland Veterans’ Commission, replacing Col Brad Jewitt, USMCR. See below for pictures. (27 Jul 2020)
Welcome New
Legislative Director: CAPT Lynn Nash, USPHS (Ret) has agreed to become the
MOAA MD Council's Legislative Director. She will formally join the Board of Directors at the
upcoming 1 Aug meeting. She has prepared a summary of bills enacted during the
shortened 2020 Legislative Session in Annapolis. (13 Jul
2020)
Proposed Medical
Cuts: Former Legislative Liaison CAPT Brian Smith, USN (Ret) passed this along
today:
Marylander and retired Navy Rear
Admiral Tom Jurkowsky graciously allowed me to use
one of his superb articles as a “guest blog spot” on my Free State Veterans
platform.
Hope you’ll
give it a read! Even if defeated this year, it is, unfortunately, a bad idea
likely to raise its head in years to come!
https://freestateveterans.org/2020/06/28/congress-must-block-cuts-to-military-medicine/
(2 Jul 2020)
Reading Lists: Did you
know MOAA maintains suggested Reading Lists? You can find the list that is in
the latest issue of Military Officer at https://www.qgdigitalpublishing.com/publication/?m=53666&i=662771&view=articleBrowser&article_id=3692636
(after you log in to the MOAA site. There are also other reading lists (search
for Reading List) – a couple include https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2018-news-articles/54-books-to-add-to-your-summer-reading-list/
and https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/member-books/military-professional-reading-list/.
(Thanks to Ft Meade Chapter member Col John Church, USAF (Ret) for the suggestion
to include this information here). (29 Jun 2020)
Transition News: See below for an
update from our new Transition Liaison Officer, Mrs Annie Brock. (21 May 2020)
Final 2020
Legislative Update: Check out the latest Free
State Veterans blog for the final report from the 2020 Maryland
Legislature’s abbreviated session. (8 May 2020)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Web Pages of the Maryland Council of Chapters, an affiliate of the Military Officers Association of America. The Maryland Council was awarded a Five Star Level of Excellence for 2019 (as of August 2020).
The Maryland Council is composed of ten chapters, spread geographically across the state. Here is a list of the Chapters, with links to their individual Web Pages. All Chapters have an informational page here or a separate chapter-hosted page (Stars indicate the Level of Excellence rating earned by the Chapter for 2019 – as announced in August 2020.):
·
* * * * * Star Spangled Banner (Winner of 5 Star Col
Marvin J Harris Communications Award for 2018, as of May 2019)
·
* * * * * Montgomery County
(Winner of 5 Star Col Marvin J Harris Communications Award for 2018, as of May
2019)
·
* * * * * Susquehanna – Chapter Site at MOAA
·
* * * * Upper
Eastern Shore
·
* * * * * Upper Potomac – Chapter
Site at MOAA
Council
Officers
Here are the Council officers for 2019 – 2020 (as of 14 Mar 2020, updated May 2020):
|
President |
Bryon |
Hartzog |
LTC |
USA |
||
|
1st Vice Pres |
Norton |
Bob |
COL |
USA |
||
|
2nd Vice Pres |
Gary |
Palmer |
Lt Col |
USAF |
||
|
Secretary |
Dave |
Peterson |
CAPT |
NOAA |
||
|
Treasurer |
Jim |
Campbell |
Capt |
USAF |
||
|
Webmaster |
Jim |
Shiffrin |
Maj |
USAF |
jim.shiffrin@gmail.com |
|
|
Chaplain |
Jim |
Campbell |
Capt |
USAF |
||
|
Immediate Past Pres |
Harvey |
Kaplan |
COL |
USA |
||
|
Legislative Director |
Lynn |
Nash |
CAPT |
USPHS |
(This is the correct email) |
|
|
Transition Liaison |
Annie |
Brock |
||||
|
Spouse Liaison - Interim |
Naomi |
Kaplan |
||||
|
Md Veterans Commissioner |
Jim |
Shiffrin |
Maj |
USAF |
jim.shiffrin@gmail.com |
|
|
MOAA
Director – Maryland Military Coalition |
Harvey |
Kaplan |
COL |
USA |
||
|
Annapolis |
Andrew |
Fallon |
COL |
USA |
||
|
Ft Meade |
Bryon |
Hartzog |
LTC |
USA |
||
|
Gen Smallwood |
Daniel |
Donohue |
COL |
USMC |
||
|
Montgomery Co |
Dave |
Peterson |
CAPT |
NOAA |
||
|
Prince Georges |
Steve |
Regner |
Col |
USAF |
||
|
Southern MD |
|
|
|
|
Combined
with Gen Smallwood |
|
|
Star Spangled |
Tom |
Seybold |
COL |
USA |
||
|
Susquehanna |
Robert |
Hanson |
CDR |
USN |
||
|
Upper Eastern Shore |
Mike |
Johnson |
CW5 |
USA |
mjnmi1@verizon.net |
|
|
Upper Potomac |
Hugh |
McIlroy |
LtCol |
USMC |
germac03@gmail.com |
|
The Southern Maryland Chapter is currently functioning as an affiliate of the Gen Smallwood Chapter.
Here are the Maryland Council Bylaws, updated on 12 Jan 2019. (13 Mar 2019)
Here are the Maryland Council of Chapters Goals for CY2019-2020, approved by the Council on 12 Jan 2019. (19 Jan 2019)
Watch this space for details of the 2020
Congressional Luncheon as they are announced. (21
Oct 2019)
MOAA
membership is open to all current, former, and retired officers of any of the
seven Uniformed Services. Visit the Why Join MOAA
page at the MOAA Web Site for details on the three classes of membership, and
to join.
There
is a new “Why MOAA” video produced by the MOAA National Office. Please use the following link to access the video:
For those concerned about embedded links and cyber security,
please do the following:
1) Go to the YouTube website by
typing: www.youtube.com
in your web browser
2) Type MOAA in the search bar
3) Click on the link to the MOAA channel
4) Once the MOAA channel comes up,
you will immediately see the “Why MOAA” video.
5) If you want to cut and paste the
video web address for others, click on the “Videos” link, then select the “Why
MOAA” Video
6) Once the video begins playing,
highlight and then copy the web address at the top of the screen. It
should exactly match the hyperlink listed in this email.
If you are a MOAA member who is
not a member of a Maryland Chapter, please
click here to find the chapter in your area.
Council
Calendar
The Council officers and Chapter Presidents meet quarterly, on call of the President. Meetings are currently held at O’Loughlin’s Restaurant, 1258 Bay Dale Drive, Arnold MD 21012, starting at 1130. Here are the recent and upcoming dates, with links to the minutes of each, as they are available (older minutes are available here)
Mar 10, 2018 - Minutes
Jun 9, 2018 - Minutes
Sep 8, 2018 - Minutes
Nov 1, 2018 (At National Meeting) - Minutes
Jan 12, 2019 - Minutes
Mar 30, 2019 - Minutes
Jun 22, 2019 - Minutes
Aug 24, 2019 - Minutes
Nov 2, 2019 - Minutes
Jan 11, 2020 - meeting cancelled due to MOAA-sponsored Caribbean cruise
Mar 14, 2020 (Virtual) - Minutes
Jun 13, 2020 (Virtual) - Minutes
Aug 1, 2020 (Virtual)
Jan 16, 2021
Editorial
Policy
MOAA, the Maryland Council of Chapters and the individual chapters
in Maryland are non-partisan. Information on this web site reflects the position
of the Maryland Council of Chapters only.
Spouse
and Surviving Spouses Newsletter
Below
are recent newsletters from the former Spouse and Surviving Spouse Liaison
Officer, Mrs. Naomi Kaplan. (22 Aug 2018)
Note
– The Nov/Dec 2019 Surviving Spouses Newsletter is the final one from Mrs.
Naomi Kaplan, who has served in this post for the past four years. We thank her
for her service and are asking for volunteers to (try to) fill her shoes. (29 Dec 2019)
Maryland
National Guard Unit of the Year
Stay
tuned for the announcement of the National Guard Unit of the Year for 2020. (24 Feb 2020)
Highlights
of recent and upcoming Chapter activities
From LtCol Hugh McIlroy, USMC (Ret), President of the Upper Potomac Chapter in their May 2020 newsletter: “I am immensely impressed with the empathy, commitment and generosity of our membership. On 14 April, a few members of the chapter recognized that in many cases the stimulus money we received could be put to much better use to support the less fortunate and those in serious distress in our community because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Your Board of Directors unanimously approved an initiative to solicit our membership to donate some, or all, of the stimulus money they received to the Chapter so we could help veterans or others who are less fortunate and devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just seventeen days later, on 1 May, your chapter had collected $8,100 and donated $2,700 to the Maryland Food Bank, $2,700 to Feeding PA and $2,700 to The Mountaineer Food Bank: food banks in the three states we represent. Just two weeks later we had collected an additional $1,673 that we donated to the MOAA Foundation for their COVID-19 Relief Fund. Our donations average almost $103 per member, which is an extraordinary performance.
I am very proud of the members of
the Upper Potomac Chapter and your efforts to help those less fortunate and
suffering because of the COVID-19 pandemic. You should be justly proud of what
we have accomplished. The empathy, commitment and generosity of our members
bring great credit on our chapter and are in keeping with the highest standards
of all seven uniformed services. Well done!!” (28 May 2020)
MOAA Board Member RADM Tom Jurkowsky has written another Op-Ed
piece for the Annapolis Capitol/Maryland Gazette. Although the council does
not have any specific wording, all members are encouraged to contact their Representative
and the two Senators to ask that they ensure cuts to military medical
facilities and staff are not allowed to occur. (24 Aug
2020)
René A. Campos, CDR, U.S.
Navy (Ret.) is the Senior Director, Government Relations for Veterans-Wounded
Warrior Care at MOAA.
She recently
provided us with a copy of a Department
of Veterans’ Affairs COVID-19 Pandemic Response Report. (27 May 2020)
CAPT Lynn Nash, USPHS (Ret)
has agreed to become the MOAA MD Council's Legislative Director. She will formally join the Board
of Directors at the upcoming 1 Aug meeting. She has prepared a summary of bills enacted during the
shortened 2020 Legislative Session in Annapolis. (13 Jul
2020)
The Maryland
Military Coalition has released its Legislative
Goals for the 2020 Maryland General Assembly. (14 Dec 2019)
We have an old list of the members of the Maryland House of
Delegates Veterans’ Caucus, and the Maryland
Senate Veterans’ Caucus. We will work to get this updated before the 2021
session.
Note – this list is NOT UP TO DATE for 2019 or 2020. (3 Mar 2019)
Make MOAA's One Powerful Voice® heard in
Maryland. It will take each MOAA member living in Maryland to make this happen.
Act now to do your part!
Here is a list of Points
of Contact for the Maryland Congressional delegation (both Senators and all
eight Representatives) (updated 16 Apr 2019)
·
From
time to time, we will suggest messages we would like Maryland members to send
to Annapolis on upcoming bills of interest to all of us. There are two
web-based methods you can use to contact your State Legislators:
·
The
Maryland Legislature maintains a Web Site that you can use to contact your
Senator or Delegate. To use it, visit http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmmain.aspx?pid=legisrpage&tab=subject6,
and select the legislator’s name. If the legislator accepts e-mail (I hope most
of them do today), you will see a link to Contact Online. Click on that link.
Enter your identifying information, and type or paste the text into the Message
box.
·
Another
method is to visit http://mdelect.net/.
This site, run by the Maryland State Archives, allows you to enter your address
(Zip+4 will do, unless district lines go through your Zip+4 area – then enter
your full address), and it will tell you who your Federal and State legislators
are. There are links to their web sites. Some have e-mail tools built in;
others will link into Outlook, as above. (21
Jan 2013)
·
NEW
– here is a link to a roster provided
by the Legislature with office locations and phone numbers for all of the
State Senators and Delegates. Some have moved since last year. (26 Jan 2018)
You can find information on
MOAA’s national legislative priorities at the MOAA Take Action web page.
Maj
Jim Shiffrin, USAF (Ret), was recently sworn in as the newest Commissioner on
the Maryland Veterans’ Commission, replacing Col Brad Jewitt,
USMCR. Here are a couple of pictures from his swearing-in at the Anne Arundel
County Courthouse. (27 Jul 2020)
Here
are recent minutes from the Commission:
Job Search
From our new Transition Liaison Officer, Mrs Annie Brock:
“I hope you are
staying safe and doing well.
As you know, I have
stepped into Jim Dittbrenner's large shoes and
will be moving the Maryland Council forward in the Transition Assistance arena.
You can expect to hear from me on at least a monthly basis, possibly every two
weeks ... depending upon the amount of information I find to share with you and
our members.
In order to better
serve you and those who might benefit from the information who are not eligible
to join MOAA, I am going to ask you to join a mailing list using this
link: https://bit.ly/MdMOAATransitionList It
will keep you from receiving duplicate emails and information, while saving me
from sending the same email to two lists of subscribers ... a win for all of
us.”
Mrs Brock will be publishing periodic lists of Upcoming Events, which we will be posting here. (21 May 2020)
Contact Mrs Brock at mdmoaatransition@gmail.com for any transition-related questions. (11 Jun 2020)
Looking for a new job, or know someone who is? Visit the MOAA Transition and Career Center
for Career Information.
Veterans’
Benefits
A number of organizations have asked us to provide links to their resources for Veterans. Please visit out Outside Resources page to view that list. The appearance of links on that page does not imply any endorsement by the Military Officers’ Association of America (MOAA), the Maryland Council of Chapters, or any MOAA Chapter. Feel free to use them at your own risk.
Please send any comments and suggestions to the Webmaster using the email address shown in the listing of Council Officers above.
