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Our Mission |
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The Southwest Illinois Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is a professional organization of military officers supporting the efforts of a nationally chartered veteran organization comprised of more than 320 chapters that is defending the interests of active duty, Reserve component, and retired military members to the national legislature. Within our local area, we support other veteran organizations supporting our men and women currently serving and those who have served.
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President's Message
Happy Birthday to the US Space Force—established December 20, 2019! The Service has been around as long as the original mission length of the USS Enterprise in the TV series Star Trek (series start 1966)! Sempra Super! Always Above.
The generosity of our Chapter membership continues to blow my mind! Last month we provided grocery gift cards in the amount of $50 each to the First Sergeant's Council at Scott AFB. Donations exceeded $3500, so we were able to help 70 young families at Scott this year. I had the opportunity to present the cards to the First Sergeant's Council and also provide some information about MOAA's charities that could help their troops. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and great appreciation from the enlisted leaders at Scott AFB. Our fundraising efforts continue all year, with different points of emphasis—scholarships, food drive, and USO/Fisher House among others. Thank you for continuing to support our community efforts. And thank you to those who supported Retiree Appreciation Day at Scott AFB on November 23. We made several contacts and provided lots of information to the attendees. I also continue to be impressed with the young people who choose to volunteer in the Armed Services of our nation, whether through ROTC, applying for entrance to the Service Academies, or enlisting. I had the honor of, again, serving as part of the recommendation board for Congressman Bost's selectees to the Service Academies. Very bright, eager, intelligent young people. I also had the privilege to speak at the Leadership Lab for the AFROTC unit at SIU Carbondale. If you can believe it, out of nearly 50 cadets, none had ever heard of MOAA. The two officers–Lt Col Chay Derbigny and Capt Dennis Richter–were convinced to join MOAA and support the advocacy efforts. I'll see them again on December 13 when I will present Gold Bars and a leadership book to two graduating seniors. And next May we have the honor of participating in a ceremony to recognize the young men and women who are enlisting in the Service. Stay tuned for more information. To all Southwest Chapter members, "THANK YOU!" Without your involvement, we could not provide the support that we do. Keep serving, continue to give as you are able with your energy, time, and resources. Keep advocating to strengthen our all‐volunteer force by sending messages to our elected representatives in Congress. It does make an impact. God bless you for stewardship of your gifts and talents, for your contributions and service to our military! God bless our men and women who currently serve this great nation. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah! |