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CHARLOTTE HARBOR CHAPTER
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ACTIVE - GUARD - RESERVE - RETIRED & FORMER UNIFORMED SERVICES OFFICERS
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mation on current legislative issues. Included at that website are prewritten messages that can be used to send to our legislators. This is a key item with both National MOAA and the FCOC.
I look forward again to being your President for the coming year and working for the betterment of the Chapter. Looking forward to seeing all of you at the
Flag Mess. If you have any comments or sugges-tions for the Chapter please let me know.
REGARDS - Jim Dundas
Marilyn and I hope you, your family, and friends had a great Christmas and will have a Happy and healthy New Year. We look forward again to seeing all of you during the coming year at the monthly Flag Mess.
Well my first year as President has passed and it has been an eventful year for myself and the Chapter. The Chapter fared well in maintaining its membership at a fairly constant level and a good posi-tion financially. With George Chamberlain running the volunteer effort for the bingo hall we were able to build up the treasury for the Chapter and a good level in the scholarship and band funds. Thanks to Buz Bisbano for bringing in another great military band for the annual band concert in October. Although it was later in the year than the normal time we have had the bands it was well attended by the public with almost a full capacity crowd at the Event Center. I also had the opportunity to attend the FCOC annual convention in Lakeland. It was a worthwhile convention to attend.
The board this year will have a new and interesting chal-lenge. With the offer by Bruce Laishley at the October Flag Mess to contribute matching funds of $5,000 in 2017 and 2018 to the scholarship and band fund ac-counts the board now must make decisions on how best to use these funds. Bruce’s funds are based on the Chap-ter making matching funds so the Chapter will need to work hard to obtain the funds to match Bruce’s offer. Let the board know how your think we should use these funds.
At the last Flag Mess, Florida Council of Chapter Presi-dent, Marc Oliveri, while here to install the new officers and directors encouraged the Chapter members to get more involved in legislative affairs by getting ahold of our state legislators on legislative issues that benefit ac-tive duty, retired and past military veterans. He stated that as past military veterans we can be influential in af-fecting legislation. He also recommended that you go to the Legislative Affairs section of the FCOC website (http://www.capwiz.com/moaa/home/) to get infor-
Vol XXXVIII Issue 1 MILITARY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA January 2017
PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS LT James Dundas USN (Ret)
1
http://www.moaa.org
(800) 234-6622
Charlotte Harbor Chapter Website
Chapter Email: [email protected]
Martin Luther King Day
January 18th
Presidential Inauguration January 20
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana
ACTIVE - GUARD - RESERVE - RETIRED & FORMER UNIFORMED SERVICES OFFICERS
MUSTER Page
CHARLOTTE HARBOR CHAPTER
THE MILITARY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA Charlotte Harbor Chapter, Inc.
Post Office Box 511851 Punta Gorda, Florida 33951-1851
President
LT James Dundas USN (Ret)
1st Vice President
Col Joseph Della-Corte USMC (Ret)
2nd Vice President
1LT Frank Mazur, USA
Secretary
CDR Gary Harrell USN (Ret)
Acting Membership Secretary
LT Jim Dundas USN (Ret)
Treasurer
LT Travis S Mortimer USN
Immediate Past President
COL Charlie Brox USAR (Ret)
Term Expires 2017
COL Robert M. Dickinson, USA (Ret)
LTC Hugh D. Porter, USAR (Ret)
Capt Jean M. Carr, USAF
Board of Directors
Term Expires 2018
LtCol Ennis J. Bisbano, USAF (Ret)
Col Charles W Evans USAF (Ret)
CAPT George A. Chamberlain Jr USN (Ret)
Director Emeritus
Lucy Newton ___________________________________________________
Chapter Committees
Auditor Vacant
Chaplain CW2 Charles Meyers
Alternate Chaplain Capt Jean M. Carr
Historian Maj Kim Foss
Legislative Affairs MAJ Jon Shaffer
Nominating Committee Vacant
Publicity Becky Mingle
Military Bands Lt Col Ennis Bisbano
Military Ceremonies LTC Hugh Porter
NJROTC Naval Science Instructors
PCHS CDR Steven Davis USN (Ret)
CHS LCDR Jim Reed USN (Ret)
LBHS CDR Jon Baca USN (Ret)
Handbook LT James Dundas
Newsletter MAJ Jon Shaffer
Mailing LT James Dundas
Personal Affairs COL Robert M Dickinson
Surviving Spouse Vacant
TRICARE CAPT Gene Geronime
Scholarships CAPT Geo. A Chamberlain Jr.
Sunshine Mavis English
CC Veterans Council Capt Jean M. Carr
CCVC Alternate LT James Dundas
2
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
• Graphics — All Muster newsletter graphics contain embedded web links
• Board Meeting Notice — The next Board of Directors’ meetings are Thursday, 12 January and 9 February 2017 at 1700 hours (5 PM), at the Isles Yacht Club Board Room. Board members and committee chairs are requested to attend. Mem-bers are welcome.
Membership — 2016 ending membership stands at 160 members with 12 new members in 2016 and 16 members deceased, moved away or did not rejoin . Know someone who was a military or uniformed service officer but not a member of CHCMOAA and MOAA? ASK THEM TO JOIN . Contact Jim Dundas with their name.
Membership Dues -- 2017 membership dues are now due by the end of Janu-ary. Please check your mailing labels for your status. The address label will show PD16 indicating that your dues are paid up through 2016. Labels with PD17 indi-cate that your dues are paid for 2017. Dues will be $15 for regular members and $7.50 for Surviving Spouse (Auxiliary) members. Please fill out and include the membership renewal form on page 6 with your checks. This information is used to accurately complete the Directory portion of the Handbook.
CHCMOAA Name Badges — If you would like a CHCMOAA Nametag / Badge, you can order it direct from http://www.badgeworksplus.com/moaa-name-badges using styles 1-CN, 1-BN, or 3-BN. Contact Joe Della-Corte at the Flag Mess or email him if you have questions.
• Military ID Card Information — MacDill AFB (Site ID 101435), Telephone: (813) 828-6673; Coast Guard Sector, St. Petersburg (Site ID 174794), Tele-phone (727) 824-7560. Use the RAPIDS Site Locator https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/rsl/appj/site, or use https://rapids-appointments.dmdc.osd.mil/(use Site IDs for online scheduling, address, & directions or call). APPOINTMENTS ARE RE-QUIRED
• CHC MOAA Fund Help us raise funds at Bingo Trail (1700 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte – on US 41 between Cochran and Murdock). Our chapter has earned a significant amount of money for our Scholarship Program. We need volunteers to count cash for game winners 3 times per month. Volunteers can get free nonalco-holic drinks, purchase food for half price during their shift, and return to play Bingo for half price. We need help as shown below and in the following months since this a year round project. Thanks to our volunteers for the months of November and December: Bob Neitzke, Charlie Brox, Frank Mazur, and Larry Ondecker. If you have not done a turn already, please consider volunteering. Contact George Cham-berlain at (904) 477-4959 or [email protected]. The next few months dates are:
FLAG MESS PROGRAM Hon. Paul Stamoulis
History of Islam The Hon. Paul Stamoulis will present a brief synopsis of the history of Islam. It will begin with the founding of the move-ment by Mohammed and its expansion throughout Arabia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Far East. He has spent hours researching this subject and will analyze its core precepts,
its strengths and weaknesses to ISIS and attempt to predict its future prospects as a cause of instability of peace in the Middle Eastern Region and the rest of the world. Islam is one of the world’s dominant religions claiming as much as one-fifth (1/5) of the world’s population. It has spread as a social system, po-litical system and religious system. Paul will show how that has occurred ag-gressively throughout its history.
Wednesday Saturday
January 11 January 14 FILLED & 28 FILLED
February 8 FILLED February 4 & 18
March 8 March 4 & 18
CHARLOTTE HARBOR CHAPTER
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ACTIVE - GUARD - RESERVE - RETIRED & FORMER UNIFORMED SERVICES OFFICERS
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PERSONAL AFFAIRS REPORT
COL Robert M. Dickinson, USA-(Ret)
(941) 769-6185
Financial Planning – PROTECTION
I have written about Financial Planning and its components and processes before (after all, I was a professional financial planner for
20 years and am still listed as such in the new Charlotte Cham-ber of Commerce Business Directory). One major component I’d like to return to this month, because it is so important and because it gets less than adequate coverage in the financial press, is Protection Planning. Protection planning consists of guarding against damage to or loss of our important assets. We all know about damage to our car or house and buy automobile and homeowners insurance, but there are other equally or more important assets we may want to protect. For a younger, non-retired person (unlike all of us CHCMOAA members sitting with our huge retirement wealth), the most important asset may be his or her earning power. It was often stated to me by my corporate office that a working person is nine times more likely to become disabled for at least 60 days than to die prematurely. The form of protection you take is usually or often insurance, but not always. And there are many types of insurance, making it difficult to keep track of all you have and all you need. First, there is property insurance – auto, homeowners, boater’s, etc. Then there’s liability insurance associated with your property, protecting a loss of other assets due to a legal claim. Next, there’s life insurance whose main purpose during one’s working years is to protect against permanent loss of employment in-come. I’ll talk later about the different types of life insurance, how to select which type, and other uses for life insurance. Next, there’s disability income insurance, to protect against (hopefully) temporary loss of employment income. The disabil-ity income insurance business got damaged a lot back in the 1990’s by some unscrupulous self employed professionals, par-ticularly doctors. Also, some disability income insurance (and term life insurance) is often provided by employers. But it’s still an important part of the protection picture for an employed per-son to consider. Of course, there’s health insurance, which is a very complicated field of insurance and is going to start having, again, some major changes in the near future. Most of the read-ers of this column are already on Medicare or will be soon. The changes to Medicare that have been talked about by our illustri-ous political leaders are to cut benefits, increase premiums, or both, because it is an “entitlement” to which we are not “entitled”. That has really annoyed me, because we have been paying Medicare premiums all our working career (or since 1965, anyway). Finally, there is the special form of health insur-ance called Long Term Care insurance, which everyone should consider. Long Term Care insurance protects against the heavy cost of Nursing Home Care (and sometimes Assisted Living Care). I’ll talk more about Life Insurance and Long Term Care insur-ance in my next column, because these are the two areas of Pro-tection that should be of most concern to us senior citizens.
Bob
SCHOLARSHIP FUND DONATIONS The chapter would like to thank those members who made donations to the CHC MOAA Scholarship Fund at the last Flag Mess. Your donations allow the chapter to provide $1,500 scholarships to the Char-lotte County High School graduates who are mem-bers of JNROTC, a child or grandchild of: (1) an Active Duty, Guard or Reserve military parent; (2) a CHC MOAA member in good standing (or in good standing at time of death), (3) a military veteran par-ent, or (4) students who aspire to military service. Without your donations we would be unable to pro-vide such generous scholarships to worthy students.
November Contributions Norm & Ann Ashworth, Bick & Ginny Bicknell,
Mary Lee & Lee Chalifour, Chuck & Janice Dabrowski, Joe & Susan Della-Corte, Ray & Joann
Jasica, Kel & Helen Matteson, Bob & Barbara Neitzke, Diane Watson, Christopher & Marilyn
Wolf, Bill & Nancy Wyld Thanks to all the members and guests for pur-
chasing 50/50 tickets at the dinner Thank You For All Of Your Very Generous
Support
TAPS
Herbert J. Seakwood Maj. USMC
We offer our sympathy and condolences to his wife Adeline, family, and friends on his passing.
NEW MEMBERS
WELCOME ABOARD
CPT Melvin Brooke USA & Kristine CWO4 Zachery Cummings USCG
Col Tony Pimental USAF (Ret) & Jill
Hope to see you at the Flag Mess
Scams & Fraud
State of Florida Scams and Fraud website is http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Consumer-Services/Consumer-Resources/Consumer-Protection/Scams-and-Fraud
Planning & Benefits for The Surviving Spouse
http://www.moaafl.org/Chapters/CHCMOAA/SurvivorAssistance.aspx
Battle of the Bulge
16 December 1944 - 25 January 1945
ACTIVE - GUARD - RESERVE - RETIRED & FORMER UNIFORMED SERVICES OFFICERS
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CHARLOTTE HARBOR CHAPTER
ident, with each of the fifty state delegations casting one vote. If no person receives a majority of electoral votes for vice president, then the Senate will select the vice president, with each of the 100 senators having one vote. Opponents of the Electoral College claim such out-comes do not logically follow the normative concept of how a democratic system should function. One view is the Electoral College violates the principle of political equality, since presidential elections are not decided by the one-person one-vote principle Proponents of the Electoral College claim that it pre-vents a candidate from winning the presidency by simp-ly winning in heavily populated urban areas, and pushes candidates to make a wider geographic appeal than they would if they simply had to win the national popular vote. They believe that adoption of the popular vote would shift the disproportionate focus to large cities at the expense of rural areas. The United States of America is a federal coalition which consists of component states. Proponents of the current system argue the collective opinion of even a small state merits attention at the federal level greater than that given to a small, though numerically equiva-lent, portion of a very populous state. The system also allows each state the freedom, within constitutional bounds, to design its own laws on voting and enfran-chisement without an undue incentive to maximize the number of votes cast.
“All Politics Is Local” Tip O’Neil
4
The day following the presidential election there arose a great cry of foul by those who do not under-stand the process and those who, after the fact, decid-ed they do not like the rules they agreed to through their participation in the presidential election process. Regardless of the debate, the presidential election, as governed by the rule of law, is almost over. Through the Electoral College, the constitutional requirements will soon be met to finalize the selection of Donald Trump and Mike Pence as the next President and Vice President respectively. What is the electoral college? The United States Electoral College is a mechanism established by Article Two of the United States Con-stitution in the indirect United States presidential election system to select the President of the United States and Vice President of the United States. Citi-zens of the United States vote in each state at a gen-eral election to choose a slate of "electors" pledged to vote for a party's candidate. The Twelfth Amendment requires each elector to cast one vote for president and another vote for vice presi-dent. In each state and the District of Columbia, elec-tors are chosen every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and then meet to cast ballots on the first Monday after the second Wednes-day in December. The candidates who receive an ab-solute majority of electoral votes among the states are elected President and Vice President of the United States when the Electoral College vote is certified by Congress in January. There are currently a total of 538 electors, corre-sponding to the 435 Representatives, the 100 Sena-tors, plus three electors for the District of Columbia as provided for in the Twenty-third Amendment. Each state chooses electors amounting to the com-bined total of its Senators and Representatives. All states except Maine and Nebraska have chosen electors on a "winner-take-all" basis since the 1880s. Under the winner-take-all system, the state's electors are awarded to the candidate with the most votes in that state. Maine and Nebraska use the "congressional district method", selecting one elector within each congressional district by popular vote and awarding two electors by a statewide popular vote. Although no elector is required by federal law to honor their pledge, there have been very few occasions when an elector voted contrary to a pledge. If no person receives an absolute majority of electoral votes for president, the Twelfth Amendment provides that the House of Representatives will select the pres-
Legislative Affairs
MAJ Jon Shaffer USA (Ret)
The Election is Over
Find Elected Representatives (state & federal) http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml MOAA Legislative Action Center: http://capwiz.com/moaa/home/ MOAA Top Issues: http://www.moaa.org/Main_Menu/Take_Action/Top_Issues/Top_Issues.html
Senator Bill Nelson. Website: http://www.billnelson.senate.gov Washington, D.C. Office: Phone: (202) 224-5274 Fax: (202) 228-2183
Senator Marco Rubio Website: http://www.rubio.senate.gov Washington, D.C. Office: Phone: (202) 224-3041 Fax: (202) 228-0285
Representative Tom Rooney Website: http://www.rooney.house.gov Washington, D.C. Office: Phone: (202) 225-5792 Fax: (202) 225-3132 Florida Senators: http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/Find Florida Representatives: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/myrepresentative.aspx
CHARLOTTE HARBOR CHAPTER
MUSTER
ACTIVE - GUARD - RESERVE - RETIRED & FORMER UNIFORMED SERVICES OFFICERS
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THE FLAG MESS
Monday, January 30, 2017
LOCATION
TWIN ISLES COUNTRY CLUB
301 Madrid Blvd.
Punta Gorda, FL 33950
MENU
Veal Piccata
Braised Short Ribs
Chicken Normandy
Creamy mashed potatoes
Steamed Broccoli
Plated Salad with Rolls & Butter
Dessert – Brownie a la Mode
Coffee and Tea Service
$26.00
Dress
Gentlemen and Ladies informal dress.
Times
1800 (6:00 PM) Social
1830 (6:30 PM) Dinner
2000 (8:00 PM) Program
RESERVATIONS
(Reservations need to be received no later than Wednesday, January 25, 2017; please allow two days
after mailing for delivery)
Name(s)____________________________________
CHOICES
Veal Piccata__________________________
Braised Short Ribs_____________________
Chicken Normandy_____________________
______@ $26 per person ________________
Scholarship Fund____________________________
Band Fund _________________________________
TOTAL ENCLOSED $____________________
Mail to:
CHCMOAA Dinner
P.O. Box 511851
Punta Gorda, Florida 33951-1851
Please make all payments by checkPayable to
CHCMOAA
Note: Food is ordered according to reservations. Without reservations, we may have difficulty in accommodating you. NO GUARANTEES FOR RESERVATIONS RECEIVED AFTER 12:00 PM ON WEDNESDAY JANUARY 25, 2017.
Note: For Late Reservations to the dinner after January 25, 2017 call: Joe Della-Corte @ (941) 347-7268 or email [email protected]
Note: Persons with reservations, who are then unable to attend, should call Joe Della-Corte @ (941) 347-7268 to cancel by Thursday Afternoon, January 26th (thus allowing time for adjustments and possible credit). The Twin Isles' CC policy is that we will have to pay for the total number of reservations that we call in on Thursday unless we make any cancellations prior to Friday afternoon
Useful Internet Links & Phone Numbers
MOAA Blogs at http://www1.moaa.org/blogs/
MOAA Florida Council of Chapters Newsletter: www.moaafl.org/Communique/Default.aspx
Florida Department of Veteran Affairs www.floridavets.org/ (727) 518-3202
Veterans Administration: www.va.gov 1-(800) 827-1000
Charlotte County Veterans Services: http://www.charlottecountyfl.gov/services/veteran/ (941) 764-5579
Express Scripts Mail Order Pharmacy: www.express-scripts.com/tricare/ 1-(877) 363-1303
TRICARE: www.tricare.mil (South Region) 1-(800) 444-5445
TRICARE for Life www.tricare4u.com 1-(866) 773-0404
DEERS: www.tricare.mil/deers/ 1-(800) 538-9552
milConnect: https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/milconnect/
DOD Benefits (Survivor Benefit Plan): http://militarypay.defense.gov/Benefits/SurvivorBenefitProgram.aspx
Social Security http://ssa.gov 1-(800) 772-1213
Medicare: www.medicare.gov 1-(800) 633-4227
MacDill AFB: http://www.macdill.af.mil/ (813)828-1110
The Muster is published, except for December, July, and August by the Charlotte Harbor Chapter of the Military Officer’s Association of America (MOAA) (FL31) Inc., P.O. Box 511851, Punta Gorda, Florida 33951-1851. Email: [email protected] The chapter is an IRS 501(C)(19) non-profit, tax-exempt organization affiliated with National MOAA and the Florida Council of Chapters, MOAA, but not associated with the Department of Defense. The chapter is non-partisan and the contents of the Muster articles are the opin-ions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the National MOAA, Florida Council of Chapters, the Charlotte Harbor Chapter (FL31), or the Department of Defense.
© 2016 Charlotte Harbor Chapter, MOAA (FL31)
Upcoming Flag Mess Dates February 27
March 27
MUSTER ON LINE http://www.moaafl.org/Chapters/CHCMOAA/
News.aspx
Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Punta Gorda, FL 33951 Permit No. 144
2017 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION OR RENEWAL _______ NEW MEMBERSHIP or _______ RENEWAL
CHARLOTTE HARBOR CHAPTER
The Military Officers Association of America A local organization, comprised of retired, regular, reserve, and former officers of the uniformed services. Dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the best interests of Our Country, its uniformed services, our members, their dependents, and their survivors, in every proper manner. Chapter members are required to have and maintain a national MOAA membership.
Annual Dues are $15.00 ($7.50 for Surviving Spouse/Auxiliary Members) Chapter dues are payable in advance. Please enclose your check
Make Checks payable to: Charlotte Harbor Chapter, MOAA (CHCMOAA)
Please complete the following for our records and mail to : CHCMOAA Membership (For renewals please indicate any changed information.) P.O. Box 511851 Punta Gorda, Florida 33951-1851 ________________ _____________ _________ _______ ___________ __________________ ___________________ Last Name First Middle Int. Rank Service Your Birth Date Spouse’s Name (Ret. If applicable) ______ ______________________ ________ ____________________ _____ _________________ _________________ Number Street Apartment City State Zip Code (9-Digit) Telephone Chapter Dues (Reg-$15/Aux-$7.50) $_______________ ___________________________________________________ Signature Scholarship Donation $___________ ___________________________________________________ National MOAA Number For Band Fund $___________ ___________________________________________________ Email Address Total Enclosed $________________ PLEASE FILL IN ALL BLANKS. THIS IS HOW WE UPDATE THE MEMBERSHIP ROSTER AND THE CHAPTER HANDBOOK
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Happy New Year
