Bulletin 3, December 2017

The Military Order of the World Wars

The Association of All Military Officers

Chapter 131, West Valley, Arizona

15891 W. Cisa Rio Lane, Surprise, AZ 85374 WEB SITE-www.mowwwestvalleyaz.org

I have been involved with a cell phone since about 1993 -- that first one was a bag that sat on the transmission hump of my car and had a receiver with cord. I used it only to call out and gave the number only to my immediate family and my boss (the latter I regretted because he used it relentlessly). Since then I have [reluctantly] passed through all the stages through flip phones to a current smart phone. Advantages: NO DISCUSSION HERE. MOSTLY, AGREE WITH ….ADDED

• Always able to contact someone, especially if stranded, need to change an appointment, awaiting a return call while you are on the move, find your spouse (or your car) at the mall, etc

• Always available to spouse and kids

• Can link to automobile system for hands-free calling/re-ceiving while driving

• Smart phones give added advantage of checking email …..HERE I FIND ARGUMENT. TOO MANY TIMES I HAVE DISMISSED AN E MAIL QUICKLY ON MY CELL PHONE AND DETERMINED LATER THAT IT WAS NOT INSIGNIFICANT…..on the fly -- don't need a wifi connection

• Smart phones permit easy texting and receiving texts

• Smart phones provide diversion opportunities (check email, read the news and sports, play solitaire) when waiting -- doctor's office, etc.

• Hand-held navigation system whether walking or driv-ing.

• Smart phones provide an instant source of information when you are looking for an address, a phone number, a restaurant, or hours of service, etc EXCEPT WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING AND YOUR PASSENGER IS NOT

COMMANDER MESSAGE

Buz Isban Commander

2017-18

The month of De-cember brings with it the remem-brance of both sad and happy times. Seventy-six (76) years ago, on De-cember 7th, Japa-nese naval and air

forces attacked an unsuspecting U.S. Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The following day Pres-ident Franklin D. Roosevelt described that incident as a “date which will live in infamy”. On the other hand, it is the sea-son to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. It is an opportunity for family and friends to divest themselves of worries and to look at the positive things that make life bearable. It is a time of giving. It is also a time to think of those men and women in uni-form who cannot be “home for the holidays” as they serve American values throughout the globe. I pray that God blesses you and your family during this celebratory season and brings you health and happiness throughout the New Year. Veterans Day. The Northwest Valley Veterans Association (NWVVA) ceremony at Sunland Cemetery saw fewer in the audi-ence this year due in part to the numerous other activities from which to choose. The guest

speaker was Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame member Helen F. “Billee” Culin. Billee is a Na-tional At-Large Director of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). Several years after her Army service, she relocated to Arizona in 2010 and founded the West Valley Chapter 1043, VVA that was later renamed the Bil-lee Culin West Valley Chapter 1043, VVA. Her message was that of thanks to all veterans for their service through their con-tinued service. She is a strong advocate of Help-A-Vet financial assistance and is a member of the National VVA Agent Orange Committee. Catalina Mountain Chapter MOC. I attended their Massing of the Colors in Tucson on Sun-day November 12th. It was an impressive ceremony and our two flags were carried by Boy Scout, Scout Masters. Mem-bers of their chapter said that it had been several years since the West Valley had participated and they hope we will return in the future. Welcome Aboard. Please take the opportunity to meet and talk to our newest members Vernon and Nancy McGee. You will find a short bio on Vernon be-low. We are pleased you have joined us. Christmas Dinner/Dance. Again this year, the Luke Chap-ter MOAA has invited us to join them on Thursday December 14, 2017 at the Colonnade. De-tails follow below. Reserva-tions by December 5th please.

Focus Ahead. A positive atti-tude and effort are necessary qualities to ensure a favorable outcome. Each of us can help. Invite your acquaintances to a breakfast meeting with us, take advantage of the Arizona tax credit by supporting the AZYLC, and remember we are a 501(c) 3 with regard to tax deductible charitable contributions. December 7th MOC. The Apache Trails MOWW Chapter MOC will be held at Marcos De Niza High School in Tempe, AZ starting at 7 a.m. If able, please help support this event. Massing of the Colors 2018. As previously mentioned in our October 2017 Bulletin No. 1, our MOC will be held on February 28, 2018 at the Palm Ridge Rec-reation Center. Companions Jerry Wojtas and Bill Fedor are well into sending invitations and securing a guest speaker. Bill has received a commitment from retired USAF Command Chief Master Sergeant Scott Dearduff as our featured speaker. Start inviting your friends and neighbors to this event. AZYLC and AZ Tax Credit. The Arizona Youth Leadership Conference is tentatively sched-uled for 4-9 June 2018. Again this year, the curriculum goals will continue to be 50% on Lead-ership; 30% on Patriotism, US Government (Constitution) and US History; and 20% on Free Enterprise. Last year we sup-ported 21 delegates. This year our goal is at least 21. At an

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increased cost of approximately $375 per delegate, our Arizona Tax Credit contributions are al-ready under way. Information on how to support this goal is on our web site (mowwwest-valleyaz.org). Based on the in-dividual High School usage of the AZYLC funds we have pro-vided in the past, I recommend we first target those school who have religiously used these funds for the purpose intended. Those schools would include the following: Apollo, Buckeye, Cac-tus, Cortez, Glendale, Green-way, Independence, Peoria, Sunnyslope, and Thunderbird. As you make your tax credit do-nation, please let Companion Buz Isban know so he can track the use of the funds in 2018. His contact information is buzis-ban@cox.net or cell phone number 623-512-0765. CINC’s 2017-2018 Solicitation to raise $90,000.00. This fund-ing helps pay for (a) supporting chapters via essential services e.g., YLC insurance and mer-chandise; (b) existing awards e.g., ROTC/JROTC awards, GSUSA Gold Award and BSA Eagle Scout Certificates; (c) Service Academy awards e.g., USMA, USN , USAF, USCG; (d) medals and certificates to ROTC/JROTC cadets and BSA and GSA scouts not supported by chapters; (e) the cost to print 10 issues of the Officer Review magazine that YLC Directors use for advertising and training, and so forth. Our region, Region XIII has an obligation of approx-imately $9,500 for the fiscal year. Please consider respond-ing to this particular solicitation. This is a state and federal tax deductible charitable contribu-tion. Help Still Wanted. We need an Editor-in-Chief for our monthly Bulletin starting in January. I am told that it is a Microsoft Word document.

As a final note. Please keep in the forefront of your minds that this is the Year of Growth. In-crease membership means in-creased participation because “It is nobler to serve than be served”. Thank you to all for an-other good year as we close out 2017. With a positive attitude and honest effort we will enjoy a wonderful 2018. I offer a special “thank you” to Major Ron Beltz who will be turning over Bulletin editorial responsibilities after this edition. He has been our Bulletin Editor since May 2015 and has earned for us national recognition. My hope is that he and his wife Carlita will remain active members in our Chapter for years to come. God bless us all. Buz Isban “Gear, flaps, and hook down. Ready to land!” Gen. John J. Pershing Minute #3 As a West Point Military Cadet, John Pershing developed two sides of his personality. One was individual and friend—warm, fun-loving who liked to drink and make merry. He had a keen eye for the ladies, fre-quenting Flirtation Walk. In mili-tary matters, he was all business - commanding speech, stickler for details, adhered to rules and regulations and made sure eve-ryone did also. As a senior, Per-shing was elected president and was First Captain. After graduation in 1886, Sec-ond Lieutenant Pershing was posted to Fort Bayard in dusty New Mexico Territory. Instead of killing Indians he invited dis-cussion, listened to their stories and tried to understand them and gain their trust. He made it clear that he would prevail in his mission but thought he could work with the tribes. One day he was asked to wres-tle the top Indian brave. In

response Pershing (always hon-est) said the competitor was too dirty. Instead, he challenged the brave to a foot race. At the end of the race Pershing tripped and rolled over the finish line to win. The tribe awarded him a new name, Man Who Crawls to Win.

December 9, 2017 Meeting

Dining Room, Fountains at Lake Pleasant 10134 W. Mohawk Lane, Peoria, AZ 85382, (623) 566-0745. Time: Dec 9 2017, 9:30 a.m. social time, 10:00 breakfast served with business meeting and program to follow. Cost: $13.00 per person (includes tax and gratuity) please pay Treas-urer at the door CASH ONLY. EX-ACT AMOUNT IS APPRECIATED. CHECKS & CREDIT CARDS NOT AC-CEPTED.

Menu: Scrambled Eggs, Ham Steak, Hash Browns, Muffin, Fruit Cup, Cof-fee and Iced Tea. If you have special dietary needs, please make them known when you make your reservation

RSVP by Nov 30, 2017 to rab7437@gmail.com

BY GO JENSON Year of Growth.

Fellow Companions, We’re “two down with eight to go!” . . . which means our cam-paign to increase our member-ship by 10 in this year of goal is well established and starting to bear some fruit. As this article is being written, we have joined two new companions with spouses; they are: John and Pat Laboda from S.C. Festival and Vernon and Nancy McGee from Pebble Creek (kindly look else-where in this bulletin for an intro-duction on the McGee’s). Please join in welcoming both of these delightful couples!

Besides counting on “Word of Mouth” recruiting ef-forts from all companions, we are exercising a host of other

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avenues in pursuit of growth. Some of these avenues include:

* Publication of Articles:

Look for the S.C. Grand monthly

magazine to print our article en-

titled: “West Valley Vets Pro-

mote Patriotism.”

• Vetting of our Chapter to the Of-

ficers of the S.C Festival Vets

Organization (Coffman and Jen-

son to address group in early

December)

• A standalone social hour with many of our 17 HS JROTC leaders and their spouses, where the values and activities of our chapter will be discussed, while their participation/companionship will be encouraged

• Future meetings (of Growth Committee Members) with local Service and Guard Units

Each of you that are reading this article can help in this effort through the proven and reliable “word of mouth” technique. Ordinary conversa-tion between people who know and trust each other can pro-duce phenomenal results. Please seize all opportunities that present themselves to ex-plain the goodness of our Chap-ter (i.e. promoting patriotism via our strong support of the AZYLC program, and our powerful Massing of Colors and Service of Remembrance Ceremony (on 28 Feb at Palm Ridge Rec Cen-ter, in SCW)) – invite your friends, neighbors and fellow church members

We’re committed to meeting our goal of increasing our membership by 10 new companions by the May 2018 meeting. PLEASE help as you can!

See the MOWW webpage for applications to join MOWW, or contact any one of our Committee members (No-velle, Ken, Mary Lou, or Jerry Jenson). Thanks All.

Meet Vernon and Nancy McGee. Once again, it’s a pleasure to introduce another neat couple who have joined MOWW and our West Valley Chapter. While they have lived and worked in many, many states, their roots are with Texas and South Dakota. Vern comes out of Texas whereas Nancy identifies with South Dakota (A Place with Great Faces). They both have tasted life and experi-enced diversity in their respec-tive careers.

Vern started his life in 1933 and has been deeply involved in the military, professional education, and his Church, Family, Coun-try, and as a lifelong member of the Masonic Order. I hope you are ready for the following infor-mation: Vernon McGee has served with honor across short stints (starting in December 1950), with the US Navy as a Seaman, in the USMC as a Cor-poral, in the Army National Guard, and later in the USAF (departed as an Airman 1st), be-fore he was attracted to the US COAST GUARD, where he served for 21 years before he re-tired as a Chief Warrant Officer-04. Vernon also found time to reach the rank of LTC in the Texas State Air Guard! WOW, can you believe that? Makes some of us look kind of bland, huh?

Vernon, an AGGIE from Texas A&M (along with taking courses from several other Universi-ties/Colleges), entered the world of education, where he taught in the public-school system in Hou-ston, as well as schools in both Pasadena and Prairie, Texas.

While he started teaching Indus-trial Arts, he later branched out into teaching government and history. In two of the High Schools he was affiliated with, he ran their Marine Corps JROTC units (Vernon aught to fit in very well with our AZYLC pro-gram, you think?).

It was at the end of the Gulf War, when Vernon met his future wife, Nancy Phipps. Nancy, a medical doctor (internal medi-cine), was serving in the Clear Lake Hospital in Houston, when Vernon was having a medical is-sue that was not going away. One of Nancy’s primary respon-sibilities was to oversee the care of active duty military folks that were sent to Clear Lake. It was Nancy’s quick and accurate di-agnosis, that turned Vernon’s condition around and got him back on his feet again. They seemed to be drawn to one an-other, and the rest is history. Vernon likes to joke that she saved his life, and so he asked her to marry him, because he needed a medical doctor close by.

Nancy’s background includes attending and graduating from the University of South Dakota’s Medical School, and practicing medicine in the Rapid City area (some beautiful country and the Great Faces again). She subse-quently became a Staff Physi-cian with the VA Hospital at Fort Meade, SD (right outside of Sturgis, SD). She also served as a Clinical Instructor with the USD School of Medicine. After stints in VA hospitals in La Jolla, California, and Tucson, AZ, she moved to Houston where she continued in private practice. Nancy is now a retired physician and enjoying water color paint-ing, and is presently engaged as an illustrator for children’s books.

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This article could go on for an-other 2-3 pages, describing the many things that they have been involved in and with. If you were to perceive that Nancy and Vern are patriotic Americans, you would be right. Please take the time to meet and engage in con-versations with both Vern and Nancy. They can tell you so much more, and it is fascinating.

Lastly, God is an important part of their lives…. We need more of that. WELCOME ABOARD VERNON & NANCY! Surgeon Notes Bill Furgerson MD

Comparisons of Interventions for Preventing Falls in Older Adults A Systematic Review and Me-ta-analysis The November 7, 2017 Journal of the American Medi-cal Association included the above titled eleven page arti-cle. Two pages were needed just to cover their methods. At any rate they worked very hard as they included 283 ran-domized clinical trials in their study after screening 10,650 titles and abstracts. The aver-age age of participants was 78 years and included mostly women at 74% so it would fit our Sun Cities population. The big conclusion af-ter reviewing all these trials was that either exercise alone or exercise combined with other interventions result in a lower risk of fall injury. Exer-cise alone leads the way while vision assessment plus treat-ment modestly added to the reduced risk of fracture injury. Adding environmental

assessment and modification was next and last, calcium plus vitamin D added a small reduction. The editorial reviewer commented first about the place of exercise and how the elderly become more seden-tary. Plus it is hard to change habits. However, insurance plans are including exercise programs and we certainly have facilities in our commu-nities. On the other hand, pro-fessionally we have deficien-cies in promoting exercise. The vision issue is more of a one shot deal to get an evalu-ation and hopefully the pa-tient will follow through with care and vision is improved. The environmental evaluation is another one-shot deal un-less you put off removing a hazard. The vitamin D plus calcium is easy as you write a prescription and send the pa-tient off to the corner drug store. Finally, some reminders for our age group: In 2014, the incidence of falls in those over age 65 was 672 per 1,000 and over age 85 the incidence was 820 per 1,000. We all know that fall injuries may be a life changing event often leading to total disability and nursing facility care. So get out your bar bells or head off to the recreation center. Don’t put off your eye appointment. Keep your floors clear and be sure your lights are adequate. I too need to be a better person with exercise. I never did sign up with a personal trainer.

LUKE MOAA CHRISTMAS

PARTY

On 14 December 2017

Dinner Reservation

(At Colonnade starting with

5:00PM Social, 6:00PM Meal,

7:00PM Program/Music)

(A Christmas Banquet & Music

hosted by the Luke MOAA)

Make Checks payable to Luke

Chapter MOAA ($25.00 per at-

tendee)

Return to: Luke Chapter MOAA,

P.O. Box 5072, SC West, AZ

85376

(For questions/info, call Don &

Maureen Fordney at 206-595-

6543

Please Mail before

5 December

(As guests of Luke MOAA, MOWW West Valley At-

tendees will be seated with other West Valley MOWW

Companions)

Click here for ( ) Veggie

Meal(s) How Many Veggie

Meals___

Printed Name(s)

_________________________

_________________________

Menu Includes: Garden

Salad; Prime Rib; Baked Po-

tato; Veggie Medley; Rolls;

Cherries Jubilee with Coffee,

Tea & Water

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PHOTOS FROM NOVEMBER MEETING

Ken Coffman

Mary Lou Eikenbery

Bud Hesterman did an excep-tional job with his rendition of Flander's Field and the Old Tat-tered Flag. Very emotional.

Pat & John Laboda

Buz and Bud, after Bud’s Talk

Treasurer Report

Jerry Wojtas As of 31 October 2017 General Fund $5,652.40 Patriotic $2,556.93 Endowment $13,688.92 TOTAL $21,898.25

Chapter Staff 2017-2018

Commander Captain Buz Isban

623-561-8159

Sr. Vice Commander Bill Fedor

623-975-0558 wfedor@aol.com

Jr. Vice Commander

open

Adjutant Mrs. Novelle Ballard

623-980-2145

Treasurer COL Jerry Wojtas

623-544-4477

Marshal Willard Lobitz 623-738-8777

Surgeon CAPT Bill Furgerson

623-566-1278

Chaplain

Major Ken Coffman 602-600-8622

Judge Advocate

Open

Historian/Archivist Open

Public Relations ROTC Liaison

Open

Former Commander COL Jerry Jenson

480-889-4606

Membership Chairman G.O. Jenson

jerryjenson@hotmail.com

Bulletin Editor Ron Beltz

Final Edition, DEC 2017

RAB7437@gmail.com

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Mrs. Novelle Ballard 15891 W. Cisa Rio Lane, Surprise, AZ., 85374

623-255-6143 nfballard@hotmail.com Roster Corrections Please mail or e-mail roster corrections to Chapter Adjutant

Adjutant Military Order of the World Wars West Valley Chapter 131, Arizona

15891 W. Cisa Rio Lane, Surprise, AZ 85374 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

TO: Meeting Schedule 2017-2018

December 9, 2017 January 13, 2018 February 10, 2018 MOC February 28, 2018 March 10, 2018 April 14, 2018 May 12, 2018

NEXT MEETING: October 8, 2016