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It is with much excitement and pleasure that I announce that at the Feb. 5 meeting of TROA's board of directors, the board voted unanimously to submit to the members a new name for our organization. The name, if approved by a majority of the voters, will be the Military Officers Association of America.
The new name represents 16 months of effort by an ad hoc board committee, of which I was a member. The board and the TROA staff were concerned with two major areas:
Our primary concern was the size of our organization. Our 2001 membership of 387,587 could decrease to 347,881 by 2006 if we continue at our current pace. We are losing members due to aging, there are fewer eligible members because the armed forces are smaller, and we are not attracting enough younger members.
If we are to remain a strong, influential organization, we must attract more officers ages 40 to 59. These retired military officers are actively working in second careers. Many resent being called "retired" and sometimes resist joining an organization that seems to say with its name that it is only for retirees. They may not realize that TROA serves all military members, including lobbying Congress to enact legislation that helps active duty personnel and providing assistance to recent retirees entering the civilian job market.
The committee also acknowledged that TROA's name isn't representative of its membership, which includes active duty, guard and reserve, and former officers as well as retirees.
We sought expert counsel to develop possible names (presented to approximately 800 current and potential members) and talk with congressional leaders and council and chapter presidents. We discussed the ramifications of changing the name, particularly the risks of alienating TROA's core membership. But we found members, especially council and chapter leaders, were well aware of recruiting problems associated with the word "retired" and supportive of a name change.
The name change will be part of TROA's biennial voting, and a ballot will be included with the August issue of this magazine. In the next few months you can expect to read more about the name change. I hope you will give this decision your full attention. It is one of the most important questions TROA's membership ever has considered.
–Col. Ron Buchert, USA-Ret.
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Vote Yes!