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Making Your Move
By William J. Lynott

Don’t Believe the Hype
By Marilyn Pribus and Col. Glenn Pribus, USAF-Ret.

Special Tear-Out Section: Retirement Community Guide

Be Like Mike!
By Tonya L. Watson, Ph.D.

The Aging Game
By Col. Roger F. Landry, USAF-Ret.

In the Footsteps of the Maya 
By Cork Millner

Move Over, Cookie
By Tiffany Ayers

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Departments - News Notes

DoD Recognizes POWs and MIAs 

To commemorate National POW/MIA Recognition Day Sept. 19, 2003, the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office is offering the poster at left—free. A group of POW/MIA family members and veterans assisted in the design of the poster, which is available in poster size and 11 inches by 17 inches. 

Since World War I, more than 140,000 Americans have been captured and held as POWs. The poster, which powerfully juxtaposes the image of the POW/MIA flag over the image of U.S. flag, helps us honor and remember their sacrifices.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed each year on the third Friday of September. Ceremonies are held throughout the United States and around the world at military installations, ships at sea, state capitols, schools, churches, and police and fire departments.

To order a poster, write to Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, Attn. John Brown, 2400 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-2400, or e-mail john.brown@osd.mil. Please specify size and quantity when ordering. For more information or to download a copy, go to www.dtic.mil/dpmo/powday/index.htm.

Join Us in Portland

MOAA’s annual meeting will be held at the Portland Marriott Downtown in Portland, Ore., Nov. 8, 2003. It will include seminars on benefits information, legislative planning, financial planning, and more. See the ad on page 19 for more information. We hope you’ll join us!

Get a Discount on a New Computer

MOAA is proud to announce a new deal with Dell computers that provides members and their families discount prices and more on new Dell desktop and notebook PCs. The Dell Member Purchase Program offers many benefits, including:

  • a 10 percent discount on new Dell PCs, 
  • special values and promotions, 
  • discounted 3–5 business day ground shipping, and 
  • Dell’s award-winning online and telephone technical support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You can customize your system, add system upgrades, and place your order online via Dell’s secure member purchase store. To take advantage of this offer, go to www.moaa.org/dell.asp and use coupon code 3b38103fc16f to receive the full discount. You also can call (800) 293-3492; identify yourself as an MOAA member.

WWII Veterans Honored

The American Battle Monuments Commission has introduced an online registry for American World War II veterans. The registry will be included in the National World War II Memorial that is under construction and will be completed in 2004.

You can access the registry via the memorial’s Web site, www.wwiimemorial.com, or by calling (800) 639-4WW2 (4992). Any American who served in the armed forces or supported the war effort at home is eligible to be listed. 

Return to the Philippines

Servicemembers formerly stationed in the Philippines are invited back for a reunion Oct. 17– 27, 2003, as part of a package offered by Military Historical Tours Inc. and sponsored by the Philippine Department of Tourism. “A Return to Then and Now” includes tours of Clark Air Base (AB), the Bataan Peninsula, Subic Bay, and Corregidor.

The 10-day tour represents a sentimental journey for U.S. servicemembers who served at Subic Bay Naval Base, Cubi Point Naval Air Station, and Clark AB; for their dependents; and for those who stopped over for short assignments or recreation during the past 50 years.

Highlights include a wreath-laying ceremony at the American Memorial Cemetery, Olongapo City Mardi Gras, a sound and light show in Corregidor, and golf at Subic Bay. 

For more information, go to www.subicbayreunion.com or contact Military Historical Tours at (800) 722-9501 or www.miltours.com. Also be sure to check out the October Military Officer for a story detailing efforts by the Philippine government to welcome U.S. servicemembers back to their country. 

HEALTH BEAT
The Department of Defense (DoD) has completed its nearly three-year investigation into the operational biological and chemical warfare testing done from 1962 to 1973 by the Deseret Test Center under Project 112, commonly known as SHAD.

Project 112 was initiated in 1962 because of concern for DoD’s ability to protect and defend against potential biological and chemical threats. The Deseret Test Center planned 134 tests, of which 50 were conducted. One aspect of Project 112 was Shipboard Hazard and Defense, or SHAD, composed of tests designed to identify U.S. warships’ vulnerabilities to attacks with chemical or biological warfare agents and to develop procedures to defend against such attacks while maintaining a war-fighting capability. 

The recent investigation was conducted at the request of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in response to some veterans’ claims that the Project 112 tests might have affected their health. DoD has provided the VA with the names of 5,842 military personnel who were present during one or more of these tests. 

The 56 fact sheets that DoD released over the course of its investigation present information on every chemical and biological test done by the Deseret Test Center under Project 112, both at sea and on land. Details have been compiled into a chart to make it easier for veterans to find information that might apply to their service.

Veterans who were involved in Deseret Test Center tests and want medical evaluations should call the VA’s help line at (800) 749-8387. Veterans with DoD-related questions or who are DoD beneficiaries and have medical concerns or questions should call the deployment health support directorate’s contact center at (800) 497-6261.

More information about the Project 112 tests, including the chart detailing the 56 fact sheets, is available at: www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/current_issues/shad/shad_intro.shtml.