One year ago, I asked for your support to grow our ranks and strengthen MOAA’s voice for the uniformed services community. I’m happy to report your recruiting efforts are working. MOAA gained thousands of new members over the past year, exceeding 363,000 in total membership. 

During my time on the board, so many of you have inspired me, and I take that inspiration on the road in promoting MOAA.

We’re all aware of the recruiting challenges our uniformed services face today. I believe it’s critical to MOAA’s mission to elevate positive stories of service and to share these stories beyond our military circles. We want to give the public a fuller picture of what uniformed service means and the value of it beyond what’s covered in the media.

On the advocacy front, MOAA’s legislative priorities in 2024 will continue to focus on protecting your pay and TRICARE benefits, reducing spouse unemployment, and improving survivor benefits.

[LEARN MORE: MOAA's Advocacy News | MOAA's Legislative Action Center]

This spring, we will again bring in MOAA leaders from across the country to support our Advocacy in Action campaign, visiting the offices of every member of Congress. Thanks to those who completed our recent survey and helped identify areas of importance. 

So here’s my ask for the new year: By each of you taking the following three actions, it would help tell our MOAA story while advancing our advocacy and driving better public awareness of the uniformed services community. 

1. If you have not done so already, please sign up for our Legislative Action Center, enabling you to easily write to your members of Congress.
   
   
2. I know all of you have a positive story of service to share. Send an email to editor@moaa.org with the subject line “My Story,” and tell us how and why you served and still serve today. Remember, we all served in “places,” but our stories are about “faces” and the people and families we’ve served with.
   
   
3. Continue to recruit your friends and neighbors for MOAA membership. Each of us is a recruiter to support our all-volunteer force and to encourage our officer corps to become MOAA members.

[RELATED: Why Join MOAA?]

While we are an association of officers, we are not just about officers — we serve and advocate for all ranks of all services, retirees, veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors. Thank you for doing your part in making MOAA such a rewarding and inspiring organization. You are what keeps MOAA strong and are the embodiment of never stop serving. We should never stop serving!