State and Chapter Reps Gather

Annual Storming the Hill campaign brings leaders from near and far to Washington.

In April, council and chapter representatives from all 50 states and Puerto Rico assembled in Alexandria, Va., for troa's annual Storming the Hill campaign (visits with their congressional representatives) and Council Presidents' Seminar activities.

During their trips to the Hill, participants teamed up with representatives from the national staff or the board of directors and urged legislators to enact laws in support of changes to concurrent receipt of military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation, to modify the present Survivor Benefit Plan over-62 offset, and to continue efforts to restore military pay-raise comparability. The participants also had an opportunity to share their ideas during the one-day seminar and Cross-talk gathering.

What's In A Name

In January TROA's national board of directors voted to recommend that the name of our organization be changed to the Military Officers Association of America.

This recommendation was the culmination of a study conducted by a board committee aided by the services of Age Wave Inc., a nationally renowned survey firm that specializes in such things as name-change research. Of importance to us in the chapter world is the knowledge that Age Wave randomly selected chapter leaders and members to include in their surveys, so we were consulted - in spades. In August we'll have an opportunity to vote on the recommendation.

I encourage you to support this move for a good reason: Our chapter membership is aging. Statistically, the average chapter member is some seven years older than a non-chapter TROA member. This translates into declining membership and an increase in the "unwilling to serve in a leadership position" mindset. Simply put, without an infusion of younger chapter members, a number of our chapters will die.

This is a serious situation because of the amount of legislative support we garner from our chapters. To keep our chapters strong, we need to recruit those non-chapter members who don't consider themselves retired - because they are either still on active duty or employed in second careers.

It is vitally important we all understand that changing our name will not change our mission - not one iota! We still will campaign for our earned entitlements as military retirees. We still will continue to fight for such things as concurrent receipt and improvements to the Survivor Benefit Program. If anything, we will fight even harder and more effectively because our overall membership numbers will have grown.

I urge you to vote "yes" for the name change in August. I know we can count on your support.

—Col. Chris Giaimo, USAF-Ret.
Director, Council and Chapter Affairs