Military Officers Association of America — Olympic Peninsula Chapter meeting
Who: Former military officers and guests
When: Noon on Sunday, Feb. 9
Where: Baja Cantina, 531 W. Washington St.
RSVP: To Lorri Gilchrist, cdrlgilchrist@gmail.com
Their time in various military branches may be over, but when it comes to advocating for themselves, other former service members and those on active duty, these officers are anything but retired.
With dozens of chapters across the nation, the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) boasts more than 370,000 members from every branch of service, including active duty, National Guard, Reserve, retired, former officer, and their families.
It’s a nonprofit, non-political group designed on one level to lobby on behalf of active, inactive and retired uniform services, said Tom Coonelly, former president of the Olympic Peninsula Chapter (2017).
On another local level, he said, the group touts camaraderie and support of local veteran’s organizations, Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs, Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and the like.
“When we signed upwe thought we’d have healthcare for life,” said former president Lorri Gilchrist (2018).
Instead, she said, it feels as if as the years go by those benefits are being stripped away.
“We still have to fight,” she said.
Gilchrist said that while the group is open to active officers, most of the Olympic Chapter is made up of retirees. It works out, she said, that those with more time are able to help those active members by lobbying for them at the state and national level.
“People on active duty do not have time to research these things,” Gilchrist said.
That advocacy, she said, includes some military family members.
“We support surviving spouses; we can direct them (to resources),” Gilchrist said.
The association can also help spouses of officers find work, and children of officers find resources and help such as out-of-state tuition waved for teens who move with their military family.
Gilchrist likens this kind of advocacy to insurance for military personnel and their families.
“It’s part of being a responsible person for your whole life,” she said.
Large organizations like MOAA and American Legion can reach legislators far better than one person on their own, Coonelly said. MOAA members track bills that go through the state and national legislature.
That includes advocating to keep the military retirement system funded and sound, he said.
“We need to keep an eye on (the retirement system), make sure some legislator doesn’t throw it all away,” Coonelly said.
“The question is, can the government afford it? We really need to be practical … It’s expensive to pay for retirees for 30, 40 years.”
Coonelly said that when he retired from service about 60 percent of elected representatives had some sort of service in their background; now, he said, it’s about 5 percent.
The Olympic chapter of MOAA also supports other local military-minded organizations, from Clallam County Veterans Association to Sarge’s Place (Forks), JROTC and CAP programs, Captain Joseph House and more.
Coonelly is an ROTC graduate commissioned for active duty with U.S. Army. He served in Vietnam, Korea and in Europe, he taught ROTC courses at Eastern Washington University.
Now retired for longer than he was in active duty, Coonelly said it was his father-in-law, a “hardcore paratrooper,” as Coonelly described him, that turned his interest toward joining a MOAA chapter.
“I enjoyed meeting with people who had common experiences that I could talk to,” he said.
Gilchrist graduated from officer candidate school in 1974 and worked on worldwide military command and control systems. After U.S. Navy post-graduate school, she worked in Navy’s public affairs office, including work for newspapers and television.
She moved to the Olympic Peninsula about 17 years ago and has been in MOAA since, serving as a chapter and state officer.
MOAA meetings
On the second Sunday of each month the Olympic chapter of MOAA meets at noon at the Baja Cantina, 531 W. Washington St., with topics and special guests. Those have included everyone from former U.S. Navy SEALs to county officials, Olympic Medical Center representatives, congressman Derek Kilmer and staff from the PNNL Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Coonelly said.
On Feb. 9, the association — which includes about 70 active members and 20-25 who attend monthly meetings, Coonelly said — hosts a luncheon to celebrate their 50th anniversary, with all past presidents invited and guest speaker RADM Anthony Vogt, Commander 13th U.S. Coast Guard District, slated to speak. (RSVP to Gilchrist at cdrlgilchrist@gmail.com.)
MOAA was formed in in Los Angeles, Calif., on February 1929, looking to “provide assistance and advice to other military officers,” according to the association website. “MOAA’s purpose also has grown to include career transition assistance, improved member products, military benefits counseling, educational assistance to children of military families (to include enlisted), and strong involvement in military professionalism activities.”
Membership is open to active duty, National Guard, Reserve, retired, and former commissioned officers and warrant officers of the following uniformed services: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Auxiliary memberships also are available for surviving spouses of deceased officers.
The Olympic Peninsula Chapter chapter was chartered in 1970, with Kenneth Powell serving as first president.
See www.moaa.org.
For more about the Military Officers Association of America’s Olympic Peninsula Chapter, see www.moaa.org/chapter/olympicpeninsula.
