As we are ready to close out the year 2016, there are many things to be thankful for. This will be year number 1 of my retirement from the work force and I can tell you that I have been as busy as if I were still working, but I am doing the things I enjoy now, so don’t dread retirement, look forward to it.
I have travelled to Washington DC to act as a guardian on Honor Flight for a World War 2 veteran so that he could visit his WW2 memorial. Our chapter hosted some Gold Star families for an exciting outing which included a Hells Gate dinner cruise, a visit to Wild Life Images and finally a visit to Oregon Caves. For the first time in many years, we participated in the local Veterans Day parade and celebration. I attended the celebration recently where the largest US flag in Oregon was raised over in Grants Pass. It is 40’ by 60’ and the celebration was attended by over 1000 people. Due to the generosity of our local communities, our chapter has been able to ship between 12-20 care packages to our troops overseas to lift their morale. This really came to fruition after my grandson who is an NCOA member and a soldier stationed in South Korea brought up how much some care packages from Indiana meant to he and his fellow soldiers.
We just completed a successful recruiting drive where we brought in about 20 new members and through my efforts working on our membership database another 20 current members that were not affiliated with a chapter agreed to join our chapter. I have been encouraged by many of the members that I have met via email and telephone that want to be kept up to speed on what NCOA is doing. Just today I was informed that NCOA got some face time with the President Elect Trump to voice our concerns over needed changes in the VA and other matters affecting our membership. With the incoming administration we have indications that things that have been on the back burner for the last 8 years may be getting a fresh look. I am optimistic about our future and I hope that you are too!
I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.
Strength in Unity and Leadership By Example
SKCM (SCW) Terry M. Haines, USNR Retired
Chapter Chairman