|
|
 |
 |
Welcome! |
 |
|
 |
The
Spokane
Chapter
of
MOAA is a Five Star Chapter
 |
Member Links |
|
 Spokane Audiology is dedicated in using the best technology available to help you hear better. |
|
|
Our chapter holds periodic luncheons featuring civic, political, military or business leaders, plus social activities. We publish a newsletter six times a year to inform our members of chapter events and legislative and local military issues.
The legislative issues are ones that defend veterans earned benefits and support key national defense by actively contacting and letter writing our federal and state senators and representatives.
We also sponsor local recognition programs for ROTC and JROTC Units. Organizations we support are the Armed Forces and Armed Forces & Aerospace Museum, MOAA Scholarship Program, Shriners Children’s Hospital, Fisher House and the Veterans Retirement Home.
Membership is open to those with honorable service who hold or have ever held a warrant or commission in any component of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Public Health Service, and their surviving spouse. To join our chapter you must already be a member of Military Officers Association of America or joining national at the same time you are joining our chapter.
Crosshairs - Military Matters in Review June 4, 2010
Retired Marine general: Military oath of office never dies
by Fred Edwards
June 4, 2010 -- At a dinner for some 300 participants from the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) on May 23 in Fort Myers, Fla., retired Marine General Richard I. “Butch” Neal challenged Americans to pursue integrity, judgment and courage. General Neal, chairman of the board of MOAA, said that the qualities spring from the military oath that begins with the words, “I solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” he said.
Prowling to and fro in front of the first row of dinner tables, Neal said he chucked a generic presentation that a speechwriter had prepared for him, and “I wrote my own, during most of today.” He added that he created the new speech because he was disturbed about what is happening in our country. He said that too many Americans are busy pointing their fingers at others when they should take responsibility for their own actions. He didn’t have to give the audience examples because recent media stories immediately pop into mind. Consider the following:
* Officials from a major financial firm explain what happened that affected the economy, but they point fingers this way and that, implying, “please don’t hold me responsible.”
* The BP oil disaster makes daily headlines, and causes talented, highly paid leaders to testify. But the thrust of their statements shows “arrows going this way and arrows going that way, saying, ‘I’m not the individual responsible. It was somebody else’.”
* A state attorney general “forgets” whether he was in Vietnam.
* And a Congressman appears on TV with a young lady he admitted he had an affair with after he had preached abstinence to his constituents. He sounds like he is saying, “The devil made me do it.”
Neal approached a table where a Naval Academy midshipman in uniform sat with his grandmother, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I get fed up when I juxtapose the unwillingness of some to accept accountability with the young man sitting at this table who swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Neal gestured to the audience of military officers, spouses, widows and widowers. “You are the kind of rock-bottom people who are the foundation of this country, to whom much is given, and much is required. Yes, we’re going to have the other kind; that’s why so much is expected of you. When we go to the high court of history and we are judged, we will be asked, were we truly men and women with integrity, judgment, and courage?”
|
Speaking for all Americans who follow those principles, he said, “We accept responsibility and accountability seriously. If we don’t do this, then shame on us.“
Referring back to his audience, he said: “You and I are the apostles. We raised our hands and took that oath of office seriously. Not for 3 years, 20 years, 30 years. We took it until the end of time. Because we believed in what we stand for and what this country stands for: integrity, judgment and courage. I challenge you to continue.”
He closed by saying: “People like you and I got in line a long time ago and we stayed in line. I thank you for standing for integrity, judgment, and courage. If we encourage our youngsters to embrace those qualities, we can count on our country’s future.”
He received a standing ovation.
Prior to his retirement, General Neal was the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps. He currently is a mentor in a mandatory six-week program for newly-selected flag and general officers.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This article may be forwarded or republished on your website with attribution to Crosshairs - Military Matters in Review at www.milmat.net by Fred Edwards.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
