Content Manager posted on October 01, 2009 00:13
October 2009 Navy Magazine
by Casey W. Coane
This month marks the third edition of Navy as our new monthly flagship. Those of you with e-mail are also receiving our new AUSN Electronic Newsletter. Soon you will be able to follow us on Twitter. By now, it should be clear to all of you that issues that are important to Reservists are still important to the Association. At the same time, we are beginning to attract Active Duty and retired Active Duty members. The magazine and the Web site will continue to expand in areas of interest to all Navy people and their families. We welcome your ideas as we move in new directions.
We have gotten a tremendous amount of e-mail and phone calls concerning TRICARE for Life. Much of it is because the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) listed TRICARE for Life as a target for savings. As CAPT Puzon has said many times, OMB says that every year because it is a potential place to save money. This year, there is no Congressional push to change TFL. As you know, however, TFL is linked to Medicare Part B and the premiums that all retired must pay to be eligible for TFL. Therefore, any changes to Medicare, as a part of a greater overhaul of our medical system, have the potential to affect your retired benefits. That is why you and your friends who are retired need to belong to AUSN. Our CAPWIZ legislative communication system allows you easy access to send messages to Congress and you need to do that.
Captain McAtee brings us one of his briefcase articles this month. It has the schedule of selection boards for both the Active and Reserve Components for next fiscal year. If you are coming up for a board, now is the time to consider ordering one of our record reviews. After every board, I receive thank you e-mail from officers and enlisted who are sure that our review process helped them get promoted or advanced. While it is easy to get your record and look through it today, it is not easy to apply the careful scrutiny that our boardexperienced reviewers bring to it. In reality, it is a small investment in your future.
This month, our guest column on page 7 is from Master Chief Tom Howard, the Fleet Master Chief for Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk. We couldn’t agree with Fleet more – our Sailors today are wonderful. I remember when the Soviet fleet made a port call in Norfolk in the late eighties. Their Admiral remarked to our CNO at the time that they could not compete with our Sailors. That is no doubt true in spades today. Did you read the column last month by Bill Reichert about what he observed aboard Nimitz? We can all be proud of our Navy and our Sailors. Now, let’s work to keep it that way.
Speaking of our Navy – Happy two hundred and thirty-fourth birthday, Navy! What a long way we have come from the original six-frigate Navy.We are indeed an amazing institution built on the work of heroes like John Paul Jones, David Farragut, and Thomas Mahan. And what about Nimitz, Halsey, and thirty-one-knot Burke? Another generation saw the likes of James Stockdale and, yes, John McCain, following tradition as he wrote in Faith of My Fathers. Today, in this war, we honor the memory of LT Michael P. Murphy and Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor, both SEALS. It is indeed a proud heritage that we all share. Let us celebrate this birthday and our heroes past and present.
As always, enjoy the read.