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THE MOAA SCHOLARSHIP FUND RECEIVES GOLD-LEVEL RATING

GuideStar Exchange recently recognized the MOAA Scholarship Fund as a gold participant for maintaining accurate and up-to-date information about the fund’s oversight, assets, and impact. Find out more about this prestigious recognition and consider making a donation to MOAA’s Scholarship Fund today.
 
 

HOW SHOULD YOUR BONDS BE ALLOCATED?

Lt. Col. Shane Ostrom, USAF (Ret), certified financial planner, already detailed the options for allocating stocks in your financial portfolio. Now read his advice for your bond holdings.
 
 

START PLANNING YOUR NEXT TRIP

Need help finding the perfect kid-friendly hotel or the best resorts for that much-needed relaxing weekend? Find military travel discounts, tips, and resources for planning your next trip, whether it’s an end-of-summer getaway, a fall long weekend, or a snow-and-ski winter vacation.
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© Copyright 2015 Military Officers Association of America   |   MOAA is the nation's largest and most influential association of military officers. It is an independent, nonprofit, politically nonpartisan organization.
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Social Media Report July 2015

Spread the Good Word

We continue to develop our MOAS social marketing effort. This augments our Web Site, the Breeze and email notifications. It should also help us to recruit younger officers who use social marketing systems.


Our main effort is our Blog which members can find from our Web Site. The address is sarasotamoaa.us which forwards to sarasotamoaa.blogspot.com. Here we publish an unlimited number of photos, notices and stories. We post a great deal of information in the left column, including many older photos, and social links to National MOAA and DOD. We also post this information our other social media links.

If you are active on any of those systems please friend or link with us and contribute content to the site. We are always interested in content or photos so you can also email them to me and I will post them. Or you can post directly to our Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

The systems below encourage communication among our members and potential members. We communicate to our members, but on these systems they can also communicate with us.

Facebook  facebook.com/SarasotaMOAA

LinkedIn    linkedin.com/in/sarasotamoaa

Twitter       twitter.com/SarasotaMOAA

Pinterest    pinterest.com/sarasotamoaa

We use the email address sarasotamoaa@gmail.com



More about our systems at: 

socialmarketingmoas.blogspot.com


September 24th Sunset Beach Party on Lido Key

Thursday September 24th

Sunset Beach Party on Lido Key

LTG Jerry Hilmes, USA (Ret.) and his wife, Saundra, have invited the YAHOO’s to join them on Thursday, Sept 24th at 5:30 PM for a sunset beach party at their cabana on Lido Key. In the true spirit of the YAHOO’s past sunset cabana we will migrate down to the water for a 7:24PM 

Please RSVP by September 17th to Carol O’Brien at cobrienvt@aol.com to let her know if you plan to attend and what you will bring so we don’t have too many appetizers or too many desserts. It is recommended that we tip Roy who helps prepare the cabana area for our sunset gathering. 

DIRECTIONS: From St. Armand Circle go west toward the 

Gulf until you reach Ben Franklin Dr. A subtle hint will be when the road ends at the Gulf of Mexico. It is suggested at that time you turn left, which is south for our navigators. 

After about a mile on Ben Franklin you will see the Lime Tree Resort on the right, then a condo, followed by your target, the Sun & Surf Colony, 1148 South Ben Franklin Drive. 

Make a right into the large parking areas and you will have arrived. If you get to the Ritz Carlton, two doors down, you’ve missed it.



Herald Tribune Covers Admiral Chambers Presentation on the Evacuation of Saigon

Plane that Landed on Aircraft Carrier With Family
All, Kudos on the great article in the Sarasota Section of the HT today.  The reporter did a super job and really put out some good publicity for our Chapter.

Bravo Zulu to George and Alan, good work to Len and

HOOAH to Chris

Troy Scott


_____

Troy, I appreciate your note! We had a delightful,

post-luncheon session with Herald Tribune journalist, Alex Weilhammer, who is a very engaging and interested young writer and who has provided MOAS milestone coverage, featuring a well-considered summary of his interviews, which he conducted with enthusiasm and curiosity. 

I am not surprised at the impressive result, though I would not have expected front page visibility of the Herald Tribune Gulf Coast section. Obviously, Alex impressed his editors with the story of Rear Admiral Larry Chambers USN (Retired) and his Vietnam underway and rescue operations, while in command of the USS Midway (CV-41)!!

For those, who have not yet seen the article, here it is!!


heraldtribune.com/article/20150717/ARTICLE/150719719

It was a great pleasure to visit with Larry, a schoolmate, USNA '52, and recall with him, my own "Blue Water" experiences! Thanks for making it possible!

Great work, Team!!


With Respect,


George P. Tracy
President, MOAA Sarasota (MOAS)


Photos of the luncheon and presentation




One of the Vietnamese saved thanking Chambers

July Luncheon





July Birthdays



Vietnam 1975 - Rear Admiral Larry Chambers (USN, Ret)Continuing our commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, our July luncheon speaker is another American hero.  Rear Admiral Larry Chambers (USN, Ret.) commanded the USS Midway (CV-41) during the final days of the U.S. presence and evacuation of South Vietnam.












Click to see more photos 




JULY LUNCHEON PROGRAM: Vietnam 1975 - Rear Admiral Larry Chambers (USN, Ret)
by Christopher White
 

Continuing our commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, our July luncheon speaker is another American hero.  Rear Admiral Larry Chambers (USN, Ret.) commanded the USS Midway (CV-41) during the final days of the U.S. presence and evacuation of South Vietnam. RADM Chambers was the first African American to command a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and the first African American
graduate of the Naval Academy to attain flag rank.


While a Captain in command of the USS Midway during
Operation Frequent Wind, RADM Chambers gave the controversial order to push overboard millions of dollars worth of UH-1 Huey helicopters so a South Vietnamese Air Force Major could land a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog on the aircraft carrier with his wife and five children, thereby saving their lives.


In April 1975, while in command of the USS Midway, Chambers was ordered to “make best speed” to the waters off South Vietnam, as North Vietnam troops overran the country, to take part in Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of US and South Vietnamese personnel. At the time the Midway was in Subic Bay Naval Base with the engineering plant torn apart.


Chambers has stated that he received no official order to start the operation, which began on April 29th. Instead, when Nguy ễn Cao Kỳ, the Vice President of Vietnam, landed on the flight deck, Chambers figured the operation was going on. Soon the carrier's flight deck was full of helicopters
carrying refugees from the fall of South Vietnam.



On that same day, South Vietnamese Air Force Major Buang-Ly loaded his wife and five children into a two-seat Cessna O-1 Bird Dog aircraft, and took off from Con Son Island. After evading enemy ground fire Major Buang headed out to sea and spotted the Midway. The Midway's crew
attempted to contact the aircraft on emergency frequencies, but the pilot continued to circle overhead with his landing lights turned on. 


When a spotter reported that there were at least four people in the two-place aircraft, all thoughts of forcing the pilot to ditch alongside were abandoned - it was unlikely the passengers of the overloaded Bird Dog could survive the ditching and safely escape before the plane sank. After three tries, Major Buang managed to drop a note from a low pass over the deck: "Can you move the helicopter to the other side, I can land on your runway, I can fly for one hour more,
we have enough time to move. Please rescue me! Major Buang, wife and 5 child."
 

Join us on Friday, July 17th to hear the rest of this story and more first hand from Rear Admiral Larry Chambers (USN, Ret.)
_________________________________

The commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War has been established by congressional law which, in part, states: "In Accordance With Public Law 110-181 SEC.598; the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War (2015 -2016) and, ‘in conducting the commemorative
program, the Secretary shall coordinate, support, and facilitate other programs and activities of the Federal Government, State and local governments, and other persons and organizations in commemoration of the Vietnam War.” 


To learn more visit 


vietnamwar50th.com

__________________






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