Volume 7 • Number 5
T
he National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is legislation that Congress must pass
every year and that active duty, reserve
component and military retirees pay
close attention to because it contains
legislative initiatives that affect all of
them. This year, the House of Representatives passed its version of the
FY2012 NDAA late last May, but as
this is written, the Senate version is
still being worked on. Of course, once
the Senate finishes its version the two
chambers must work out differences
between the two bills so that they end
up with one bill that is then sent to the
President for his signature.
September - October 2011
The Senate Armed Services
Committee has approved its version
of the FY2012 NDAA and it includes
a range of personnel and compensation initiatives. Here’s a list of selected
provisions:
yy 1.6% military pay raise for 2012.
yy Statutory limitation that the
percentage increase in TRICARE
Prime fees for FY2013 and future
years will not exceed the percentage increase in military retired pay.
yy Permission for modest increases in
some TRICARE fees for FY2012:
TRICARE Prime enrollment fee
would rise from $230/$460 per
year (single/family) to $260/$520;
retail pharmacy copays would rise
$2 or $3, depending on the medication; copays would be eliminated
for generic drugs purchased via the
TRICARE mail-order system; no
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
change in brand-name medications
via mail-order.
Authority for service secretaries
to call reservists to active duty for
up to one year for preplanned and
budgeted missions.
Prohibition of barring reenlistment
based on medical conditions that
a physical evaluation board has
considered and found the servicemember fit for duty.
$30 million in Impact Aid support
for schools with significant populations of military children.
Authority for services to develop
job training programs to prepare servicemembers for civilian
employment.
Additional voluntary separation
and retirement incentive authorities to assist services experiencing
(con't on page 3)
Senate Bill Would Merge Commissaries and Exchanges: Would Likely
Mean the End of Commissary System
A
few weeks ago the
Senate Veterans
Affairs Committee held a hearing on 35
bills affecting veterans
that had been introduced
into the Senate. One of
those testifying at the
hearing was a Marine
Corps retiree from North
Carolina.
He told the Senators
of his personal experience with the on-going issue of water
contamination at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. His testimony was riveting as he explained how his 9-year old daughter had passed away in 1985 from cancer that he believes
was caused by the water at Camp Lejeune. He explained
that she was the only one of his four daughters who was
conceived, carried and born at Camp Lejeune. He went on
to say that thousands of people who were stationed at Camp
Lejeune sometime in their careers have been affected by
this contamination and many of the sick have been virtually
bankrupted by the expenses of the medical care required to
combat the catastrophic illnesses they developed.
It was explained that this issue has been going on for
decades and that he has been researching it for 13 years.
During his research he discovered the Department of the
Navy and the Marines Corps have documents which “clearly
reveal their leadership’s knowledge that our tap-water was
contaminated nearly five years before they took any action
to locate the source(s) and stop if from flowing.” He further
stated that the documents he has uncovered “indicate there
(con't on page 5)
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
Mark Olanoff
O
ne of the issues I know we have all been concerned
about for the past couple of years is the COLA, or
in this case, the lack thereof. As you’ll see in the
Report From the Hill, it looks as if there will be a substantial
COLA this year of at least 3.5 percent. The bad news, of
course, is that it means inflation has increased and the cost
of everything has gone up.
However, there is a discussion about the COLA going
on in Washington, D.C. that you need to know about. One
of the ways being talked about to deal with the massive
federal budget debt is to change the way the COLA is
calculated. Some bean counters there say a different
formula to determine the COLA should be used that they
say would more accurately reflect how people change their
buying habits when prices increase. The changes they want
would result in smaller increases in Social Security and
military retiree pay and it would push taxpayers into higher
tax brackets.
This new COLA calculation, called the “Chained
Consumer Price Index”, takes into account changes in
buying habits as prices increase. For instance, an individual
might watch more movies on TV instead of going to the
theater when movie ticket prices increase. Or one might
substitute margarine for butter, buy store brand food items
instead of name brand items, travel less, stop running the
air conditioning as much, or go to the doctor only in an
emergency.
This, of course, is outrageous. The purpose of the
COLA is to give those who are on fixed income the same
purchasing power when inflation makes each dollar worth
less. To adopt this new calculation is totally at odds with
the purpose of the COLA and will guarantee that those who
are on a fixed income will have a poorer life style. You can
rest assured AFTEA will fight to stop any plan to start using
the new COLA and we will keep you advised on what is
happening with it. B
AFTEA Pine Belt Chapter 2 Chartered
P
ine Belt Chapter 2 of the Armed
Forces Top Enlisted Association
received its official charter on
April 1, 2011. CSM (Ret) Rodger
Ehrke, along with Chapter President
CSM (Ret) Marion Walley and other
chapter members celebrated the event
at a breakfast meeting at the All Ranks
Club on Camp Shelby Joint Forces
Training Center, Mississippi.
The Pine Belt Chapter currently has
32 members who meet each month for
breakfast or dinner along with spouses at
the club to support MWR funding for the
troops.
The Hattiesburg and Pine Belt areas
have a long history with the military
going back to 1917 when Camp Shelby
was established as an induction and
basic training facility for soldiers during
WW1, WW2, and all wars up to Desert
Storm. It has served almost continuously
since then as a training site, not only for
the reserve components of the Army,
but also for the active components of
the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air
Force. Camp Shelby has been operational
at various levels to its current role as a
premier mobilization/training site.
The 158th Infantry Brigade and
177th Armor Brigade have posted their
colors and provide pre-deployment
training to National Guard and Reserve
Forces deploying to support the war on
terrorism.
Being within 70 miles of Keesler
AFB, Biloxi, and Naval Construction
Battalion Center, Gulfport, as well as a
variety of Reserve and Guard components
-- the area has a large number of E-9’s
that are very active in their community
and support for military men and women.
The Chapter has taken on the
project of conducting a Veterans’ Day
parade for the City of Hattiesburg and
the Hattiesburg Veterans Committee
to encourage the participation of High
School Bands, JROTC, University of
Southern Mississippi, Air Force and
Army ROTC units as well as the area
military affiliated organizations.
Pine Belt Chapter 2 is off to
an outstanding start under the
leadership of CSM (Ret) Marion
(Ossi ) Walley, who provides a “can
do attitude” with a good helping of
motivation. B
3.5 Percent COLA May
Be In Your Future
T
he Consumer Price Index
has been on the rise this
year and that means retirees
may finally be in for a healthy
COLA this year.
After two years of low or no
inflation, it is suddenly on the rise.
As a result federal, military and
Social Security retirees are looking
at a possible January cost of living
adjustment of 3.5 percent. And if
living costs continue to climb, the
raise could be even bigger.
As most retirees know, this
would be the first inflationadjustment in two years and there
is no doubt that retirees want and
need the money. The last time
military retirees got a raise was the
5.8 percent COLA they received in
January, 2009.
The amount of the COLA
won’t be known and official until
mid-October when the Consumer
Price Index-W for the third
quarter of this year (July, August,
September) is announced. B
Report from the Hill
(con't from page 1)
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
force reductions, including authority for a one-time “retirement
bonus” for officers in selected
specialties who volunteer to retire.
Enhanced requirements for Yellow
Ribbon Reintegration Programs to
adopt best practices and improve
collaboration.
Requirement to pro-rate hostile
fire and imminent danger pay on
a daily rather than monthly basis.
Extension of requirement for DoD
surveys of provider participation in
TRICARE Standard.
Exclusion of TRICARE providers
from consideration as government
subcontractors (a recent Department of Labor ruling on this has
caused some providers to drop
TRICARE).
Requires Uniformed Services
Family Health Plan enrollees who turn 65 in FY2012 and
future years to transition to Medicare and TRICARE For Life, but
encourages DoD and USFHP to
develop options for TFL-eligibles
to continue in USFHP. Note: this
provision only applies to new
enrollees in FY2012 and future; all
current enrollees (of any age) are
grandfathered.
Medicare/TRICARE Fix Still
Needs to Happen
For the past few months it’s taken
a back seat to more prominent negotiations on raising the debt limit, but
unless the law is changed, Medicare and
military retiree TRICARE payments
to doctors will be cut 30% as of this
coming January 1.
The big problem, just as it has
been for the last 10 years, is the price
tag for making the fix. According to
the Congressional Budget Office a
one-year fix will cost $22 billion. A
permanent fix would cost almost $280
billion over ten years.
One problem is that Congress
hasn’t been paying much attention to
the so-called “doc fix” because of all
the other issues on its plate, including
finding a way to raise the debt ceiling
and avoid a national default. Part of
that process is developing a package
of major budget cuts large enough to
convince a majority of legislators to
vote for the debt ceiling hike.
And as things have developed,
multiple rounds of budget cuts have
been negotiated this year. The first
was during the time they needed to
pass the final appropriations bills for
FY2011. Next was during negotiations
for raising the debt ceiling. The third
round has been during the debates for
funding the 2012 fiscal year.
Any “easy” savings options will
be long gone by the time Congress
finally gets around to addressing the
Medicare/TRICARE payment problem
(which, if history is any guide, won’t
be until November or December).
And that means military and Medicare beneficiaries -- once again -- will
be holding their breath at the end of the
year, hoping Congress won’t allow a
cut that would cause lots of doctors to
drop them as patients.
Senate Considers 35 Bills for
Veterans
The Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee, led by Chairwoman
Senator Patty Murray (D- Wash.) and
Ranking Member Richard Burr (RN.C.) has been considering 35 bills
that have been proposed by numerous
members of the Senate to, as stated
by Chairwoman Murray, substantially
improve the lives of veterans and their
families. Among those 35 bills were
the following.
S. 696 – Treatment of Vet Centers as
Department of Veterans Affairs facilities for purposes of payments of allowances for beneficiary travel to Department facilities.
This bill would require VA to
provide veterans with a travel reimbursement for trips to Vet Centers that
is equal to what they currently receive
for travel to VA health centers.
S. 894 – Veterans’ Compensation CostOf-Living Adjustment Act of 2011.
This bill would mandate a cost-ofliving adjustment in the rates of disability compensation and dependency
indemnity compensation payable for
periods beginning on or after December 1, 2011. The COLA would be
the same as the COLA that will be
provided under current law to Social
Security benefit recipients.
S. 423 – Providing Authority for a
Retroactive Effective Date for Awards
of Disability Compensation in Connection with Applications that are Fullydeveloped at Submittal.
According to the Department of
Veterans Affairs, this bill would authorize a potentially retroactive award of
disability compensation to a Veteran
whose compensation application was
fully developed as of the date submitted to VA. Another way of saying it is
that the bill would provide an incentive
for veterans to file these fully-developed claims by compensating them for
a period of up to one year prior to the
date the claim was filed.
S. 491 – the Honor America’s Guard
and Reserve Retirees Act.
This bill would grant recognition
as a veteran to members of the Guard
and Reserve who serve a career of 20
years or more in the Reserve Components but who, through no fault of
their own, never served on active duty
orders for the required length of time
to qualify as a veteran. This is a
no-cost bill -- there are no new benefits
conferred by this bill.
S. 698 – Codifying the Prohibition
against the Reservation of Gravesites
at Arlington National Cemetery.
This bill would prohibit, in law,
the insider practice of allowing certain
high-ranking military members and
other VIPs to pre-select their gravesites
(con't on page 4)
Army Announces Site for National Museum
T
he Army has announced that
the North Post of Fort Belvoir,
Va., will be the site of the
National Museum of the U.S. Army
(NMUSA), scheduled to open in June
2015. Secretary of the Army John M.
McHugh approved the decision the
week of the Army’s 236th birthday.
“In presenting the Army’s storied
236-year history, this long-overdue
facility will offer the American people
a unique opportunity to connect with
our soldiers and better understand and
appreciate their many and glorious
stories,” McHugh said.
“Now that a site for the Army’s
museum has been determined, the
development of the museum’s master
plan can be finalized,” said Judson
Bennett, Executive Director of
the NMUSA project office at Fort
Belvoir. Building of the museum will
be funded privately through the Army
Historical Foundation, a non-profit
organization dedicated to preserving
the Army’s heritage.
Initial construction will include
a multi-story, main museum building
with exhibit halls, theater, Veterans’
Hall, food service and retail areas,
administrative areas, an experiential learning center and a lobby with
visitor reception area.
The Army is currently the only
service without a centralized museum. The Navy Museum is located at the
Navy Yard in Washington D.C.; the
Marine Corps Museum is located at
the Marine Base Quantico in Prince
William County, Va.; and the Air
Force Museum is located at WrightPatterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
For more information, contact
Army Public Affairs at 703-697-5344.
B
Report from the Hill
(con't from page 3)
S. 815 – Sanctity of Eternal Rest for Veterans Act of 2011 (or
the SERVE Act of 2011).
This bill would guarantee that military funerals are
conducted with dignity and respect. It would extend to
civilian cemeteries the protections already provided in law
for veterans’ cemeteries. It would also double the “No
Protesting” window to two hours before and after funerals,
increase protest distances for those grieving, toughen penalties for violation of the law, and permit family members
and the U.S. Attorney General to sue violators for monetary
damages.
provides $530 billion to the Defense Department which
is $8.9 billion below the amount requested by the Obama
Administration for 2012. This includes $32.3 billion for the
Defense Health Program which is $125 million more than
the White House requested. The bill also includes a 1.6%
pay raise for military personnel.
The Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, Congressman C.W.
Bill Young (R-Fla.), said it was difficult to write a spending
bill that is $9 billion below what the President requested.
He added, “I would have preferred -- and indeed I was fighting for -- a higher number for Defense. But in this time of
financial crisis that our nation is facing, no one should be
exempt from tightening their fiscal belts.”
If you support any of these bills we encourage you to
contact your own Senators and urge them to vote for them.
House Passes the Military Construction/VA
Appropriations Bill
in Arlington National Cemetery.
House of Representatives Works on Defense
Appropriations
One of the things that can be confusing for those
interested in following important legislation in Congress
is the fact that, unlike legislation for other departments of
the federal government, the Department of Defense has
two major bills: the defense authorization bill (which is
discussed earlier in this report) and the defense appropriations bill. The authorization bill authorizes the various
programs of DOD, and the appropriations bill funds them.
The House has already approved its version of the
authorization bill, and it is next working on its version of
the defense appropriations bill. The House Appropriations
Committee approved a defense appropriations bill that
Congress decided a long time ago to group military
construction bills with the Department of Veterans Affairs
appropriations bill each year. We don’t know why they did
it, but that’s what they do.
For FY2012 the Military Construction/VA appropriations bill increases VA funding to a total of $127.8 billion
(in addition to $52.5 billion in advance funding for VA
health care in FY2013) while cutting military construction
to $14 billion. That is a 16% cut below last year’s appropriation. (The cut was primarily based on fewer projects due to
conclude at the end of BRAC.) Overall this is a $2.4 billion
increase in VA spending. B
Arlington Burial Records Discovered Off-Site,Investigation Underway
R
ecently the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance
and Memorial Affairs of the House Veterans Affairs
Committee held an oversight hearing to obtain an
update from Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) on the
problems that have plagued the Cemetery. It was disclosed
at the hearing that boxes of records from the Cemetery had
been discovered at an off-site public storage facility in June,
when a bill for the facility went unpaid. The Committee
requested information regarding this incident immediately
upon notification.
ANC officials confirmed that a total of 69 boxes
were recovered, which included documents such as copies
of grave cards, and other records directly related to the
interment of veterans. The Army’s Criminal Investigation
Division is now leading the investigation into why and
how the boxes were moved and found outside of ANC.
Subcommittee Chairman Jon Runyan described himself
as “less than pleased with the lack of follow-up and public
disclosure.”
“It’s been a long year, and the new team at Arlington is
unfortunately still finding problems. While much has been
accomplished in just 12 months, there is still more hard
work ahead. We have a responsibility to restore the trust
and confidence in America’s most hallowed grounds and to
close this dark chapter in the Cemetery’s history for good,”
Runyan said. “This Committee is dedicated to providing
support to the Department of the Army, the families of those
buried at Arlington, the Veterans Service Organizations and
all interested Americans to work together to ensure a much
brighter future for Arlington National Cemetery.”
“This developing situation is unacceptable, and the fact
that this Committee still does not have answers two weeks
into the investigation does not help to instill confidence in
Arlington. We need to know are there other boxes left to
be found? And what is the extent of this latest discovery?”
asked Rep. Bill Johnson, Chairman of the Subcommittee
on Oversight and Investigations, who attended the hearing.
Over the past two years, troubles at Arlington have
mired the reputation of the Cemetery—from the highly
publicized problems with gravesite locations, low employee
morale, and an IT system that was virtually non-existent
despite several years of development and millions of
taxpayers’ dollars. B
Senate Bill Would Merge Commissaries and Exchanges: Would Likely
Mean the End of Commissary System
(con't from page 1)
have been many obfuscations, halftruths, and outright lies disseminated
by these two organizations and their
leaders.”
This retiree was testifying in
support of S. 277, the Caring for Camp
Lejeune Veterans Act of 2011, a bill
authored by Senator Richard Burr
(R-N.C.), which he called “a step in
the right direction in rectifying this
tragic situation.”
AFTEA supported that bill, but
we were shocked when we learned
that the Veterans Affairs Committee subsequently voted unanimously,
without notice or hearing, to fund
the care by eliminating the federal
subsidy for military commissaries and directing consolidation of all
DoD commissaries and exchanges.
AFTEA strongly opposes this sneak
attack on the military benefit package.
First, the Veterans Affairs Committee has no jurisdiction over and no
knowledge of DoD commissary and
exchange systems, which are under
the purview of the Armed Services
Committee.
Second, they propose virtually
dismantling the commissary system
without any hearings or other effort
to assess the adverse impact of such a
dramatic cut to a core military benefit.
There are good reasons why the Armed
Services Committees, the members of
which actually understand the commissary and exchange programs, have
ardently rejected similar proposals for
the last four decades.
Third, they seek to poach DoD
funds to pay for VA health care at a
time when DoD personnel budgets
already are under threat.
AFTEA supports expanding VA
care to cover Camp Lejeune veterans,
but the Veterans Affairs Committee
needs to find another way to fund it
besides raiding the military commissary system.
Make no mistake, without the
federal subsidy, military commissaries
would eventually go out of business, as
prices would have to rise, and savings
to customers would be lost.
The commissary is one of DoD’s
most cost-effective people programs.
Every dollar of the subsidy translates
to nearly three dollars of benefit value
to patrons (and considerably more than
that for lower-grade enlisted families).
We urge you to contact your Senators and let them know you oppose
S.277 because the way the Senate has
chosen to pay for it would result in the
death of your commissary benefit as
you know it today. B
Talking Renters Insurance to Your Kids
A Message from Liberty Mutual
Y
ou’ve been your children’s source for insurance for
18 years or longer. But now they’re moving into their
own apartments and should probably get insurance
for themselves. But insurance isn’t exactly a burning issue in
the minds of young adults -- even those who have lived on
their own for a while. So if you want your kids to be properly
insured, take the lead and explain the benefits in terms they
can understand.
Help them make an inventory of their belongings.
Young adults often mistakenly believe that they do not
own personal property worth insuring. True, they may not
yet be collecting antiques or fine art, but in this high tech
era, remind them that they own a computer and printer, smart
phone, iPod, high definition or plasma TV, and digital camera
-- not forgetting a closet full of designer clothes, a box of
jewelry, or sporting goods. Show them how the value of their
belongings adds up, that replacing them would be a huge
financial burden if they were stolen, and that for as little as
$20 a month, the cost of renters insurance is a bargain given
the level of protection and sense of security it provides.
Educate them about what a landlord’s insurance covers
-- or doesn’t.
Apartment dwellers often live with the false belief that, if
an apartment building suffers fire damage, they are covered
by the landlord’s insurance. But the truth is that only the
building is protected -- not their personal belongings. The
same rule applies to theft as well.
Review the protection benefits that will appeal to their
“on-the-go” lifestyle.
Explain to your kids that renters insurance doesn’t stop
when they leave their apartments, and that their personal
property is also covered in their car, on vacation in a hotel
room, and when they move to a new place.
Give them examples of when they’d be happy they had
Personal Liability coverage.
Liberty Mutual Renters insurance also covers your
kids if they accidentally damage someone else’s property
or accidentally cause an injury. If they don’t think that will
happen, ask them how they would pay for damage to a
neighbor’s furniture and rug if their bathtub overflowed and
water seeped into the apartment below. Or if a repairman
slipped and fell on their recently waxed kitchen floor and
sued them for his broken ankle.
With these convincing arguments, your kids will thank
you for making them see that the benefits of renters insurance
far outweigh the expense.
This information brought to you by Liberty Mutual, USI Insurance
Services and the Armed Forces Top Enlisted Association. Our
partnership with Liberty Mutual offers competitive rates and superior
service to AFTEA Members. For more information or to request a
quote, please call 1-800-524-9400 or visit us at www.libertymutual.
com/aftea. Please mention client #117534 when you call.
© 2009 Liberty Mutual Group. All rights reserved. B
Understanding the TRICARE Prime Travel Benefit Program
T
here are times when a primary
care manager (PCM) may need
to refer patients to specialists
outside their service area. Non-active duty TRICARE Prime
and TRICARE Prime Remote (TPR)
enrollees referred for non-emergency
medically necessary specialty care more
than 100 miles (one way) from their
PCM’s office to the nearest specialist’s office may be eligible to receive
reimbursement for reasonable travel
expenses. The Prime Travel Benefit
Program is meant to help enrollees with
the travel-associated costs incurred for
their recommended specialty care. The
benefit is limited to specialty referrals when no other options for care are
available within 100 miles of the PCM. Beneficiaries must have a valid
referral from their military or civilian PCM. Military treatment facilities
(MTFs) are responsible for validation
of travel expenses and will issue travel
orders for specialty referrals made by
military PCMs. TRICARE Regional
Offices (TROs) will validate the travel
entitlement and issue travel orders for
specialty referrals from civilian PCMs.
Reasonable travel expenses include
accommodations, food and transportation costs such as tolls and gasoline.
Government rates are used to estimate the rate at which the expenses
are reimbursable. High-expense travel
costs, such as air fare and rental car
fees require preauthorization. Beneficiaries are expected to use the least
expensive method of transportation and
are advised to keep all receipts during
travel. They are also required to make
their own travel and lodging arrangements unless the MTF or TRO arranges
for government travel.
The Prime travel benefit also
allows for the reimbursement of travel
expenses for one non-medical attendant
to accompany the beneficiary and the
attendant is entitled to reimbursement
of actual travel expenses. Attendants
must be at least 21 years old and can
be a parent, legal guardian or other
adult family member. The attendant
can also be a companion who has been
delegated a medical power of attorney
(POA) by the patient or legally responsible party, but he or she does not
need to be a TRICARE beneficiary or
TRICARE-eligible. The beneficiary’s MTF or TRO can
answer questions relating to the Prime
Travel Benefit Program and will give
instructions on which forms need to be
completed for reimbursement. Beneficiaries can also visit www.tricare.mil
and search “Prime Travel Benefit” after
entering their profile for information
customized according to their region.
Please note that this information applies only to TRICARE Prime
users. B
Rocky Mountain
Chapter 1
members enjoy
an afternoon
trip on the Royal
Gorge Route
Railroad
AFTEA Wear and Accessories
Officers & Directors
Order Form and Price List
Mark H. Olanoff, CMSgt USAF (Ret)
National President
Item
Bernd Dela Cruz, CSM USA (Ret)
Vice President
Roger J. Ehrke, CSM USA (Ret)
Vice President
Charles Richardson, CMSgt USAF (Ret)
Secretary
Qty.
Cost
Baseball Cap (Black only)
$25
Jacket (Red only)
$57
Polo Shirt (White)
$33
Polo Shirt (Blue)
$34
Polo Shirt (Yellow)
$35
Oscar R. Hinson, SGM USA (Ret)
Treasurer
AFTEA Patch
$10
Oliver W. Estes, SGM USA (Ret)
Director
Coin
Indicate Size
(circle choice)
William E. Spradley, CMSgt USAF (Ret)
Director
Add Shipping and Processing
Vincent W. Patton III, MCPOCG USCG (Ret)
Advisor for Sea Services
Amount Enclosed
Allow 6 - 8 weeks for delivery
The AFTEA Alliance
Publisher
Mark H. Olanoff
CMSgt USAF (Ret)
Executive Editor
Catherine Tavarozzo
Managing Editor/Designer
Sue Boyles
$10
M
L
XL
XXL (Add $2)
XXXL (Add $3
Subtotal
Mark K. Weeks, CMSgt USAF (Ret)
Director
is published bi-monthly by the
Armed Forces Top Enlisted
Association
1 (800) 808-4517
S
Total
Front
Back
Mail with check or money order to:
AFTEA Wear and Accessories
% Alan Wenzel
6638 Showhorse Ct.
Colorado Springs, CO 80922
SHIPPING AND PROCESSING
Subtotal:
Add:
$0 - $25.00
$7.00
$25.01 - $50.00
$9.00
$50.01 - $100.00
$12.00
$100.01 - $200.00
$15.00
$200.01 - $300.00
$17.00
$300.01 +
$19.00
Name: ________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________
City: ______________________________ State: ______ Zip: ___________
Armed Forces Top Enlisted Association
P.O. Box 90030
Washington, D.C. 20090-0030
Address Service Requested
NONPROFIT
US POSTAGE
PAID
LYNCHBURG, VA
PERMIT 324
Report from the Hill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 1
Senate Bill Would Merge Commissaries and Exchanges: Would Likely Mean the End of
Commissary System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 1
President's Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2
AFTEA Pine Belt Chapter 2 Chartered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2
3.5 Percent COLA May Be In Your Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2
Army Announces Site for National Museum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4
Retired Reservists Can Get DS Logons at TRICARE Service Centers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5
Talking Renters Insurance to Your Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6
Understanding the TRICARE Prime Travel Benefit Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6