FAR-REACHING VISION NEEDED

According to the 26 April EXCOM meeting agenda efforts will be made to fashion an appropriate vision statement.

We need to come up with something creative and in line with a changing world.

Yes, the world is changing.

Recently an Amtrak train stopped at the Olympia-Lacy station, WA, northbound to Seattle and two young women boarded, one carrying a desert camo rucksack. It turned out she was a Fort Lewis soldier on her way home to Shelby, Montana, having earned a three week leave. During conversation she said she had three horses; someone suggested she’d probably be very glad to get home and ride them. “Oh, no,” she said, “the horses are at Fort Lewis. I take them every place I go.”

Now there’s the modern Army for you, a dramatic change from the Army some of us knew years ago.

A California chapter president, one with extensive consulting experience to non-profits, explained that we must determine where we are today and then visualize where we want to be tomorrow. Perhaps he was referring to the kind of organization we want to have, the nature of it, with a focus on culture.

According to the new strategic plan draft, the vision statement is “To accomplish our mission CAL-MOAA will become the leading professional military organization in the State of California by becoming a financially solvent inclusive organization that embraces all active duty and retired officers of all services, active and retired Guard and reserve officers and former officers as well as their families and surviving spouses. CAL-MOAA will be comprised of strong local chapters and will ge the key political influence regarding military issues in the State of California.”

Is this the kind of statement that will sustain the Council through, say, the year 2010?

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