AUXILIARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED
February 2005

Editor’s note: In July 2004, MOAA’s board of directors established an Auxiliary Advisory Committee and asked it to consider how MOAA might better serve auxiliary members. The committee also must advise the chairman and the board about current and future MOAA programs, plans, and policies as they pertain to the recruitment, retention, and representation of the surviving spouses of uniformed services officers. Carolyn Epling was selected chairperson for the committee. This was her first article printed in The Affiliate.

At a stop during her 2004 campaign, Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) addressed a large audience, many of whom were from the military community in Albuquerque, N.M. She thanked the auxiliary members of the Military Officers Association of Albuquerque for educatiing her about the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) “widows tax.” She also told us that members of Congress are faced with thousands of bills and it is impossible to understand all of them.

We visited her many times to discuss the military SBP offset, reviewed the MOAA presentation with her, and shared personal stories about how our quality of life was diminished by the offset at age 62. Without the education we provided, she said she never would have understood the inequity we faced. She had signed on as a cosponsor of the bill, but our education efforts led her to use her position on the House Armed Services Committee to join forces with Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) to work for passage of the bill, which resulted in the 31/2 year military SBP fix.

Rep Miller attended that gathring and said Wilson’s efforts were invaluable to the passage of the bill. MOAA is indeed One Powerful Voice. The MOAA Auxiliary in Albuquerque learned that a handful of widows also are a strong powerful voice in legislative issues.

Carolyn Epling
Auxiliary Member Advisory Committee

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