Capt. Vaughan presents Certificate of Appreciation to Capt. Galvin. (Photo by Char Godec)
Former Lt. William Myers, CEC, USN
The Catalina Mountain Chapter (CMC) of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) held its most recent luncheon meeting on Saturday, April 15, at SaddleBrooke Ranch. The meeting began with a business session presided over by retired Capt. Charles Vaughan, U.S. Navy, President, during which members were updated on the chapter’s current and upcoming activities.
The day’s speaker was retired Capt. Kelly Galvin, U.S. Army. Capt. Galvin enlisted in 1975 and served in the infantry and as a medic before graduating from Officer Candidate School (OCS) in 1985. As an officer, Capt. Galvin had both Medical Corps and Signal Corps assignments, retiring in 1996.
Following his Army retirement, Kelly began a second career as a health care administrator and manager of information systems at the Georgia War Veterans Home before fully retiring in 2004 to Green Valley, Ariz. Kelly became active with both the Green Valley MOAA Chapter and the MOAA Arizona Council of Chapters.
Surprisingly, in 2009 the Army recalled Kelly to active duty for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Kelly’s presentation focused on this “retiree recall” to active duty after 13 years out of uniform and his deployment to Baghdad.
While in Bagdad, he worked in Saddam Hussein’s former Al Faw Palace surrounded by a man-made lake, which served as the headquarters for the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I). Like most active-duty officers assigned to the Joint Operations Center (JOC), Capt. Kelly worked 12-hour days.
He also discussed his 2019 fictional work, PowerPoint Ranger: My Iraq War Logs, based on this experience. Microsoft PowerPoint software was the principal tool by which after action reports were developed over the amount of time required to obtain all the relevant details and then published to those who had a need to know within the chain of command.
The CMC is now in its summer hiatus of regular meetings until Oct. 21. Details for this meeting’s location and speaker will be published within the next several months.
If you are a former or present officer of the uniformed services interested in joining our organization, please contact Membership Chair former Lt. j.g. David Bull, U.S. Navy, by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 520-825-0604.
The membership of CMC encompasses the areas of Catalina, Oracle, parts of Marana and Oro Valley, SaddleBrooke, SaddleBrooke Ranch, San Manuel, and Sun City. For additional information, please visit our website catalinamountainsmoaa.org.
The CMC and MOAA are nonprofit, Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(19) tax-exempt veterans’ organizations dedicated to maintaining a strong national defense and preserving the earned entitlements of members of the uniformed services and their families.