Capt. Vaughan presents MOAA plaque to Col. Godec while her husband Larry Roketa watches. (Photo by George Bone)
Capt. Vaughan thanks Col. McMillen for his presentation. (Photo by George Bone)
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 April 20 at SaddleBrooke Ranch. The meeting began with a business session presided over by retired Capt. Chuck Vaughan, U.S. Navy, President, during which members were updated on the chapter’s current and upcoming activities.
During the business meeting, Capt. Vaughan thanked departing CMC member retired Colonel Charlene Godec, U.A. Army, for her service to the chapter. Char was instrumental in forming the new chapter and leading its initial success, serving as the CMC’s Legislative Liaison Chair. A plaque commemorating her service to CMC was presented to Col. Godec. Char and her husband are moving back to the Great Northwest.
Our speaker was retired Colonel Kurt McMillen, U.S. Army, who is also the First Vice President of the CMC. Kurt and his wife Cheryl had the rare opportunity to travel to Uzbekistan for two weeks in May, 2023. Although Kurt has a significant engineering, program management, and business development background, his previous knowledge of Central Asia (also known as “The Stans”) was essentially non-existent.
Using a great variety of photographs, Kurt provided a wealth of information and insight he learned touring Uzbekistan, which touched on the following areas: history, economic development, political shifts, and especially the culture.
Kurt is also on the board of directors for the Senior Village in SaddleBrooke and the president of the SaddleBrooke Cyclemasters bicycle club. Besides logging significant bicycling miles, Kurt enjoys traveling with his wife and hiking/backpacking (especially into the Grand Canyon).
The CMC has now begun its summer hiatus, with regular meetings resuming on Oct. 19. Nonetheless, there will be a CMC social luncheon (no speaker) at the SaddleBrooke Ranch Grill on Saturday, July 20, beginning at 11:30 a.m.
If you are a former or present officer of the uniformed services interested in joining our organization, please contact Membership Chair retired Lt. Col. Donald Timian, U.S. Army, by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 571-216-3679.
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 at 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.