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President Keith. Team, we are almost at the end of this year and a few things come to mind. (1) Wid-ow’s Tax, (2) Veteran’s Treatment Courts and (3) Chapter Participation. I will briefly cover each area. Widow’s Tax, something that affects almost 70,00 dependents. I wrote about this earlier in the year. For those of you that don’t understand the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) – Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) Offset, let me explain. Under the current law, survivors of deceased military members must forfeit part or all of their purchased SBP annuity when they are awarded DIC. The wid-ow’s tax makes SBP the only insurance product in the country that you pay into but are legally prohibit-ed from collecting. The offset wipes out most or all of the SBP check for a majority of survivors, totaling approximately $12,000 annually, including those whose servicemembers purchased plan through de-ductions from their retired pay. I mention this to re-mind everyone that this is something we must never forget when we are voting and whenever we have an opportunity to have our voices heard. Veteran’s Treatment Court seek to divert eligible veteran de-fendants with substance dependency and/or mental illness that are charged with criminal offenses, to a specialized criminal court. The court substitutes a treatment problem solving model for traditional court processing. The veterans voluntarily participate in a judicially supervised treatment plan that a team of court staff, veteran health care professionals, veter-an peer mentors, and health care professionals de-velop with the veteran. At regular status hearings, treatment plans and other conditions are periodical-ly reviewed for appropriateness, incentives are of-fered to reward adherence to court conditions, and sanctions for non-adherence are handed down. I wanted to mention this program because I think it’s an outstanding opportunity for us to support our fel-low veterans.

November 2019 E Connection

Membership is open to anyone who holds, or has ever held, a commission or warrant in any component of

the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service or the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and their surviving spouses.

S2 Leader Brad. Our November dinner social, we an-ticipate having Randy Brown from the Georgia Depart-ment of Veterans Service as our guest speaker. Look-ing forward to a great update on the many services provided by Randy’s office. I want to take the time to publicly thank Mike Sanderson for his nearly two-year commitment as a member of the Waypoint DSP II Board. Mike graciously devoted his personal time to provide strategic guidance to include sound fiscal planning. The Waypoint DSP and Griffin Transition Center is an amazing organization supporting veterans and their families. This group of folks continues to work with zero financial compensation and our satellite group is pleased to be an organizational sponsor. I also want to recognize another member of our group, Ray Wilcocks, who has volunteered to fill the board position Mike is leaving. I am honored to be associat-ed with folks like Mike and Ray who continue to make a difference by making significant commitments in our community. We are filling up our remaining dinner so-cials with guest speakers from a diverse group of or-ganizations. Thank you for those that have reached out with possible folks to be guest speakers. We still are looking to fill the following slots: 5 March and 7 April 2020. I want to personally continue to thank the Atlanta Chapter of MOAA for sponsoring this group. As always thanks to everybody for your continued sup-port of the satellite group!

Brad

Fayette Veterans’ Treatment Court: Continued thanks to Brue Resnak as our Fayette County Veter-ans’ Treatment Court Lead. Our group continues to partner with the Eden Project and are quite thankful to have the organizational leadership provided by Bren Briggs. The time to make a difference in the life of a troubled veteran is now as mentors are needed for this court to be fully operational Our group is particularly qualified to be such mentors; consider volunteering to be a mentor and please make your commitment

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Atlanta MOAA E-Connection Volume XXXII

Bill Howerton is very involved in the Veter-an Treatment Court and will be more than happy to assist anyone who’s interested in becoming a mentor. I think this is some-thing we all should consider, if we have the time. Lastly, I want to briefly discuss chapter participation. We have over 180 members in the chapter, yet we are having problems filling the leadership positions. If anyone has ideas on what has to be changed to get more participation, I am all for it. In order to keep the chapter vibrant and attractive to potential members we have to become more engaged. There’s a lot of veterans in the Atlanta Metro Area who are interested in joining, however, we need to give them a reason to join. Elec-tions are this month, if you are interested or know someone who is interested in holding a position please let us know. We need everyone’s participation for the chap-ter to continue to grow and meet the needs of the local veterans and JROTC Units. The monthly chapter luncheon will be held at the 57th Fighter Group Restau-rant in Decatur. They have a good variety and the price is very reasonable. Hope to see each of you there. Until next time Fairwinds and following seas.

Chapter membership recruitment is everybody's responsibility. Vice Pres-ident Jonathan Reeder is spearhead-ing the membership team. with po-tential members and recruitment ideas. We have on-line applications, www.atlmoaa.org and paper copies each board member carries with them Serving always and every-where, the team is a salute away.

AMOAA Membership

Need your assistance in securing guest speakers for our socials. If you know of someone in your circle of friends or professional contacts that you believe would be a good guest speaker for our socials, please reach out to them and ask the individual to consider doing this. There is no requirement to be a veteran or even represent an organization associated with veterans. We only ask that the individual's mes-sage be relevant to our group. Please provide me with the contact information and I will do the final coordination-thanks!

Increasing membership continues to be an im-portant and ongoing effort. We need everyone’s assistance in reaching out within your own circle of friends to find prospective members interested in veterans' issues and sharing camaraderie with like-minded individuals. Please reach out and make one of your friends a member of our group today!

Check out the chapter and MOAA websites be-low and stay informed.

http://atlmoaa.org/Home chapter website

http://www.moaa.org/ MOAA website

Chaplain assistance call COL Dan Holtz, 404-656-2307

Please pray for

Chaplain (CAPT, USN) George Langhorne

Party time, Southside Style! Southside Satellite Social is November 5, 2019, in the Village Café, 1830 Village Café 1240 Hwy 54W Suite 200 Fayetteville, GA 30214 770.460.7888 Please RSVP to Brad, 678-978-5782 by November 4, 2019

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Sen. Johnny Isakson says he will resign at the end of the year, citing health problems Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) will resign at the end of 2019 because of health problems, setting the stage for two competitive Senate races in Georgia in a presidential election year. Isakson, who was reelected to a third term in 2016, said in a statement that he had informed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) of his decision to leave “a job I love because my health challenges are taking their toll on me, my family and my staff.” His resignation is effective Dec. 31. “My Parkinson’s has been progressing, and I am continuing physical thera-py to recover from a fall in July. In addition, this week I had surgery to remove a growth on my kidney,” the 74-year-old senator said. Kemp is expected to tap a Republican to replace Isakson next year. His retire-ment means Georgia voters will be asked to choose two U.S. senators next year, as Sen. David Perdue (R) is seeking a second term. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Isakson’s planned retire-ment means they will have to defend another seat next year in addition to the 22 GOP contests on the bal-lot. Democrats have 12 seats up for reelection. In a statement, Kemp thanked Isakson for his years of ser-vice and said he will appoint a successor “at the appropriate time. “Senator Isakson’s list of accomplish-ments on behalf of the state that he loves is long and revered, but what Georgia should be most thankful for is the high standard that Johnny held as a true gentleman, a fighter for his constituents, a trusted advocate for our nation’s veterans, and one of the greatest statesmen to ever answer the call of service to our coun-try,” Kemp said. In a statement issued after his release from the hospital last month, Isakson’s office said that symptoms of his Parkinson’s disease could lengthen the recovery process. Isakson revealed in 2015 that he had received a diagnosis of Parkinson’s two years earlier, saying that he experienced stiffness in his left arm and a slower gait as a result of the condition. Isakson is chairman of the Senate Committee on Vet-erans Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. Isakson was set to serve through the 2022 elec-tion. Under Georgia law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Kemp will make an ap-pointment to replace Isakson pending a special election to be held concurrently with the 2020 general elec-tion. Possible Republican replacements include Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who served as chief of staff to Isakson; Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan; and U.S. Rep. Douglas A. Collins. The winner of the 2020 elec-tion will serve the remaining two years of Isakson’s term, and the winner of the 2022 election will serve a full six-year term. News of Isakson’s retirement prompted praise for the senator from both sides of the aisle. “One of the many fine adjectives to describe Johnny Isakson is a word not used enough in the halls of Con-gress these days: kind,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “Not only is Johnny a diligent and successful legislator, he is one of the kindest, most thoughtful senators. Independ-ent of any party or politics, everyone will miss Johnny.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Isakson “not only a first-rate legislator but also a man of the highest integrity.” “His humor, humility, and enduring faith have made him a role model to all of us who have had the pleasure to work with him,” McConnell said. And Sen. Todd C. Young (R-Ind.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Com-mittee, called Isakson “a steadfast conservative leader who has served Georgians with the highest integrity and distinction in the U.S. Senate.” “He will be missed, but we look forward to the men and women of Geor-gia electing another strong Republican leader in 2020 alongside David Perdue,” he said. With Isakson’s retirement, Democrats now must field two Senate candidates in Georgia, a state that has been trending slowly in their direction but so far has remained out of grasp in statewide races. Another potential candidate is Jon Ossoff, who was a liberal political star in 2017 when he made a strong but unsuccessful bid in a spe-cial election for the 6th Congressional District seat in suburban Atlanta. Nikema Williams, chairman of Georgia Democratic Party, said in a statement: “We thank Senator Isakson for his years of service to his state and country, and wish him all the best for his future.” “With now two Senate seats up for election in 2020, it has never been clearer that the path for Democratic victory runs through Georgia,” Williams added. “We are the battleground state, and Georgia Democrats are ready to fight and deliver both the Senate and the presidency for Democrats across the country in 2020.” Before entering politics, Isakson worked for a real estate firm, Northside Realty, his father helped to found. Isakson became its president in 1979 and led the company for two decades, during which time it grew to become one of the country’s largest independent real estate brokerages. Isakson’s political career began with his election to the Georgia House in 1976. He is the only person in Georgia’s history to have been elected to the state House and U.S. House and Senate.

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Atlanta MOAA E-Connection Volume XXXII

Videos from battlefields in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine have shown the potential havoc that small drones can bring to unsuspecting ground forces, including scouting for call-for-fire missions and dropping grenades on exposed positions. U.S. troops are already deploying abroad with counter-drone capabilities, including CACI International’s SkyTracker suite, according to com-pany officials at this year’s Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington, D.C. “We have many contracts with DoD, IC [intelligence community], federal law enforcement custom-ers,” said Carl Boggs, CACI SkyTracker’s program director. “One thing that we do, which I do think is a discriminator from other types of systems, is we can find the actual ground control system or the radio operator.” The core of SkyTracker is radio frequency detection and mitiga-tion. It identifies the link between a drone and its controller. Those positions can then populate on a user interface screen, like the portable tablets already used in the field by many troops. The tracker identifies what type of drone is being used and offers options to do anything from jamming its communication to forcing it to the ground. The platform has been deployed out-side the continental United States in operational environments with U.S. military personnel, but Boggs couldn’t disclose the units or locations. SkyTracker also has a “safe landing zone” op-tion, where an enemy drone is given coordinates to land at safely. “We have our jam options and what we’ll call the kill option, where we can actually send the drone to the ground. But there’s many places where the systems are deployed where we don’t want to send the drone crashing to the ground,” Boggs said. “We’re actually able to tell the drone, ‘go to these coordi-nates,'" he added. "If it does have ordnance, that allows us to safely control it, or to actually [find] the drone to get information from it.”

The U.S. Air Force is officially putting down its money to buy two different models of light-attack aircraft. The service will purchase two to three aircraft each of the Textron Aviation AT-6 and Sierra Nevada Corporation/Embraer Defense & Security A-29 aircraft. The handful of planes will be used to support “allies and partner capacity, capability and interoperability via training and experimentation,” according to an Air Force announcement. The A-29 Super Tu-cano contract should be awarded before the end of the year, with the AT-6 Wolverine contract coming in early 2020. The plan to buy a handful of planes was previewed earlier this year by Air Force officials, but the companies will likely breathe a sigh of relief now that the deal is done. The purchase provides a much-needed show of confidence in the project.The two com-panies have invested internal funds on the Air Force’s light-attack experiment over the past two years and remain hopeful the service moves forward with a bigger buy of light-attack air-craft in the future. The missions and basing for the planes will be different. The AT-6s will go to Air Combat Command at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., for “continued testing and develop-ment of operational tactics and standards for exportable, tactical networks that improve in-teroperability with international partners,” according to the Air Force announcement. The A-29s will go to Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla., and will be used to “develop an instructor pilot program for the Combat Aviation Advisory mission, to meet in-creased partner nation requests for light attack assistance,” per the release. “Our focus is on how a light attack aircraft can help our allies and partners as they confront violent extremism and conduct operations within their borders,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said in the statement. “Continuing this experiment, using the authorities Congress has provided, gives us the opportunity to put a small number of aircraft through the paces and work with part-ner nations on ways in which smaller, affordable aircraft like these can support their air forces.” Experiments will continue with a focus on creating a joint architecture and information sharing. The Air Force has said that funding for the initial AT-6 and A-29 buys will come out of the esti-mated $160 million in unspent funds that Congress appropriated for the effort in previous budgets. Congress has appropriated $200 million in total for the effort since it was announced in late 2016.

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The U.S. Navy is preparing to ink one of the largest contracts in its history with General Dynamics Electric Boat and the firm’s partner shipyard Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News that will make the new generation of attack submarines a major force in strike warfare. The Block V Virginia contract is expected to produce 11 boats with eight Virginia Payload Modules, and will triple the Vir-ginia’s Tomahawk Land Attack Missile capacity to 40 missiles per hull. Experts say that the new Vir-ginia Payload Module will also be large enough to accommodate boost-glide hypersonic missiles like those the Navy is developing with the Army But the logic for the Virginia Payload Module has al-ways been about replacing the Ohio-class guided missile submarines retiring in the 2020s. Because submarines have been the Navy’s go-to asset to penetrate areas threated by Chinese and Russian surface-to-surface and anti-ship missiles, attack submarines loaded with strike missiles would have to be the ones to get close enough to be able to launch land-attack strikes. That model upends dec-ades of the surface Navy’s supremacy in the world of strike warfare from the sea, but experts are beginning to question the logic of giving the strike warfare mission to submariners in an era of great power competition. With Russia and, to an even greater extent, China investing heavily in anti-submarine technology, does it make sense to give a stealthy asset a mission that will blow its cover? Bryan Clark, a retired submariner and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary As-sessments, wonders if the surface fleet is the best place inside the force to house the strike mission. “I think the requirement may be changing,” he said in an Oct. 22 phone call with Defense News. “Over the past 10 years there has been a real emphasis on the submarine as the one tool we have that may be able to get into contested areas — the East and South China seas, up in the north At-lantic, etc. “That’s changing now: These countries are investing in their own anti-submarine warfare systems. China has put a lot of money into ASW systems, they are installing surveillance systems akin to our SOSUS [sound surveillance system]. So the idea that our submarines are our go-to asset to gain access, that may not be true in the next few years as it was in the past 10, so there is a question as to whether we should be investing in submarines to maintain the undersea strike capaci-ty.” ‘Increasingly vulnerable’ The issue is not just that submarines run the risk of being detected, which is an ever-present risk anytime a submarine leaves the pier, but that it won’t be able to create the volume of fires that the surface fleet could, especially with new concepts in development such as a large unmanned surface vessel that could act as a kind of arsenal ship. “The surface fleet is likely going to be our best strike capacity asset in the next decade,” Clark said. “Submarines are going to be increasingly vulnerable, so the question becomes: Do I want to take my [Virginia Payload Module]-equipped SSN, put it in-side the South China Sea to launch strikes, get counter-detected and harassed for days afterward? I lose it from the fight for a long time just evading attacks. “Whereas if you used unmanned surface vessel[s], those can launch just as many cruise missiles as a Virginia class, many times cheaper; they can rotate, get reloaded and just keep launching strikes at a much higher rate of fire as you would ever get out of the SSN force.” Jerry Hendrix, a retired naval flight officer and analyst with The Telemus Group, agreed that the surface fleet is likely going to be the place to house a strike ca-pability, especially in the era of mass hypersonic fires, because of the cost it would impose on the U.S. to try to match Chinese capabilities on subs. “I think there is a powerful argument to distribute these weapons across the surface force,” Hendrix said. “If you can create a strike weapon that al-lows the surface force to stand outside of DF-21 and DF-26 range and shoot three-pointers from outside, then yes. To create mass and volume in the submerged force is twice to three times as ex-pensive as it is to create that volume from the surface force. “So there is a solid argument just from the standpoint of cost. If I was trying to create 2,000 tubes of hypersonics — which are much more massive than Tomahawks, wont fit into a Mark 41 vertical launch system and hence will have to go into a different configuration — to create that mass in the submerged force is going to be very ex-pensive.” The Navy is looking at back-fitting destroyers with larger vertical launching system tubes to accommodate so-called prompt-strike weapons, Defense News reported in June. But some ana-lysts say the mission is better suited for a large unmanned surface vessel. “I think this is going to one of the main things driving the design of the large unmanned surface combatant,” said Dan Gou-ré, an analyst at the Lexington Institute think tank. “We’re back to arsenal ship: long-range, park it into a surface action group of carrier strike group — kind of like a surface version of the SSGN.”

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Upcoming AMOAA Board of Directors elections: 1. President Two year commitment 2. First Vice President: Logistics 3. 2d Vice President: Membership 4. Treasurer All positions effective January 1, 2020 Please consider volunteering for one of these positions and continue serving Chapter Membership Dues Chapter membership renewal is now open for all members, life and regular until April 2020. Your $20 donation will go towards the annual ROTC Scholarship, newsletter pro-duction and website fees. Page 8 has our membership form. Thank you in advance for your donation and support Free Veterans Day meal locations: Applebee’s Chili's IHOP O’Charley’s Ryans Show your ID Card or copy of the DD214 Happy Thanksgiving!

Atlanta MOAA E-Connection Volume XXXII

AMOAA Board of Directors Meet-ing November 13, 2019, 1130-1300 Fidelity Bank 3490 Piedmont AVE, Atlanta, GA 30305 All members are welcome

AMOAA Luncheon, Saturday, November 16, 2019 1130-1300 57th Fighter Wing 3829 Claremont Ave Atlanta, GA 30341 Chef's Choice Lunch Buffet: Biscuits With Whipped Butter Garden Salad w/Italian and ranch

Chef's Choice Potato

Chef Choice Vegetable

Chef's Choice Chicken Entree

Chef's Choice Fish Entree

Chef's Choice Dessert

Beverages: coffee, iced tea and sodas included in buffet

Cost: $25.00 Please RSVP to Rosalie North, 770-310-0867 or rosalienorth-castle@gmail.com

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Atlanta MOAA E-Connection Volume XXXII

AMOAA Sponsors

2020 Dues

Membership Renewal

The Atlanta Chapter of MOAA

P.O. Box 468531

Atlanta, GA 31146

Please complete all items

NAME: _____________________________________ RANK: _____________ BRANCH OF SERVICE: ________________

STATUS: ( ) RETIRED ( ) ACTIVE ( )RESERVE ( ) NATIONAL GUARD ( ) FORMER OFFICER ( )WIDOW

DATE COMMISSIONED:__________________________________ SPOUSE:_______________________________________

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ROTC Scholarship/Award Fund

AMOAA’s Scholarship program for JROTC Cadets who are college-bound high school seniors needs your support. When you renew your

annual membership, please include an extra $10—whatever you wish to give towards this worthy program.

Annual Membership renewal $20

JROTC/ROTC Scholarship/Awards Contribution $__________

Total Enclosed: $___________

Your donation will support a enduring leadership legacy for our county's future leaders, thank you! Please keep this form for your tax de-

ductible donation.

MOAA Timeline

TBD MOAA Annual Convention

AMOAA Luncheon Dates

November 16, 2019

December 21, 2019-Election of new AMOAA Officers

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Atlanta MOAA E-Connection Volume XXXII

Atlanta Chapter of MOAA, Inc

PO Box 468531

Atlanta, GA 31146