Capt. Vaughan presents Certificate of Appreciation to Ms. Joyce.
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 March 16 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.
Our speaker was Virginia “Gail” Joyce, who serves as chair of the MOAA President’s Surviving Spouse Advisory Council, as well as co-chair of the MOAA Surviving Spouse Virtual Chapter. Her husband Larry Joyce was a retired U.S. Army officer who had served two tours in Vietnam. Gail earned a Bachelor of Arts in English (cum laude) in 1983 and a Master of Arts in humanities in 1986.
Gail is also a Gold Star Mother. Her youngest son, Sergeant James Casey Joyce, was an Army Ranger who died on Oct. 3, 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia. Sgt. Joyce’s story is told in the movie Black Hawk Down.
The next CMC luncheon meeting was scheduled at the SaddleBrooke Ranch Grill on April 20 with speaker Kurt McMillan, 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 nonexistent.
During his presentation, Kurt provided a wealth of information and insight that he learned about 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).
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.