Col. McMillen (left) presents Certificate of Appreciation to Staff Sergeant Skeen (right). Photo by Bill Myers.
Former Lt. William Myers, CEC, USN
The Catalina Mountain Chapter (CMC) of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) held a luncheon meeting on Jan. 25 at SaddleBrooke Ranch. The meeting began with a business session presided over by retired Col. Kurt McMillen, U.S. Army, during which members were updated on the chapter’s current activities.
Col. McMillen, formerly the CMC’s first vice president, had taken over as president of the CMC at the beginning of the year from Capt. Vaughan. Capt. Vaughan has become the president of the MOAA Arizona Council of Chapters, which includes the CMC and nine other MOAA Chapters.
Our speaker was Steven Skeen, the president of Threat Awareness Consultants. Mr. Skeen joined the Marine Corps at 17 years of age serving eight years on active duty followed by three years in the North Dakota Army National Guard. Reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant, Steve’s stateside duty stations included Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C.; Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and Marine Corps Base Twentynine Palms, Calif. His overseas assignments included Marine Security Guard at the U.S. Embassy Beirut, Lebanon; the U.S. Embassy Kuwait City, Kuwait; and the U.S Embassy Kathmandu, Nepal.
Steve has spent most of his life engaged in the business of protection and threat awareness, including a long career with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). During his career in the CIA, Steve worked as a Special Operations Officer/Para-military Skills Officer and dedicated a major portion of his service focused on countering terrorist threats.
The April CMC luncheon meeting will be held on Saturday, April 19 beginning at 11:30 a.m. The location for the meeting will be at SaddleBrooke or SaddleBrooke Ranch, but the exact location is yet to be determined.
The speaker will be Paula Pedene who began working as the public information officer at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Hospital in 1994, after serving more than 11 years as a U.S. Navy communications specialist.
In 2014, Ms. Pedene became front-page news when she helped a doctor at the hospital expose the deceptive bookkeeping practices that were used to cover up how long veterans were waiting to receive medical care. She is also the co-author with novelist Doug Williams of the 2022 book on this scandal called A Sacred Duty.
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 non-profit, IRS 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.