rutstein retirement sends shock waves throughout the commissioned

the fight for transferability:
Looking Back and Looking Forward
In December 2009, COA initiated a call
to action requesting that all members
write their elected representatives in the
House and Senate, urging their support
for extending the provision of transferability
of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to
PHS officers. Largely thanks to these
efforts, there is a bill currently before the
full Senate (S. 3447) that would allow the
Secretary of DHHS to grant PHS officers
the ability to transfer unused educational
benefits to family members. While
the next few months will determine our
success, there is no doubt that we could
not have made it this far without the
legislative outreach of more than 250 officers
and family members. This level of
individual legislative outreach by COA
membership is unprecedented.
I read many of your letters, and I know
many of you spent a great deal of time
convincing fellow officers, family, and
friends to write on our behalf about this
issue. I certainly could not do justice to
everybody who deserves praise, but I
would like to mention by name several
officers whose contributions have been
noteworthy: CAPT Jose Belardo, LCDR
Ben Brahim, LCDR Michelle Colledge,
CAPT Alan Echt, CAPT Sandra Farley,
LT Martin Guardia, CDR Dana Hall,
CAPT Chuck Hayden, CAPT Chuck
Kardous, LT Terry Lew, CAPT Angela
Martinelli, RADM Patrick O’Carroll,
CAPT Mark Papania, CAPT Steve
Rosenthal, CDR Ann Vu, and CAPT
Craig Wilkins.
Bear in mind our work is not yet done.
The status of legislation affecting the
Post-9/11 GI Bill is changing rapidly.
It is not too late to ask your elected
Senators (in your home of record) to
support the provision in S. 3447 that
grants transferability of benefits to
family members. You are also encouraged
to ask your elected Representative
to support an amendment to H.R. 5933
(the House companion bill to S. 3447)
to extend transferability of GI Bill benefits
to PHS and NOAA Corps officers.
If you would like tips on contacting your
elected representatives at this point, do
not hesitate to contact me at kysatyr@
hotmail.com. Since the status of these bills
is changing quickly, the information above
may be out-of-date by the time this edition
of Frontline is published. Feel free to
check with me or Judy Rensberger before
contacting your elected representatives.
To the more than 200 of you who have
actively participated in legislative outreach
for GI Bill transferability over the
last two years, I thank you for stepping
up and helping the Corps. To the rest
of you, the door is still open and the
challenge awaits.
By CDR Jonathan Rash
20 commissioned officers association