President's report

Almost every week, more Reserve Component units or segments of units are deploying to participate in military actions around the world. At the same time, many Reservists are returning home to the welcome of a grateful nation. The Iraq rotation continues, operations in Afghanistan continue, and numerous other long-standing military activities in such places as Bosnia all remain requirements for citizen-warrior support.

I recently attended a congressional breakfast on Capitol Hill where each senior leader of the Reserve and National Guard presented a status report concerning their commands. All had high praise for the performance and dedication of their troops and were obviously concerned about how to more rapidly resolve pay, health care, mobilization, demobilization, and other issues that affect Reservists, Guard members and their families. I certainly share in the pride all of us have for the nation's Reserve Component members.

Based on what I heard at this breakfast and continue to read and hear on a daily basis, I am as certain as ever about the importance of the work ROA performs to improve policy and legislation in support of America's Reservists. I also remain favorably impressed with the commitment of governmental and congressional leaders to update our pay and personnel systems, to improve Reserve Component organizational structures, and to provide modern equipment for training and for use by those serving in harm's way.

The last full scale meeting of the ROA National Executive Committee (ExCom) was held in late March. I was very pleased with the quality of decisions generated by the ROA senior elected representatives. We will have one more meeting in Salt Lake City to transition to the 2004-2005 ExCom.

This group has worked more closely together than any other group of this size with which I have worked. We had meetings in August, December and March, and all of them exceeded expectations. Many items were acted upon after intelligent questioning and discussion. We started out with a half-day training session about the ExCom processes, such as level of detail of discussions, time restraints and the importance of this group to ROA. This knowledgeable group worked well together toward the same goals. All the members worked in the best interest of ROA.

This ExCom has accomplished much during this year, including: creation of the Industry Affairs program and the Civilian Patriots program; reinvigoration of the Wall of Gold program; approval of a robust public affairs outreach program; approval of a productive legislation and policy impact program; approval of the virtual membership proposal; development of the annual progress reporting system; development and advocacy for the proposed spousal membership initiative; approval of a realistic and executable budget for 2004-2005; approval of an improved grand membership strategy; approval of an updated ROA Strategic Planning Direction document; support of the national staff to include approval of the implementation of new revenue-producing ideas as developed through a blue ribbon committee; and creation of a viable and meaningful ROA committee work implementation system. The list goes on, and we should be proud of that.

I will have additional opportunities to thank the ExCom and other leadership bodies in ROA between now and the end of my tour. However, there are so many who deserve high praise for what has taken place this year, I thought I had better use a portion of this article to get started. All too soon I will be turning over the reins of ROA to a new president in Salt Lake City, June 10-12.

The agenda for the convention is now taking shape relative to the many prestigious speakers who will be present. The fact that so many members of America's military are deployed; the fact that so many of that number are Reservists; and the fact that many are ROA members will give us added incentive to continue to work Reserve Component policy and legislative matters during this Convention. Secretary Thomas Hall, assistant secretary of defense for Reserve Affairs, and the Reserve Component chiefs from the five services will open the Convention on Thursday morning, June 10. Invitations have also been extended to several members of Congress and senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and Northern Command. One of the highlights will be the induction on Saturday evening, June 12, of Lt Gen Dennis McCarthy, commander, Marine Corps Reserve, into ROA's Minuteman Hall of Fame.

The business to be conducted at Salt Lake City, in addition to the election of new ROA national leaders, is vitally important to the future of ROA. Increasing ROA's membership base and broadening our legislative work by adding spouses, widows, and widowers to our voting membership will be voted on at this Convention. I believe it is imperative that we approve this membership enhancement, which has been authorized by Congress. It is in the best interest of ROA.

A very exciting, progressive and dynamic environment continues to exist in ROA. The Convention in Salt Lake City will be where much work and planning reaches final success. The Convention theme, "Scaling new heights to build a stronger Reserve," is certainly appropriate. I urge as many of you as possible to take part or, if you cannot attend, make your voice heard by those who will attend as your ROA chapter and department representatives.

I look forward to seeing you there!

RADM G. Robert Merrilees, USCGR (Ret.) ROA National President, 2003-2004

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