RAISE RETROACTIVE RETIREE ACCOUNT STATEMENT INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

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1 Copperhead Retirement Association Website: SPRING FLING Our Spring Fling is scheduled for Friday, April 25, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. We will be serving brats, sauerkraut and potato salad. Sandy Lentz, Entertainment Committee Chairperson, is organizing the event. If you would like to volunteer to help Sandy at sandralentz@cox.net or call The Ticket Order Form is on page 5 of this issue. Mail ticket request to the address listed on the form along with your check made payable to The Retired Copperhead Association. The form cannot be filled in on-line! You must print it, fill it, and mail it with your check. The deadline to order tickets is April 18th. This is the last event prior to the summer break and we hope to see you all at the SPRING FLING!! Submitted by: Many of our Members "Just wanted to let you know that, the same as many of you, I recently received my Military Retiree Account Statement. Please review the back of your statement and verify who you have designated as the beneficiary in case you die. Mine has changed to someone I don't even know (Cathy J. McMillin, "wife") as getting 100%. Based upon the fact that recently the VA had military retiree personnel information compromised it is interesting that somehow my beneficiaries have RAISE RETROACTIVE Armed Forces News Issue 02/01/2008: Satisfied with changes Congress made regarding seizure of Iraqi assets held in the U.S., President Bush signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act on January 28th. The $696 billion bill includes a 3.5% military pay raise, as well as increased health care and benefits for those wounded in the line of duty. The Senate had approved an amended version of the measure, which addressed the administration's concerns, on January 22nd. During the stalemate that delayed enactment of the bill, a 3% military pay raise as of January 1st took effect. Now that the bill is signed, service members can expect retroactive compensation for the half-percent of pay they have not yet received, as well as bonuses and incentives that may have been delayed. RETIREE ACCOUNT STATEMENT changed. If you look at the broader picture of what this means that many veterans probably wouldn't catch this and that as we lose more of our fellow service men and women each day this would leave their dependents without the benefit they deserve. I will be calling DOD as well as the DOD IG and local congressman. Please send this out to the retirees you know and alert them to check who their current beneficiary is. Ask them to pass it along." R. R. Keene, Associate Editor, Leatherneck Magazine, MSgt, USMC (Ret) FEBRUARY 2008 ISSUE 2008 CALENDAR Spring Fling: April 25th Monthly Meetings 7:15pm: February 14, 2008 March 13, 2008 April 10, 2008 Meeting Location: American Italian Club 7509 N. 12th Street, Phoenix THE PRICE FOR THE BUF- FETT HAS INCREASED TO $11.00 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: MEMBER UPDATES 2 NAVAJO HUNT DATES 2 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE 2 MEETING HIGHLIGHTS 2 OLD TIMER S NIGHT PIX 3 OLD TIMER S NIGHT PIX 4 OLD TIMER S NIGHT PIX 5 SPRING FLING TICKETS 5 LOOKING FOR INFO? 6 TRICARE GOES DIGITAL 6

2 SICK CALL: Ted Gardiner fell ill on Thursday, Jan 17 th and was admitted to Banner Estrella Medical Center. We don t have all the details but the latest is that he has been released and is home. NAVAJO HUNT DATES PRESIDENT S MESSAGE It was great to see many new faces at our January '08 meeting, as well as the familiar ones. Our guest speaker, Mr. Tatum Portales (AG State Office) was very informative about credit card fraud, identity theft, and how to be cautious about phone call solicitors. Bill Loew (Vice President) has lined up another interesting guest speaker for our February meeting. Great job, Bill!!! We all thank you. A very successful Old Timer's Night has passed and before you know it, it will be time for Spring Fling. Before this happens, we have elections at our April '08 meeting. All who are interested in running for an officer position please contact Sandy Lentz ( ) or Roy Waddell ( ). In the past 10 or 20 years, there have been elected officers of the Retired Copperheads Association, and volunteers, who have dedicated their time and effort in order to continue and improve the quality of our organization. I would say this is from the deep roots of the 161st Air Refueling Wing and the many years we gave of ourselves in order to keep the 161st one of the top units in the U.S. this will continue. Now I will say "Thank You" to all those members. Success is in our blood! Hope to see you at our next meeting. God Bless us all. The Navajo Hunt dates have been released. If you are interested in hunting at Navajo, contact Gary Duncan at or by at gjduncan@outdrs.net Jack Furlong, President MEETING HIGHLIGHTS PAGE 2 >Thirty-three members and three guests attended the meeting. >Mr. Tateum Portales, Community Outreach Coordinator for the Arizona Attorney General s Office, was our guest speaker. Mr. Portales gave a briefing on the Top 10 Scams for An article with a summary of the briefing will appear in the March Newsletter. Mr. Portales will also provide Trish with a comprehensive booklet that will be available for our members at the monthly meetings. Joe O Rourke and Trish Callura are working on a link for our website which will contain Mr. Portales briefing and AZ Resources Listing with helpful phone numbers and websites. >Bob Dorfman provided the financial report. We have $ in the account; 158 tickets were sold for Old Timer s Night; $ from the silent auction was donated to Family Support. We spent $ on the five Christmas gifts for our overseas members and $89.90 for postage. Thanks to Glenn Klassen handled the shipping arrangements. The association sent three $25.00 donations to Family Support in the name of LaVern Welker, Roland George Mason, and Willard Bill Jouret. >A Great Big Thank You to Sandy Lentz, Entertainment Committee Chairperson, for all her hard work on Old Timer s Night. We also thank all those who volunteered. >Bill Loew was instructed to submit the CRA expenses to Jill Nelson for reimbursement; however, there seems to be some confusion about this agreement. Bill will contact Colonel Anderson to resolve this issue. >Several people ordered Commemorative Bricks at Old Timer s Night and there are some that were purchased a while back. Trish will get with Ron Fennema for an update on the program and will provide the information to the membership. >Election of Officers is scheduled for the April Meeting. If you are interested in running for an officer position, please contact Sandy Lentz at or Roy Waddell at >David Bolton won the dinner for two and Jack Furlong won the 50/50 drawing for $ (We decided to give out the entire 50/50 money rather than a split for the association since our Life s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting Holly Cow!! What a ride!!!

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4 PAGE 4 Photos Courtesy of: Kip Leahy

5 PAGE 5 TICKET ORDER FORM Spring Fling Friday, April 25th, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Order Deadline: April 18th $10.00 Per Person Name: Number of Tickets: MAIL ORDER FORM WITH PAYMENT TO: Bob Dorfman 6865 E. Voltaire Drive Prescott Valley, AZ MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO: The Retired Copperheads Association Tickets will be held in your name at the door!!

6 PAGE 6 LOOKING FOR INFO? TO FIND NEW OR PAST AFTERBURNERS 1. Go to the Air Force Personnel Center s Web site at 2. Click on the Retirees Services tab. 3. Then click on To view the latest copy of the Afterburner, click HERE or To view the Afterburner Archives, click HERE in the middle of the page, as appropriate. TO FIND NEW OR PAST AIR FORCE RE- TIREE NEWS SERVICE RELEASES 1. Same as Step 1 Above. 2. Click on the Retiree Services tab. 3. Then click on the line "Air Force Retiree News Service" in the gray box under the blue heading "Military Retiree Services" in the upper left-hand corner. 4. Then click on the appropriate answer number for "Current Air Force Retiree News Service Articles" or the timeframe you desire. 5. Use the innermost scroll bar to locate all the releases. TRICARE GOES DIGITAL TRICARE for Life (TFL) beneficiaries can soon print a copy of their Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from the convenience of their own homes. Starting in January 2008, the only paper EOB s that TFL beneficiaries living in the United States and U.S. territories will receive are monthly summaries. The exception to this is if a claim includes services that are rejected, and those services have appeal rights; or if the EOB is mailed with a payment to the beneficiary. TRICARE overseas beneficiaries will continue to get their EOBs as usual. In February, beneficiaries will have the option to receive an electronic notification every time a claim processes. Beneficiaries can then log on to the secure web site at to view and print their EOB. The EOB will be available online and beneficiaries will have the ability to access EOB s for any claim processed during the last 27 months. Once a beneficiary signs up for this option, they will not receive a monthly paper summary. TFL beneficiaries will receive letters notifying them of the changes, either with their current EOB s or any other correspondence. If you have questions about the registration process, call toll-free at COPPERHEAD RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION 3200 E. OLD TOWER ROAD BOX 19 PHOENIX, AZ ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED THE PRICE FOR THE BUFFETT IS NOW $11.00 DON T FORGET YOUR BOLO TIE $1 FINE FOR NOT WEARING IT!! Happy Valentine s Day