Middle Tennessee Chapter Newsletter September 2026
Editor: COL Doug Minton, USA Retired
Upcoming MOAA Middle Tennessee Chapter Meeting
22 September 2026; 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
MTC Monthly Luncheon Meeting
“Disaster - Financial Preparation”
MAJ Gary Ward, USA (Ret)
Retired Financial Planner & MTC Chapter Member
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ONCC, 115 Gardengate Drive, Franklin, TN 37069
Gary earned a bachelor’s degree in political science (Arms Control and International Terrorism) from Lafayette College. He was commissioned through ROTC as a 2LT in the Infantry. He is a graduate of the Airborne School. Ranger School, Special Forces Qualification Course and the Civil Affair Officer Qualification Course. He is a combat veteran of Operation Just Cause. He is also a graduate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Courses ICS 100, 200, 300, 700 and 800.
Gary recently retired after 29 years in the financial planning industry (Ameriprise Financial) earning designations of the Certified Financial Planner (CFP)®, Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC)® and Certified Military Financial Advisor (CMFA)®.
Additionally, he volunteers with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), USAF Auxiliary as the Emergency Service Officer for the Music City Composite Squadron and a Liaison Officer to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). He was the primary liaison between CAP and TEMA during the State’s response to Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Tennessee Floods. Following the 2010 Floods, he was asked to become the Emergency Liaison Officer for Tennessee Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster (TNVOAD). He subsequently served at the President, Vice President and the Treasurer for TNVOAD. (TNVOAD is the primary coordinating agency for managing disaster response efforts from national, state and community based voluntary organizations). He has served in every major disaster from 2010 to 2025, including Gatlinburg Fires, Middle Tennessee Tornadoes (Clarksville, Nashville, Green County, Mt Juliet) Waverly Flooding, Winter Ice Storms and COVID response. He also served as the Financial Education Coordinator for the National VOAD and presented several webinars for disaster responders and reference booklet for the Foundation for Financial Planning and the Tennessee Chapters for the Financial Planning Association.
He is currently volunteering with Freedom Sings, AMVET, American Legion, The Honor Foundation, Chapter 38 of the Special Forces Association, American Corporate Partners, Foundation for Financial Planning (FFP), Middle TN Chapter MOAA, and Blue Star Families (Clarksville Chapter).
MTC President's Letter
9/2/2026
At the July 2026 luncheon, chapter member Tom Avery was talking with me about the upcoming scholarship fundraising. He stated that the three $1500 local scholarships ($4500 in total) are nice, but not significant. He went on to say that with the cost of inflation that has occurred, a more meaningful scholarship to reach for would be $5K each ($15K total) and suggested we should set that as a new fundraising goal for ourselves. What do you think? Is this a worthy and achievable goal?
Dean Wegner sold some Authentically American garments in conjunction with his address to the chapter at the August luncheon. He donated 20% of the sales proceeds towards our scholarship fund, raising $206.00. Thanks to Dean for his company’s contribution and congratulations on his eldest daughter’s marriage on 29 Aug 2026!
A personal affairs note. During a recent national MOAA webinar, it was mentioned that many MOAA members do not have accurate information about their spouse on their MOAA profile. This hinders the ability for MOAA to support surviving spouses. Please ensure that both you and your spouse’s profiles are current with national MOAA.
Upcoming community involvement opportunities follow:
Operation Commissary is scheduled from 1100-1300 on Friday 25 September. Our chapter is signed up to complete this event. We need at least 10 volunteers. Volunteers can register here: Operation Commissary Registration Please join us at Operation Stand Down Tennessee and help us prepare grocery bags for delivery to local, needy military and veteran families.
Pete Warner, the Council of Chapters President, made me aware of ZeroMils. This is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with a mission to create “military thriving” cultures and communities that go beyond being “military friendly” and bring change to the “broken veteran” narrative. ZeroMils is having anin-person event on Tuesday 13 October at Nashville State Community College from 0800-1500. The event is the Military Thriving® Regional Change Forum Nashville. They are looking for our chapter members to participate, get more information and sign up here: http://www.zeromils.com/
J. Dale’ Kiser, Col, USAF, Ret
MTC President
Upcoming MTC Support Opportunities for Operation Stand Down TN
11 September 2026; 7 – 11:00 AM. MTC Members in the Columbia, TN area will have an opportunity to participate in the 2nd Annual OSDTN Columbia Heroes Breakfast, being held at the Mule House Restaurant in Columbia. More information available athttps://www.osdtn.org/colhb.
25 September 2026: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. MTC members & family will have an opportunity to participate in an “Operation Commissary" food bag packing event held at OSDTN, 1125 12th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203. . We need approximately nine members/family members for about two hours to accomplish this task. Register at https://app.buglevolunteers.com/registration?id=4a06b11b-3301-4bcc-9933-3226d89a78eb .
24 October 2026, 7:00 -10:00 AM – 5th Annual Music City Got Your 6 Ruck Marchat Geodis Park, Nashville, TN. Underwritten by the Bob Woodruff Foundation. Volunteers are needed to work at the event or participate in the march. More info at https://www.musiccityruckmarch.com/.
5 November 2026 - 16th Annual Nashville Heroes Breakfast. Event is at the Music City Center, Karl F. Dean Grand Ballroom. This is a fundraising event for OSDTN, with Rocky Bleir as the keynote speaker. Additional event information at https://www.osdtn.org/nhb. (Please note: MTC will have a table with seats which are funded by individual MTC members. Information on sign up for seats will be published shortly.)
MOAA Legislative Action Center
The Legislative Action Center (LAC) provides a very comprehensive tool for MOAA members to use in corresponding with their elected congressional representatives.
After signing into the LAC you can choose from a list of Active Advocacy Campaigns to correspond with your legislators on the particular issue you have chosen. A suggested letter is available to be used in corresponding with your legislator and you are presented with the option of modifying the letter to make it more personal.
The LAC also offers you an option to view the status/progress of MOAA Supported Legislation that is of interest to you as it moves through Congress.