Grand Strand Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America |
2024 GRADUATES AND NEW 2ND LIEUTENANTS
Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (AROTC) at Coastal Carolina University:
One of the Grand Strand MOAA Chapter’s core missions is to support the Army Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (AROTC) Unit at Coastal Carolina University.
MOAA ROTC Leadership Medal/Certificate annual awards: Near the end of each academic year our Chapter provides a MOAA Leadership Medal and Certificate to an outstanding junior or sophomore cadet at CCU Army ROTC.
CCU ROTC Commissioning Recognition Night and Color Guard presentation: Annually, our MOAA chapter recognizes the graduating cadets who will be commissioned as Army 2nd LTs at a spring chapter dinner meeting. We present each prospective 2nd LT with a set of dress uniform gold bars, a cloth patch insignia for their BDUs and a congratulatory certificate. The CCU Army ROTC Unit provides the color guard for the opening of this dinner meeting.
MOAA Chapter Guest Speaking and Mentorship Opportunities: This year our Chapter has offered to provide guest speakers or mentors for CCU so the students will have an opportunity to take advantage of the leadership and national security affairs expertise resident in our membership.
Click on this link for more information regarding the ROTC program at Coastal Carolina University:
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Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) Program support:
One of the Grand Strand MOAA Chapter’s core missions is to support 16 Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) Units from all services assigned to our chapter. The JROTC Units range across northeast SC and include: Andrews HS (Navy), Aynor HS (Army), Carolina Forest HS (Navy), Carvers Bay (Marine Corps), Conway HS (Navy), Dillon HS (Army), Georgetown HS (Navy), Green Seas Floyd HS (Army), Hemingway HS (Army), Loris HS (Army), Marion HS (Army), Myrtle Beach HS (Navy), Marlboro County HS (Army), North Myrtle Beach HS (Navy), Saint James HS (Army), and Socastee HS (Air Force).
Ongoing Contact: The Grand Strand Chapter maintains close contact with the HS JROTC Units through our JROTC Coordinator and Scholarship Committee Chairman Karl Jordan, who is a Board Member; and who makes a combination of annual personal visits as well as telephone, email and regular mail correspondence contact. Additionally, other Board and Chapter members volunteer to present MOAA Leadership Medals at HS JROTC Annual Awards ceremonies.
Scholarship Opportunities: Over the past 17 years, the Chapter has worked hard to increase our merit based scholarship awards to college bound graduating JROTC cadets from a single $1,000 scholarship, to five $3,000 scholarships in 2025. This is one of the most generous scholarships provided by a charitable non-profit organization on the Grand Strand. Scholarship Awardees and their families and instructors are recognized as honored guests at one of our Spring meetings. They later ride in the Myrtle Beach Military Appreciation Days parade.
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JROTC Unit Activity Grants: In January of 2025 the Chapter approved $600 to assist JROTC Units conduct competitive meets, make college campus and historic site visits, or fund tuition for summer leadership academies or similar unit activities for which the units do not regularly receive service financial support.
MOAA JROTC Leadership Medal/Certificate annual awards: Near the end of each academic year our Chapter offers to provide a MOAA Leadership Medal and Certificate to an outstanding junior or sophomore cadet at all 16 of the supported JROTC Units. If possible, we try to provide a chapter member as presenter at the annual awards ceremonies held by the Units.
CDR John Bradley. USN (Ret), presents the 2024 MOAA Leadership Award
JROTC Senior Instructor/Spouse Recognition Night: For the last several years, coincident with the JROTC Scholarship Award event, we invite all JROTC Unit senior instructors and their spouses to be our guests to recognize their valuable and demanding roles as mentors for the youth of our communities. We also use this opportunity to have the JROTC instructors update our membership on the purpose and policies encompassing the JROTC program.
We honored all the area JROTC Instructors at a Dinner Meeting
JROTC Color Guard participation in Chapter dinner meetings: In order to add an element of a traditional military ceremony to our Dinner Meetings we invite JROTC Unit color guards to open eight of our ten monthly meetings (two of our meetings we have color guard help from the SC State Guard). The Unit’s color guard, accompanying instructor and spouse, are invited to remain for our dinner and program as our guests if their schedule permits. We provide a small honorarium to the JROTC Units for their efforts supporting us.
GSMOAA Chapter Guest Speaking and Mentorship Opportunities: This year our Chapter has offered to provide guest speakers or mentors for JROTC classes, so the Units have an opportunity to take advantage of the leadership and national security affairs expertise resident in our membership.
GSMOAA Chapter Membership : The Grand Strand Chapter of MOAA remains committed to supporting our JROTC Units as fully as possible to the mutual benefit of the units, their cadets, and our membership. We encourage officers serving in the JROTC Units to join MOAA national and our Chapter and a number of them are dedicated Chapter members.