Dear Members and Friends of the Military Officers Association of America – Triangle Chapter,

Let me introduce myself as your new Chapter President. My commitment to MOAA’s mission is true to my heart. I recently retired from the U.S. Army Reserve after 25 years of service in the Army Nurse Corps, and my husband retired from the U.S. Army after 22 years. Supporting the military community is part of our family’s story, and I believe strongly in the power of connection—when we show up, share our experiences, and work together, we make a meaningful impact.

Our chapter has long been a place where experience, friendship, and purpose come together. As a chapter, we especially look forward to building on the leadership of COL Herb Segal USA(ret), whose dedication shaped the path forward for our chapter these past several years.

In the months ahead, I will focus on increasing member engagement, expanding our outreach to Veterans and surviving spouses, and making certain our chapter remains a strong voice on issues impacting our military community and their families. I look forward to serving alongside you as we continue the important work of supporting those who have served—past, present, and future.

I invite each of you to stay involved, share your ideas, and help us continue to grow through advocacy, volunteer service, attending meetings, or simply staying connected. Your presence at our events is what keeps this chapter strong.

Thank you for your continued dedication to MOAA’s mission: Never Stop Serving. I can’t wait to connect with you at our annual events.

I am excited for Chris Froeschner to share our robust events calendar and service opportunities in messages coming out in the next few days and weeks - be on the lookout!

Very Respectfully,

Faith Junghahn, COL, USAR(ret)

President, MOAA Triangle Chapter

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FOR THE 2025 HOLIDAY SEASON

Greetings and happy holidays to all! Your Chapter leadership is looking forward to a jam-packed 2026 but first we need to close out 2025 with a few items of interest to report. We enjoyed our annual Durham Bulls outing with the largest attendance we have had for this event…and those who stayed to the bitter end enjoyed a furious and successful rally by the home team! Earlier this month, we hosted a joint meeting of the Chapter with the officers of the NC Council of Chapters and the leadership of MOAA chapters from across the State. We were honored to have General and Mrs. Brian T. Kelly and CAPT Frank Michaels from National MOAA, COL Pete Warner, President of the Tennessee Council of Chapters and CDR Linc Smith, President of the Public Affairs virtual chapter. Those unable to attend can view the meeting proceedings on our website trianglemoaa.com, at the “News and Events” tab. I particularly encourage you to listen to General Kelly’s remarks.

Our own COL Jeri Graham was to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at our dinner but was unable to join us. CAPT Michaels presented the award to Jeri at her home. We wish her well.

I am also pleased to report that your Chapter again received Levels of Excellence and Harris Communications awards at the five-star (highest) level. I hasten to add that for 2026, an additional excellence criterion has been added to document the proportion of Chapter members who have registered with the MOAA Legislative Action Center. I strongly encourage all members to do so. It is an excellent and efficient way to follow the progress of legislation of interest through Congress and provides an opportunity to make your opinion known to your elected Senators and House members.

We have one more Chapter activity on our calendar for this year. On Saturday, December 13th, we are participating in “Wreaths Across America”. Please find additional information at “Location And Group Search-Wreaths Across America”. There are four local sites, in Fuquay Varina, Wake Chapel, Greenlawn Cemetery and Bazzel Creel. Faith Junghahn is coordinating this activity.

And please remember that 2026 dues can now be paid easily through Cheddar. Please consider upgrading to a Chapter Life Membership. You can find the details on our website. No end of year message is complete without a hearty thank you to our Chapter Officers and Board Members, Bob Penny, Chris Froeschner, Henry Scheller, Matt Segal, Faith Junghahn and Robin Viviano. While we all enjoy serving, none of us wants to hold our positions in perpetuity. Won’t you consider joining us? A personal note will do! Thanks! May you and your family have a happy and healthy new year.

Herb Segal, MD, COL USA

Chapter President

New Year’s fireworks are already distant memories and here we are in March, preparing for our most active year in recent Chapter memory. I know spring is fast approaching, as my utility bills are half of what they were for the previous month and my order of asparagus crowns have been shipped! With that said, I encourage you to log on to our website (https://trianglemoaa.org/index.php), click on "Calendar" (just to the left of this article) and copy events of interest to your personal calendar.

We have again supported the Cary High School JROTC in hosting their annual drill meet this month. If you can get to the event, you will be incredibly impressed with the quality of our cadets and their dedication to excellence! In April, we are hopeful that one of the revolutionary or civil war battlefields will host a “park day”, so that we can assist staff in getting the parks buffed up and ready for the summer tourist season.

In May, we are hosting our annual scholarship awards dinner. Our Scholarship Foundation Board will shortly be meeting to evaluate the applications from cadets competing for the $1,500 scholarships we will be awarding. We have invited a senior member of the new State administration to be our guest speaker. This is a “must attend” event!

For summer, we are planning an informal outing on June 10th at the ZinkHouse, a new winery/brewery on the Durham Highway (SR 98) and an August reprise of our Durham Bulls buffet and ballgame. More details on both these events will be forthcoming shortly.

Our State Council of Chapters is sponsoring a five-day cruise to Bermuda in October, leaving from Norfolk. This is a great opportunity to get away and renew friendships with members of other chapters from across the State. On November 7th, we are hosting a dinner for the annual meeting of the North Carolina Council of Chapters. We expect representatives from all 16 chapters to join us for dinner that Friday evening and for a meeting the following morning. We have invited the Governor to join us for this important event and are hopeful that he will say “yes”!

Finally, on December 13th, we will build on last years’ experience and have greater participation in “Wreaths Across America”. I hope you agree that this is an ambitious undertaking altogether and one that will energize you to participate fully!

A second Chapter priority is enhancing the power of our legislative activities, no mean feat in these turbulent times. You may notice that our officer slate now includes a new Legislative Chair, COL Faith Junghahn. Under her leadership, we intend to play an active role in reaching our elected representatives at both the Federal and State levels with quality of life issues of importance to us and to military and veterans families generally.

Third, I am particularly keen on filling one other officer vacancy, that of Membership Chair. We have been promised that the long-awaited redesign of the MOAA data system relating to the identification and recruitment of national MOAA members in our catchment area will finally go live. With that we need a Chapter member to reach out and contact prospective members. That is not to say that membership is not everyone’s responsibility, only to say that all too many eligible officers are not aware of our Chapter’s existence! Will YOU step forward?

Finally, a shout out to my Chapter officers who have shouldered the responsibilities of their offices and more! Chris has been a steady hand with our financial affairs, our events planning and communication and much more. Bob has continued to be the steady hand on our JROTC and ROTC activities and has been the principal architect of our annual Levels of Excellence submission. Henry has guided the redevelopment of our digital presence into an award-worthy website. Matt, Robin and now Faith have also stepped up in Chapter governance. And a final thank you to the many Chapter members who have supported our Scholarship Foundation, in some cases handsomely so. I expect our accomplishments to be recognized this year with a five-star Level of Excellence and a Harris communications award.

And of course, no President’s message would be complete without a plea for additional members to step into Board positions! I am personally in the fifth year of my two-year term and am hopeful of one day being a “past President”. I’ll wager that my fellow Board members have similar aspirations! Make a commitment to serve! Let me know what interests and motivates you and we will find you a place!

Herb