FEBRUARY 12, 2014, LUNCHEON MEETING. Wednesday 1130 at the Fifth Regiment Armory; 219 W 29th Division Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 (parking available on site). LUNCH and TOUR with Joseph Balkoski, noted author and historian, and curator Maryland Military History Museum. APRIL 8, 2014, DINNER MEETING. Tuesday 1800 at An Poitin Stil Restaurant (“the still”), Timonium, MD. Guest speaker will be Lt.Gen. Steven Blum, USA (Ret) former Chief of the National Guard Bureau and Deputy Commander U.S. Northern Command, President Maryland Historical Society. JUNE 7, 2014, GUIDED BATTLEFIELD TOUR, the Battle of Baltimore. Saturday 0900. This will be a bus tour to several important sites with mid-day stop for lunch. The Susquehanna Chapter of MOAA will be joining us. SEPTEMBER 9, 2014, DINNER MEETING. Tuesday 1800, with guest speaker Lt Col Shane Ostrom, USAF (Ret), MOAA’s expert on benefits, to discuss survivor planning. Location TBD.

At the national level, retirement benefits for military retirees under age 62 have been unfairly reduced in the course of the bi-partisan budget bill. Although some legislators promise remedial action, it remains important to keep email and phone pressure on all of our representatives and senators to correct this and to pay attention that promises for benefits are kept in the future. Take Action section of the MOAA website will assist: http://www.moaa.org/Main_Menu/Take_Action/Take_Action.html/ The Maryland Council of MOAA Chapters and other veteran organizations will again for the 14th session support bills to increase the income tax exemption for uniform services retirees. Although the state senate passed the bill last year, the legislative session ended before House of Delegates action. SB 143, authored by Senator Peterson, is under consideration this session. Please let your legislators know of your interest. The bill improves the state tax exemption of military retirement from $5000 to $10,000 for those over 65 years old. We hope to get tax exemption for early retirees. The point is to get the proven younger leaders to choose Maryland for their domicile.