By MOAA Staff

Maj. Brooks Rose, USAF, joined MOAA more than a decade ago but his wife Stephanie’s recent experience as a member of the Currently Serving Spouse Advisory Council (CSSAC) led the officer to become more involved.

Maj. Rose “was very impressed with MOAA’s legislative work in both the national and local chapter levels to preserve military benefits and advocate for members of the military community,” he told MOAA recently, but he was particularly affected by his wife’s CSSAC experience, which ran from 2019 to 2021.

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“During Stephanie’s first year on the council, I was moved by the attention that the senior leaders of MOAA paid to the councils’ advice and encouraged that they not only listened and asked follow-up questions, but then acted on the information provided to them,” he said. “Stephanie’s experience and what I was learning about the organization through her is what made me want to join the council and encourage others to do so as well.”

Maj. Rose joined the Currently Serving Advisory Council in 2020 for a two-year term. His work overlapped with Stephanie’s term for about a year; she initially joined after reading a former councilmember’s positive post on Facebook about her time with the group.

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“I realized that working with MOAA on the council was going to be the best way for me to accomplish my goal of contributing to solutions that address the multiple challenges facing military families,” Stephanie said.

The Roses highlighted the establishment of The MOAA Foundation Crisis Relief Program as an example of the types of programs the councils can support or, in this case, help launch. The councils looked at the need for emergency financial relief among those in the military community, paying special attention to the groups ineligible for programs already offered.

They also recommended fellow uniformed services couples apply for positions on the councils, saying they were able to work their council priorities into a busy schedule. Both said getting to work together on such priorities was “like icing on the cake.”

“I have not personally experienced any other [veterans service organization] pay so much attention to the concerns of currently serving members and their families,” Maj. Rose said. “The councils are one of the very few avenues that you can take while on active duty to make life better for you and your troops.”

Learn more about the work done by the President’s Advisory Councils at this link.