Arkansas Council of Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) Chapters

The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) was founded as The Retired Officers of America (TROA) on February 23, 1929, by sixty-three Los Angeles, California, officers. With a growing World War II–era nationwide membership, the organization’s headquarters moved to Washington DC in 1944.

During the 1950s, groups were chartered in northwestern Arkansas on April 23, 1956, and in central Arkansas on February 7, 1959. During the early 1960s, two more Arkansas TROA chapters organized: Foothills (in White County around 1960) and Hot Springs (in Garland County around 1961). As TROA membership increased to a reported 60,000 officers nationwide, an effort grew to give more voice to local affiliates. Lieutenant Colonel Haines Hower, president of the Hot Springs chapter, announced that a major topic of discussion for their May 10, 1963, meeting at the Holiday Inn would be the concerns of General James C. Fry from the Old Dominion Officers Club of Virginia. Fry argued that better chapter representation was needed rather than having so much national control resting in the hands of a few retired officers in Washington DC.

By 1968, TROA was 100,000 strong within its 153 affiliates. Over the next two decades, closer governance relationships between TROA National and its affiliates developed.

Discussion among the four Arkansas units led to organization of a Council of Chapters, TROA, on November 26, 1974, at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville (Pulaski County). A constitution and bylaws were adopted. The approved name of the organization was to be: Arkansas Council, The Retired Officers Association. Charter officers were elected: Chairman, Brigadier General B. J. Leon Hirshorn (Central); Vice-Chairman, Brigadier General W. P. Campbell (Foothills); and Secretary-Treasurer, Captain Fred W. O’Baugh (Northwest). In April 1975, Captain Clifton B. Cates Jr., TROA National’s Chapter Affairs Director, visited the Northwest Arkansas group to discuss recognition of the Arkansas state council at its anticipated first convention.

After TROA National ratification, an Arkansas Council charter was granted and presented by the principal speaker, National President Lieutenant General John W. Carpenter III, at the inaugural convention hosted by the Northwest Arkansas group at the Holiday Inn in Fayetteville (Washington County) on June 6, 1975. The panel focused on “Membership and Chapter Formation” and was led by Lieutenant Colonel Wes Murtishaw. When the convention reconvened the following afternoon at the Fireside Inn in Fayetteville, U.S. Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt gave a lengthy speech titled, “Keeping Faith With Those Who Served.”

In 1996, the organization instituted an annual DC lobbying effort called “Storming the Hill.” Usually held in April, the effort later came to be known as “Advocacy in Action.” The national motto is “Never Stop Serving!”

To better characterize the nonprofit’s composition, a September 2023 national membership vote changed its name. Starting on January 1, 2003, all local chapters would be known as affiliates of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). In addition to retired officers, active, reserve, and National Guard officers were also eligible for membership. An act of Congress in 2009 granted MOAA a federal charter. This congressional show of support for all group activities recognized MOAA as a valid veterans’ service organization while simultaneously enabling state-level MOAA affiliates to represent veterans on governor-level veterans’ advisory councils.

Over the years, seven additional chapters formed in Arkansas. In 2004, council president Colonel Jerry Bowen reported ten chapters statewide: Hot Springs Village (founded April 24, 1976), Southeast (January 13, 1978), Bella Vista (January 26, 1982), North (June 23, 1987), Northeast (May 27, 1997), River Valley (September 4, 1997), and Brigadier General William O. Darby Rangers (July 13, 2009). Sometime in the early 1980s, the Foothills chapter dissolved. In 2007, members from the original Hot Springs chapter disbanded and merged with Hot Springs Village, as the two neighboring groups were too close for both to be successful. The Seven Springs chapter disbanded on January 19, 2019, citing dwindling membership.

By 2025, MOAA National had grown to more than 350,000 members and had become the country’s largest military officers’ association. MOAA Arkansas membership totaled 425, with efforts underway to encourage more participation from both unaffiliated and MOAA National members living in the state. MOAA’s purpose has expanded to include career transition assistance, improved member products, military benefits counseling (including surviving spouses), educational assistance to children of military families, and strong involvement in military professionalism activities. The Arkansas Council of Chapters Board of Directors meets quarterly (January, April, July, and October) each year.

For additional information:
Arkansas Council of MOAA Chapters. https://www.moaa-arkansas.org/ (accessed May 1, 2026).

“Cates to Speak to Officers Group.” Northwest Arkansas Times, April 7, 1975, p. 2.

Harris, Marvin J., with Grant Conners. A History of the Military Officers Association of America Washington DC: Military Officers Association of America, 2005.

Richard L. Hartness Sr.
Arkansas Council of Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) Chapters