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NERA NATIONAL CONFERENCE

61st National NERA Conference a

Huge Success This Year

By Yvette Purtill

he 61st National NERA Conference kicked o During the meetings, President Steve Sandy gave a brief
with a meet and greet in the hospitality suite of the history of NERA’s 62 years and reiterated that we need
TCourtyard Marriott in Dunn Loring, Virginia (a o cers to rejuvenate the Chapters and National o ces
suburb of DC) on Wednesday, October 16th. e hotel and appeal to younger members. It was noted that the
was ideally located less than a block from a metro station, Mariner is well recognized and we received good feed-
allowing everyone to easily commute directly into DC. e back. e sale of NERA Headquarters and the surplus
weather on the rst day was a rainy and windy October money was discussed. TRICARE, COLA, VA disability
day. is did not dampen the spirits of the attendees. and prescription costs were talked about and the prob-
Registration gift bags were handed out during the meet and lems with rising rates. NERA’s scholarship has undergone
greet while friends gathered to catch up while eating deli- funding changes and a future discussion on scholarship
cious pretzels from Pennsylvania (thanks Dennis!). amounts and quali cations will be discussed and reviewed
at a later date.
Meetings were held for the next 4 days in the morn-
ing, allowing the attendees to site see and explore DC e most exciting portion of the weekend was the elec-
in the afternoon. e weather improved after the initial tion. Everyone was talking about how the entire NERA
day and it turned out to be a brisk and sunny October National Executive Council (NEC) was not running
weekend in DC. again due to various personal reasons. e previous NEC

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