Eugene Chu

Name: Eugene Chu
City/State: Arlington, VA
Branch of Service: Army
Dates of Service: 1997-2000 , 2004-2024
Last Rank Held: O5
Military Occupation: Retired
Current Occupation: Volunteer
X: https://x.com/EugeneChu1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eugenechu1/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eugene.t.chu

Eugene outside of the military:

Outside of being an Army retiree, I enjoy multiple hobbies. For physical fitness, I run 5Ks, do yoga and train in martial arts. For mental fitness, I travel both in the U.S. and overseas for tourism and play role-playing games as a hobby. For values, I perform volunteer work for Ukraine advocates. I am also a major supporter of my alma mater, Texas Christian University.

Eugene on joining the IAVA Cavalry:

My desire to join the IAVA Cavalry is to make a bigger impact. As a military retiree, I have education and perspectives that some others do not have. As a part of the IAVA Cavalry, I want to contribute towards the change making that can positively affect our government, our nation, and our people.

How the military experience affected Eugene’s personal growth:

My military experience shaped me by providing understanding about how service can affect others. I started as an enlisted member and learned about how the lowest ranking can affect mission success of the unit. After becoming a commissioned officer, I learned about how important strategy is from a holistic perspective. My overseas assignments in Korea, Iraq and Poland gave me perspective about how our forces affect the peoples of other nations. My mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic showed me how important the military can be during operations other than war. My time in uniform taught me that we can and should be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

IAVA’s policy priorities that are the most pressing:

The IAVA policy that I believe is most pressing is reformation of AUMF (Authorization for use of military force). The original 2000s era Congressional legislative acts are too lenient and vague for modern times. They allowed for continued military operations surpassing the original intent. Revision or replacement is necessary to ensure that our service members perform missions properly aligned with security needs and national interests. Deployments without valid strategic end goals hurt our economy, readiness and national morale. To ensure that our forces are not misused, we need to change the outdated legislation.

IAVA’s policy priorities with the strongest personal connection for Eugene:

The IAVA policy priority with the strongest personal connection is the protection of democracy. I sadly knew an ROTC classmate who participated in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol due to his wrongful acceptance of disinformation. Our government also has separate branches, but there are concerns about whether checks and balances are properly being conducted. Voting by mail must also be protected since service members and their families use that method during overseas deployments or assignments away from home of record. I believe that we must improve our efforts to ensure that our nation and people do not lose our freedoms as individuals.