Who Founded USAA?

Major William H. Garrison was a U.S. Army officer stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. In June 1922, frustrated by commercial insurance carriers labeling military service members transient high risks and denying them coverage, Garrison organized the meeting of 25 officers at the Gunter Hotel. He drafted the founding pact, subscribed initial capital, and served as the association's first president, establishing the foundational principle that service members could insure one another at cost through reciprocal fidelity.

Major Harold Dunlap was an influential Army officer who co-authored the original articles of association for the United States Army Automobile Association in 1922. Dunlap was instrumental in designing the reciprocal inter-insurance exchange governance mechanism, ensuring that operating surpluses remained member-owned rather than diverted to external stockholders, and helping expand eligibility to naval and marine officers in 1923.

Major C.B. Foster served as the organizing secretary during USAA's formative 1922 assembly at the Gunter Hotel. Foster managed early member communications, oversaw ledger underwriting subscriptions across military posts in Texas and the Southwest, and established the direct-mail circulars that enabled the young association to expand nationally without an expensive broker commission network.