Comments on: Sadness on Veterans Day as American Legion, VFW Struggle

By: Rick M

Rick M — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 03:02:48 +0000

I served on board USS America CV66 during Operation Fluid Drive in 1976. The ship and task group was awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal for the evacuation of US nationals from Beirut Lebanon but we are not even considered eligible for membership in the VFW or Legion. The Legion and VFW wants members in their establishments but don’t want to change the eligibility requirements for membership. I was once told by my barber in front of several veterans in his shop, that my Beirut status is not eligible for membership. The sad thing is he never even deployed out of the country during his 4 years of active duty and he was post commander of the local legion hall at the time he told me this. So, to bad on your membership losses Legion and VFW, change your rules of eligibility and you may gain more members

By: FRA Shipmate

FRA Shipmate — Wed, 18 May 2011 18:36:24 +0000

For those sea service vets disenchanted with what the VFW and American Legion have to offer, Give the Fleet Reserve Association a look. We’ve been advocating for enlisted and former enlisted Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard since 1924. We sponsor Americanism; Hospital, Welfare, and Rehabilitation; Youth Activities; and Public Relations programs in local communities.

By: Peacetime Vet

Peacetime Vet — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 22:26:15 +0000

I served in the US Navy for 6 years from 1976 to 1982. As a peace time veteran I am not welcome to join the V.F.W. or A.L. If they don’t need me I don’t need them.

By: Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:49:10 +0000

Despite serving twelve years honorably during the Cold War, Grenada, Just Cause, and Desert Shield/Storm, the VFW doesn’t consider me eligible to join as a full member because during those campaigns, I just happened to be serving somewhere else in the world. Well, I refuse to join an organization that discriminates against vets like myself and will never join as anything less than a full member. I’ve earned it, whether the VFW thinks so or not. The VFW is only hurting itself and needn’t bother looking any further than its own charter (and some of its members) to discover why they’re struggling.

By: John Mudd

John Mudd — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:11:31 +0000

ETERNAL and UNFORGIVEN SHAME UPON YOU FOREVER!, Debbie!
You are couching this story in such a manner as to blame
today’s younger veterans for the AL and VFW’s current plight.
The typical shame and blame tactics of the far-right conservatives and so many members of the so-called.
‘greatest generation.’ Read these replies. These bigoted
geezers brought this upon themselves when they smugly turned
Vietnam veterans away just as they are turning Gulf and OIF/OEF
veterans away. They don’t even consider the veterans from these wars to even be veterans, Americans, or even men. And
yes, they DID lobby hard to have the veteran checkoff blocks put on all employment applications so that they could deliberately and specifically discriminate against Vietnan veterans and if the majority of them were not today deceased,
they would still be virulently discriminating against Vietnam and younger veterans.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:36:09 +0000

Debbie and all Veteran’s and supporters, I say thank you. I remember when I was a kid I asked my dad, an Army combat veteran of the Vietnam war (3/187 101st ABN) why he wasn’t a member of the VFW and he told me that he didn’t really feel welcomed by them. I sort of took it with a grain of salt, but when I came home from the war in Aghanistan/Iraq as a combat infantryman with the Army (2/187 INF, 101st ABN) I decided to join the VFW because I knew we were supported by our fellow veterans…I mean heck, these men were my grandfather’s generation and I knew that if anyone on the planet loved me unconditionally it was my grandpa and his buddies, my grandfather was a World War II veteran(325,82nd ABN), so I drive myself to town and go to talk to someone about joining up, and this fat, smug, loudmouth starts giving me a lesson in life and basically talking down to me about joining their organization. So I decided I wasn’t going to beg them and if they all shut their doors, well they did it to themselves.
Sorry that it is that way, but you reap what you sow. Maybe they will learn a lesson before it is too late.

By: AllenH

AllenH — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:22:45 +0000

Very interesting info regarding Vietnam vets and listing vet status on employment info. Also in regards to legislation to support vets and the parent organizations. Thanks for posting that! I had no idea!

By: Victor Irby

Victor Irby — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:29:37 +0000

I have received an invitation to join the VFW. I was interested in joining but not after I read their requirements. I had to have served over specific time periods when the VFW considered the US at war.

I served 4 years on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, the USS Eisenhower, from 1977 to 1981. We spent some 9 months at sea during the Iranian hostage crisis.
Unfortunately, the VFW does not consider this as “worthy” military service.

By: John Robert Mallernee

John Robert Mallernee — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:28:46 +0000

Greetings:

I’m a “LIFE” member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans.

I remember attending a DAV meeting where a member walked out, because all the cigarette smoke was making him sick.

I remember a VFW bartender giving me a hard time because I only wanted to drink a Coca-Cola.

I also remember good times, good comradeship, and local worthwhile service projects.

Each Veterans Day, I would march with my comrades in the big parade, and afterwards, we’d go to elementary schools and high schools to talk to the kids, where I also would play my guitar and sing for them.

But, on the National level, I am very disappointed in ALL of the veterans organizations, for they are in bed with the politicians, promoting legislation which violates the Constitution, and perpetuating the “politically correct” contemporary status quo.

Thank you.

By: smudge

smudge — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:20:22 +0000

The VFW sponsors NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick. Good exposure for them.