Do you think the American Legion and the VFW need to adapt to the time?

This is the age old question with VSO's. I am in the American Legion, I am slightly active due to work and family obligations. Most of the members of my Post are Vietnam vets sprinkled with a few WW2 vets and some from Korea. If you ask the Nam vets, many will say the same things that our generation are saying, they weren't accepted, the concept didn't work for them at the time etc. Work to get more younger people involved with the group you are in. VSO's are invaluable.

I am currently an Adjutant at my local post, and have been there for 3 years. I am one of the youngest members there. If we want to get younger Veterans joining the VSO's, we need to be more active ourselves to start recruiting them.
At my post, the Veterans that I talk to say they want to join because they don't drink. That is what they see at most of the Legions. There are a lot of programs that The American Legion has to offer, and we need to start using that to our benefit. I am hoping to put an American Legion Baseball Team together for next year, and if all goes well, that will draw a lot of attention to the younger Veterans that wants to be more active at their post's.

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This is our post but the legion does have a national website.

My service dates are outside those required for membership in both Legion and VFW. I'm 'welcome' to support with time, money, effort, and materials, but I don't have a voice and I can only be a 'wannabe' and nobody hesitated to say so. I know not all groups are like that, but in a rural area my options are limited. So I ride with the Patriot Guard, and through various members who are in those groups I can get access to info on things of interest.

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Commander O'Hare
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Results vary from post to post which tends to indicate a failure of leadership. I haven't seen it in the VFW posts I joined but have heard the same complaint from others. I suppose it's simply payback
WWII vets fail to respect Korean vets who disrespect Vietnam vets who...

I would love to join a local VFW but they are really defunct, drinking teams. I don't want to sit around a bar telling war stories. At least not SOLELY sitting around and swapping lies. There was a VFW in Colorado, I think, that was very sophisticated. Involved programs and families. The bar was not the focus of the post.

Refer to responses by SSG V. Michelle Woods and MSG Wade Huffman. American Legion and VFW are "grassroots" organizations. If you want to see them adapt at the local level to the needs and aspirations of today's veterans, join and get active! Everything they do begins at the local level.

I recently joined the vfw in Copperas cove TX and while the advice I get there from former Soldier's is a huge plus there biggest events are bingo 3 nights and karaoke on Fridays not really gonna bring in the younger generation but the only way that is going to change is if the younger generation goes there and sets up different things currently I am working on getting new events there that will appeal to the younger generation as well as the older vets such as a bike night, classic car show ect change will only come when someone steps up to make the change

I am the Jr. Vice Commander of Post 5578 of Madison WV. I have been for 2 years now. When I first joined they wanted me to some how get all the younger Veterans to join but by changing noting. Now we don't have a Canteen and we don't allow anyone to smoke inside the building, and no matter how much anyone complains it can never change because we got the building from the county commission for our use. After about 3 month I figured out during the meetings some things get said and all that, but after the meeting the guys that really do the stuff hang out in front of the building and decide what's going to happen and all that. Once you stay there and show up to help you will become a mover and a shaker. I have now got my Post to allow me to set up Facebook page, we have hunter safety course's, Handgun safety course's, 5k fun run's after hang out with Veterans and have free hotdog's , I invite the NG to show up and show off there stuff. The older guys now support me with this because the word has got around we are the post to go to. The community supports us 100%, and anytime a younger vet see's us out now we get a new member, just tonight at a rained out coal fest I signed up a new life member. Just stick with it and you will win these old guys over there just hard headed but they will come around. Scouts out