What would make American Legions and Veteran of Foreign War posts more appealing to join for you?

not only more family oriented but also place where veterans can get to get together any day of the week and not just a particular day. Maybe have more of a recreation center or eclub/oclub type feel. When stationed in NC at Camp Lejeune I used to visit the recreation center almost daily just to play pool or watch movies with my fellow Marines.

I am an American Legion Commander in a small town. We have a clubhouse, but no bar. We have partnered with the local school for Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Breakfast with Santa and scholarships. We have a very, very small group that participates on a regular basis. We have struggled with recruiting and haven’t found the answer.

It's simply not a welcoming environment. More so I am a 31 year old female and I have no interest in spending my free time with a group of men who (I fear) will minimize what I have contributed and experienced. Despite serving in AFSOC with 2 deployments, the culture from my experience has been very sexist. I don't need to continure to hear that "you only deployed/ you only promoted/ blah, blah, blah because you're a female".

I'll take a hard pass for now.

Make it more attractive to Cold War Veterans, after all, the Cold War wasn’t all that Cold for some of us.

I remember from back in the '80's, when we VietNam vets went to the VFW, the WW2 guys told us the same thing. We left and didn't go back.
But, I see both organizations as smoke filled rooms with a bar that has a less expensive place to drink. I even saw that just a year ago at a local VFW. So, it has not changed.
Many of us have zero interest in that. If they get rid of the smoking, that would be a good start. But, it will have to have something that will attract the younger members. ( and us older guys too)

Meh. I tried the local "I got drafted and went to Vietnam" club. A bunch of old chain-smoking drunks. Good luck with that family-oriented thing.

When I tried to join the VFW in 1970 I was told I couldn't join because Vietnam was not a war but a police action. I also was told "we never lost a war".

For one thing, some posts need to become more family and community oriented. Get away from the days of a dark, smoke-filled bar with drinking at all hours. Do more than just march in parades and provide color guards. Do some projects that help the needy and deserving in the community. Something more than Boys State or Legion Baseball. I'm not saying get rid of this support. These are great for statewide & national service but more needs to be done locally.

Another thing is to stop the political nonsense within the walls of the post or during events. I know of one post that became so toxic when members supporting a certain presidential candidate that any other member who didn't agree with was suddenly a communist/socialist/fascist or whatever. Not a great way to build an organization and retain members. I belong to both the Legion and VFW, but don't participate with the local posts for these very reasons.

I think an additional part of it is the current climate of the military. Currently it is “uncool” to be proud of your service and patriotic. You get made fun of if you wear gear that represents your pride. For a lot of current military members and recent veterans being in the military is just like any other basic 9-5 job. It’s not a career, a calling or lifestyle. It is simply a thing to do to pay the bills and they don’t want anything to do with it after work hours or after they leave the service. In my opinion even if the veteran organizations fixed internal issues they maybe having to attract and keep members I still think the current climate is going to dwindle all military support agencies in the future.

Honestly I can't think of anything that would make me want to participate. I would probably join, but I doubt there is something that would make Mr want to be active.