Why are fewer young Veterans joining Veteran organizations (VFW, American Legion) post military service?

Well, was a member of the VFW, I enjoyed it until, I wasn't coming in every week , I'd cone in every other week or so..well some of the guys assumed it was because I was out doing drugs, when honestly I was spending less time going our and more time with my wife a 2 kids.Thatsy reason ...The main reason I hear from other vets my age I've heard was the age gap, the older guys like the old way and newer guys don't want to sit in a smoke filled dark room listening to hank willams (myself not included)

1SG, I think it comes down to a couple of things.

The first is Attitude. I am a member of the Legion (Fairfax, VA) and was of the VFW (Morgantown, WV). I joined because I wanted the connection, but the attitude of many of the members post is that the new warriors aren't worthy or aren't the same. You can see this attitude within the postings here. I noticed someone said "if they had an app for it", the membership would be up. Slights like that are said all the time and at a point people like me, the next generation Legionnaires stop wanting to participate.

The second issue is when members do join, they aren't invited to get involved. It seems like even on a national level once the dues are paid the brotherhood is over. I have been a member of my post for several months, and I have made the meetings, social hours etc. But I have yet to be asked to join a committee or assist in a project. Part of this may be me not really reaching out and attempting to get involved, but I feel like its a two-way street and I do not want to rock the boat. To a certain extent, many of my generation feel we are rocking the boat by playing music on the jukebox, or being a little to loud at the pool table.

Finally, I think both organizations are great. But I think we need to make some changes in the way we treat each other in the Social Halls. I think we all need to change our focus of our recruitment from touting what we do in Washington and showing what we do locally to help our brothers in the posts.

Joining the VFW was the best thing I did. Post 1578

One big reason is social media is allowing younger service members to stay in touch, so they rely less on service orgs for their connection, I am a Life Member of VFW and the Legion and I stop in to the VFW from time to time. The Legion post here is a pretty tight group of old timers that have not been very welcoming the few times I have stopped in. Plus I have a large family and neither post offers much in the way of events suitable for the kiddos. If I want a beer I stop in and shoot the breeze.

Veterans gather together because being around others who understand matters. WWII, VietNam, even the first Gulf War are different from what our bubbas in the 'Stan and Iraq faced and are facing. Warriors all, but every war is different. Every generation is different.Those guys, the younger ones, are not going to spend their time wearing funny hats and talking politics any more than Korea veterans would have in 1959 (no offence, just my experience in lat 3 VFW posts visited). They may join a place where camaraderie matters, where they can be around others with the same experiences. They don't seek pity or benefits or involvement or guidance. They seek brotherhood.

As a "younger" veteran (joined in 2002 and served in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan) many do not understand what these organizations do or have to offer them. Many younger veterans see the local VFW lodges as places for Vietnam/Korean war vets to go and drink. All they see are "old guys" in their hats. It's not viewed as a "cool" place to hang out on Friday nights. To me it's an image and an education problem. SGM West seems to be doing some great community outreach to younger veterans but I don't see this as a VFW program across the board. I don't see VFW members in my community reaching out to younger veterans or educating younger veterans about what the VFW does for them. My community has two or three halls and we have 4 or 5 community parades every year. What a great time and place to get your message out. However they are not represented. We see the Mason's, the volunteer Fire Fighters, and other organizations but no VFW members.

I would think that it is because they don't have enough time to do what they want to do or are working to many hours to take on extra activites. I know I work 14-18 hours a day 5-6 days a week so it is currently out of my question to join. When I retire. I most certainly will join!

I would welcome anyone living in or around Mpls./St.Paul MN. to give me a call and I am all ears about doing things that would attract any of the OIF/Desert Storm/ Irag/Afgan veterans and getting some input as to what your interests are.
We have halls that can be used for BS. sessions of your own peers or Yoga classes, Fire Arms Saftey and anything else we could accomadaate you for.We need your input you have to remember at the end of RVN we didn't even know what computors were all about.
Thanks for reading

We do tons of marketing for brands targeting 18-35 year old demos. The problem is huge and it boils down to three trends:

1. Younger generations aren't joining organizations that depend on physical interaction at the rate they were before. Competition for attention/time is HIGH.
2. The #s of vets now are just not there as a % of society to replenish those ranks in the numbers they were during Vietnam and Korea.
3. The younger generations don't see the benefit of joining these organizations.

They'll need to modernize their marketing methods and brand, otherwise, sadly they will disappear.

1SG Okerson, we've had several Ages of (military) Fraternalism, mainly after the Civil War, WWI, WWII. We'll skip Masonic and other groups, including Hereditary that are mostly, but not all, non-military for the time being. The first wave after the Civil War was a mixed bag of orgs including GAR, and the infamous KKK which included many veterans from the South. The second wave saw creation of the new veterans groups such as the American Legion,VFW, etc. . Those groups and others increased their memberships during and after WWII, Vietnam. Many of the groups served very useful purposes to help veterans and their communities, much like other civic groups. Some got further away from the main line and focused on gambling, and dancing or other member desires that were affordable. Not many people dancing to swing these days. Many groups did not have legacy plans, and made it difficult for younger members to assimilate, hurting the orgs in the long term. The proliferation of other choices and many other entertainment and civic group options tended to reduce the available membership pool. At this time, many orgs are in decline from a shortage of eligible members to generational change in choices and attitudes about what such membership really means...or should. Many civic and hereditary orgs such as SAR, DAR, War of 1812, Colonial Wars, and Patriotic Orgs such as the Boy Scouts also perpetually face the contraction of members for a variety of reasons, including attacks on conservative doctrines, and must renew their efforts to find their own replacements by inviting people to join, making it friendly, happier, more welcoming and meaningful.