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VETERANS MAKE EFFORT TO CLOSE RANKS ON

AGE GAP -- Florida VFW posts looking for

post-Vietnam veterans to boost membership.

 

 

This is an interesting story.  The VFW is looking for younger members, but they highlight Bingo?  Just what I need to keep my pacemaker in tune.

For more about the VFW, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=vfw&op=and

For more about the Bingo, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=bingo&op=and

Story here... http://www.orlando
sentinel.com/orl-vfw09_907se
p09,0,3831635.story

Story below:

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Veterans make effort to close ranks on age gap

VFW posts want post-Vietnam soldiers

Darryl E. Owens
Sentinel Staff Writer

WINTER GARDEN -- If it's Tuesday, it must be bingo night at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4305. Bellied up to banquet tables, about 50 players with hair in varying shades of gray peered through the cigarette fog ready to mark their cards as the bingo caller drew the next ball.

Come Saturday, bingo fans will try their luck again. But don't expect to see many veterans born after Woodstock among their ranks.

"Every time I meet a young man, I ask if he's a veteran," said Jim Bateman, making a point about his aging Winter Garden post.

As the core constituency marches well into their 80s, the VFW is determined to reassert its relevancy to post-Vietnam vets who often hold an image of the VFW as a smoky haven for old men with old war stories.

To reach the younger set, VFWs are sprucing up their posts, reaching out to women, sponsoring more community activities and helping families of soldiers serving overseas.

Younger vets such as U.S. Army Sgt. Thomas Green III say modernizing VFW posts would go a long way toward winning their membership.

"When us younger guys think of the VFW, we think about older veterans," said Green, 25, of St. Petersburg, who was greeted with a VFW care package during his recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after being wounded by a roadside blast in Iraq. "You kind of get a vibe of, 'Am I going to be the youngest guy there?' and 'Will I be able to [connect] with anybody there?' "

This isn't the first time in its 108-year history that the VFW has watched its ranks grow gray. World War I vets had some age on them by the time World War II vets joined.

This time, VFW officials realize that attracting Iraq and Afghanistan vets would be their lifeblood going forward. But organization leaders understand that military service alone might not be enough of a bond to bridge the broad gulf of interests between older vets and younger potential VFW members.

Posts must manage the tricky proposition of making "themselves more relevant to the younger generation while not forgetting the older generation," said Benny Bachand, quartermaster of the state VFW.

In Florida, post-Vietnam veterans are about 10 percent of the membership in 225 VFW posts, while World War II veterans make up about 55 percent of the state's more than 80,000 members. At Bateman's 275-member-strong post, a Vietnam vet is the baby of the bunch.

Greening those numbers involves a historical challenge: Joining service organizations typically isn't a high priority for returning vets, said David Brown, a Vietnam vet and commander of Florida's VFW District 19, noting returnees are busy finding a place to live, work and rear a family.

Because GI educational benefits have a 10-year shelf life, many Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan vets are busy with college, said District 2 Commander John R. Nelson Sr., a Vietnam War veteran.

Often the VFW gains appeal once vets, established in civilian life, hit middle age. But that doesn't mean the VFW is sitting back and waiting.

Posts have accelerated their courting of active-duty soldiers. Members send care packages overseas and help troops reach out and touch loved ones through "Operation Uplink." On the home front, posts reach out to military families and help them make ends meet.

Such efforts plant a recruiting seed, said Wayne Carrignan, a Korean War vet and VFW District 7 commander.

"The moms and dads of these kids will remember who made these things possible," Carrignan said.

Meantime, to help bolster the ranks, state VFW posts are sending mailers to reach female vets, who are assuming VFW leadership roles at all levels.

Nationally, the VFW boasts about 1.7 million members, and in five years hopes to grow to 1.9 million. While building the rolls is important, so is attracting members to posts in hopes of energizing the community presence, VFW leaders say. VFW posts are autonomous and can range from 30 to 1,000 members. And while some are actively engaged in community outreach, such as disaster relief and Little League sponsorships, some are staffed by "World War II vets who've paid their dues -- and now are sitting back -- and the post is in retirement mode," Bachand said.

Immediate past VFW National Commander Gary Kurpius had urged VFW members to give posts face-lifts to attract new vets -- and their families.

"With so little free time, if the new generation does get involved in the VFW, they will want to participate in programs that benefit the entire family," he has said.

The depth of change depends on how deep each post's coffers are from membership dues and fundraisers. One no-cost proposition -- going smokeless nationally -- has encountered resistance, though some Florida posts have banned smoking with good results, Bachand said.

VFW posts are mulling other ways to freshen posts by adding such amenities as cyber-cafes, child care, exercise areas and video gaming to dovetail with new vets' needs and interests.

"Instead of a pool table, a computer terminal might be better, or one set up with video games," Bachand said.

Green says he is all for that.

"We younger guys are technology-based, and a lot of vets like to [video] game," he said. "And a lot of us going to war and back do have kids. We would like to say, 'I'm going to VFW, and would you like to go?' "

But so far, Bachand said he hadn't heard that any Florida posts had added such amenities.

VFW officials say that in staying true to its mission as an advocate for veterans, the organization assures its relevance, even if post-Vietnam vets aren't aware of it.

"The VFW, more so than ever before, is making some attempt to go after this younger generation to say that, 'VFW is there for you, and this is what we're doing to show that we are,'" Bachand said.

Darryl E. Owens can be reached at dowens@orlandosentinel.com  or 407-420-5095.

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Larry Scott  --