Posted on 05/30/2021 12:44:51 PM PDT by MrZippy2k
Please take a minute and visit your local VFW tomorrow and say hi to the men and women who served your country on foreign lands in time of war. I know a lot of people think that you can only enter a VFW if you are a member, but that isn't true. Just sign in as a guest. There are Auxiliary Members and National Home members that have never served in the military, so don't think that you're not welcome as either a guest or as a non-veteran member. VFW's are closing by the dozens because there isn't enough participation - - so go by, eat a hot dog, maybe a cold beer, and say thanks to the men and women who served and made it home.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Not Veterans Day.
“VFW’s are closing by the dozens because there isn’t enough participation”
It’s their own attitude doing that. I went into a VFW in a remote town in Colorado in 1998 with a bunch of veterans who certainly qualify for VFW membership. We were told unless we had Vietnam combat experience that we were not welcome. We left.
Our American Legion Post is on our last leg - ever since the passing of our WW II vets, The Post is not the same. We will probably sell our Post Home in the next year and exist only on paper.
Denying membership to those who served overseas in Kuwait/Iraq During Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm does not make sense.
I wonder if that VFW post is telling vets from Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 to ‘go away’? Our local VFW here in rural Indiana isn’t doing that.
At my fathers request I went to join VFW in 1970.
Lowlife told me Vietnam wasn’t a declared war and I wasn’t eligible to join.
Never had a thing to do with them after that - let them fade away.
The American Legion Post that I am a member of is filled with Vietnam/Vietnam Era, Cold War, and OEF/OIF vets (combat and non-combat) and veterans who served in the local National Guard units.
Thank you. I did not know that.
“Lowlife told me Vietnam wasn’t a declared war and I wasn’t eligible to join.”
I heard that one, too.
Tomorrow is not Veterans Day, it is Memorial Day. If you are going to visit anywhere, it would be more appropriate to visit a military cemetery to remember and honor the heroic dead.
“To qualify for VFW membership you had to serve in a combat zone, period.”
I like the way idiots who think they know what they are talking about, and no one else could possibly add to it, use the word “period”, thinking they are ending the argument.
For your information, not to hurt your feelings that you got it all wrong, the following is from VFW on membership eligibility. PERIOD.
1: Citizenship – must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. National.
2: Honorable Service – must have served in the Armed Forces of the United States and either received a discharge of Honorable or General (Under Honorable Conditions) or be currently
serving.
3: Service in a war, campaign, or expedition on foreign soil or in hostile waters*. This can be proven by any of the following:
- An authorized campaign medal (see a full list of qualifying medals and badges)
- Receipt of Hostile Fire Pay or Imminent Danger Pay (verified by a military pay statement)
- Service in Korea for 30 consecutive or 60 non-consecutive days
I brought my DD214 with both PH and CAR - puke didn’t even look at it.
Thank you. Well said.
My father was a Korean War era Army veteran, but he served in the Aleutians and didn’t qualify for the VFW, so he joined the American Legion. It was a great community for him. The evening after he died, the Legion was open and I stopped by to let them know about Dad. I found a bunch of old veterans at the bar drinking beer, and they offered to do a military service during the wake. I had arranged with the funeral director for a flag and honor guard and “Taps” for the funeral, but I didn’t know the Legion did this. It was great, not just as an honor for their old friend and comrade, but as a support for me. My eyes are just a bit moist as I write this.
Anyway, that was my one experience with a veterans’ organization. I am saddened to see their decline. Yes, I know it’s Memorial Day and not Veterans’ Day, but the kind of men who served and made it back give us an idea of what kind of men served and didn’t make it back.
Really? Pointless snark. What ajerk.
Spent some very pleasant times in VFW, AM Legion, and FRA posts and branches...Some had excellent Memorial day etc. programs. In those with canteens, my experiences were best in locations where the resident veterans organizations and not their canteens ran the operation.
My hubs is a vet OIF OEF and was welcomed into our local VFW.
Great idea!
I remember and honor them everyday.
Everyday I get to breathe and enjoy the pleasures of life.
Everyday I see the worthless people they died for.
Thank god they can’t see what became of their sacrifice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.