National commander: While sacrifices in spending must be made, they shouldn’t come at the expense of those who have already sacrificed.

When the White House unveiled its 2012 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this week, I had high hopes since it was Valentine’s Day. And while chocolates might be appropriate for loved ones, the challenges and increased demand facing the federal department tasked with serving America’s 23 million veterans would require significant resources.

My first reaction to the Obama administration’s numbers was that they are good and bad but not ugly.

First the good – There is actually much to like in this budget. In the area of total medical care, the administration actually exceeded our expectations by $4.3 billion. The $54 billion in this area will go a long way to preserve, and indeed, improve the best health care system available anywhere.

Overall, the $132 billion budget marks a 4 percent increase over the administration’s 2011 budget, which still has not been approved by Congress. Federal spending is currently being funded by continuing resolution, meaning that the Obama administration’s request for VA actually is a 10.6 percent increase over 2010 levels.

Now the bad – There are some very important construction projects that VA needs in order to serve the 6.2 million veterans who are expected to use their facilities next year. We find the cuts in major and minor construction for these facilities to be unacceptable. During my congressional testimony last fall, I submitted recommendations of $1.2 billion for major construction and $800 million for minor construction. The administration budget includes only $590 million and $550 million in those respective areas, well short of what is needed.

Moreover, Congress needs to immediately approve the $208 million allotted by the administration to fund the veterans’ caregivers program. These caregivers have often forfeited their working careers in order to provide care for their disabled family member. Not only must they experience the sorrow of watching their loved one return from war less than whole, they have tried to survive without the financial security and health insurance that they enjoyed prior to the injury.

The law authorizing the caregiver program was signed last May and it was supposed to be implemented in January 2011. I understand that it takes time to publish regulations and complete training, but VA needs to get the program fully up and running without further delay.

There are many complex areas of the VA budget that The American Legion will be commenting on during the coming year. Whether it’s providing the best treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury, helping VA Secretary Eric Shinseki fulfill his promise to end veterans homelessness in the next few years or properly funding the National Cemetery Administration, The American Legion will continue to work with the administration and Congress to best serve the needs of veterans.

In an era of skyrocketing debt and politicians trying to one-up each other over budget cuts, The American Legion is aware that sacrifices must be made. However, America’s veterans have already sacrificed blood, sweat and sometimes their lives just so we could have these debates.

Department Senior Vice Commander

Rick Friend

Greetings All,

As your Senior Vice Commander, my primary responsibility is Membership and you will most certainly will be hearing from me often on that subject. However, there are other areas that concern me.

 Probably the one at the top of my “I’m concerned” list (right under membership) is the Consolidated Post Reports. Our Children and Youth Chairman, Jim Otto, researched Department records and found that slightly more than 50% of the Posts in your Department failed to submit their consolidated Post Reports. This is completely unacceptable. If we take this fact at face value it would seem that over half of our Posts are flat on their posteriors and doing absolutely nothing. The Consolidated Reports should reflect each Posts contribution or activity in our many programs. I am sure that this is not the situation in most cases. I believe that one of the main problems is that when the Posts receive their Report packets they pigeon hole them thinking that they will get back to them latter and before they know it the deadline for submittal has come and gone. Solution:  Take the time to fill out the reports as soon as you receive the package and return them to Department.

The data from the Consolidated Reports, including number of Posts reporting, is submitted to National. National compiles the data from all Departments and submits the results, in a special report, to the Congress of the United States. This is how the American Legion gets much of its clout to assure the passage of legislation that benefits our Veterans and active military. The data from the reports totally backs up the fact that many thousands of American Legion members support the legislation that benefits our Vets and active duty folks. These American Legion members just happen to be voting citizens as well, and that certainly doesn’t hurt our cause.  Your committee chairman, (Americanism, Children and Youth etc.) rely on their segments of the reports to generate their reports to National. If they don’t get a response from each Post the data is not going to be totally accurate.

If your Post actually has had no activity at all, write “no activity” at the top of the form sign it and forward to Department. It is a rare case when there is actually no activity. We often overlook items that could be reported. If any of you need help filling out the reports call us at Headquarters and we will get a knowledgeable person out to help you.  A hint to the Post Adjutants; make a note of the activities of the month to include details as to dollars spent and hours worked so that you can use the minutes of your meetings a source for the report.

There are, I’m quite sure, Posts who are doing little or nothing and it is these Posts who I am particularly concerned about and would like to extend a hand of fellowship to and assist them in rejuvenating their Posts. If you are a member in or officer of one of these Posts please contact me. We can help and are most willing to do so.

                                                                                       Rick Friend

                                                                                       Department

                                                                             Senior Vice Commander

                                                                              friendrick@live.com

                                                                                  (719) 671-1803

I would like to carry this a little bit further.  A nationally recognized motivational speaker has made the statement “Timid salesmen have skinny kids!” If we paraphrase this a little “Timid American Legionnaires have small posts!”       

       
Where am I coming from? If a salesman doesn’t ask, he doesn’t get the sale, no sales mean no commissions, no commissions means the salesman can’t buy food, and his kids are skinny. The same thing applies to legionnaires and their posts, if YOU don’t ask, then you don’t get new members, and a lack of new members means you will have a small post.The American Legion does not want you to have a small post!

Our National Headquarters has taken the initiative and they have asked thousands of potential members if they would like to join the American Legion. This year alone, three thousand seventy five of those “potential members” said YES and joined the American Legion in the State of Colorado. This single recruiting practice by our National Headquarters literally brings thousands of new members into the American Legion Department of Colorado each year. Which brings us to our greatest opportunity and challenge. We, as a Department, Districts, Posts, and Legionnaires must make the effort and contact these three thousand seventy five new Legionnaires into our individual posts.

Now you are asking yourself as a Legionnaire, Post Officer, or Membership Committee Member how do I ask these new Legionnaires to join my post when I don’t even know who they are? The answer is simple ask. Who do I ask? What do I ask? Again the answers are easy if you know where to look. Ask your Department Junior

Vice Commanders for a copy of the 2007 & 2008 DMS+ List for all Zip Codes that your post serves. These lists are available in print format or on a CD. The list as alphabetical by Zip Code, and includes the membership number of the new Legionnaire, his or her address, date of enrollment, membership year paid for, and in many cases, a telephone number.  If you have a phone number for the new Legionnaire, pick up the phone, and give them a call, welcome them to the American Legion, tell them about your post, and ask them to transfer from the headquarters holding post to Your Post. If the legionnaire says yes, invite them to your next meeting, complete the transfer form and now you have a new member in your post! If they decline your offer, ask them if there is another post they would be more comfortable in? If the answer is yes, contact a member of that post and ask them to contact the new Legionnaire and ask them to join their post. If there is no phone number for the new legionnaire, please take a few minutes to send him or her a personalized letter welcoming them to the American Legion Department of Colorado and telling them about Your Post, include information about the post and when your meetings are. You might also include a completed member data form and ask them to sign and return it to you personally. Each year our National Headquarters spends thousands of dollars recruiting new members thru the DMS+ Program.

I’m sure you are all aware that there is no such thing as a free lunch. The same thing is true with the DMS+ Program. The Department of Colorado is charged for the cost of recruiting each new member that is recruited into the Department of Colorado.  Last year this cost the Department of Colorado over twelve thousand of your hard earned dues dollars, or about fifty cents per individual member, which we paid to the National Headquarters for these new members. This year, we can expect a similar bill for new DMS+ Members. The good news is that if we take the initiative and ask these new members to join our posts. We will not have to pay national for these new members IF and only IF we transfer two thousand and ten of these new members into our posts! Now I can hear you asking yourself, why do I have to do this, national started the process, the Department has a paid staff, why not let them do it? Isn’t this someone else’s job? I would like to answer those questions this way.

No one knows a post better than the members of that post. Your Department of Colorado has a full time staff of five, two are in the Veteran’s Service Office, which is not located at headquarters, one is the Department Bookkeeper, one is the Department Administrative Assistant, and the other is your Department Adjutant, all of whom work full time to keep this organization functioning and providing all the services we have come to expect from our headquarters staff. In addition to the full time staff the Department has two part time employees, one handles the Department Newspaper, Newsletters, and Bulletin. The other person works on transferring DMS+ Members from previous years into your posts.  At this time, we do not have a membership staff. In the near future, we would like to hire a membership director who can work with posts to help improve membership, revitalize those posts who are ailing, and contact potential members in Colorado. Until we can support this position, we as volunteers must step forward and put in the extra effort to build our organization.

Let me close by asking everyone to go the extra mile, contact a DMS+ Member and transfer them into your post. It will make a difference in their life, and the life of your post!

Gar Williams Sr Vice Commander

Any time you see a car with Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine, Honorably Discharged Veteran or “We Support Our Troops” license plates, take a minute and ask the driver, “are you a veteran? if the answer is yes, then ask, “are you a member of the American Legion?” If the answer is no, sign the person up. If the person is not a veteran, ask if their father, mother, or grandfather was a veteran. If the answer is yes sign them up in the Sons of the American Legion or the American Legion Auxiliary.

When you see someone with a military branch of service cap or jacket, ask them the question: Are you a veteran? Are you a member of the American Legion?

If you see someone flying the American Flag, a Blue Star or a Gold Star Banner at their house, stop and ask the question: Are you a Veteran? Are you a member of the American Legion?

If you are standing in line somewhere and you overhear a comment like “Once a Marine, always a Marine,” ask the question “Are you a member of the American Legion?”

I know, you are saying to your self “Is this guy nuts, I don’t even know these people.” To which I must reply, I’m not nuts, at least I’m not certified as a nut case. If you don’t know these people, so what, you can’t be embarrassed, because they don’t know you, and you don’t know them. The worst that can happen is that they think you are a stressed out veteran. The best that can happen, is you make new friends for life, you recruit a member into the American Legion, your Post achieves 100% of their membership goal, and you and your new friend have something to laugh about down the road when your new friend tells someone else how they became a member of the American Legion.

These approach techniques are quite simple and once you get over the fear of asking that first person “Are you a veteran?,” it becomes very easy to ask the next possible American Legion applicant “Are you a veteran?” or “are you a member of the American Legion?”

Now you are saying to yourself, I have recruited my first new member my job is done. No it isn’t. Fortunately the hard work is over, and now the fun begins, if the new Legionnaire is to become a member of your POST, YOU need to take them to a meeting and introduce them to the other members of your Post. If you make them feel welcome and wanted, they will become a productive member of your Post.

How do I make my new member feel welcome and wanted? There are as many answers to this question as there are members in the American Legion, but it all boils down to finding a program that is of interest to the new member or provides them with a sense of belonging or gratification. The “Honor Guard” is a great place to make a new member feel wanted, needed and an important part of honoring those who have transferred to Post Everlasting.

You should ensure that YOUR new member gets his free insurance policy and sends it in, he or she should also be given the brochures, YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN THE AMERICAN LEGION, YOUR AMERICAN LEGION and SAL BENEFITS, a BENEFITS WALLET CARD, and WHY YOU SHOULD BELONG TO THE AMERICAN LEGION. If you get YOUR new member this valuable information, you have just done your new friend a great service and you are a very knowledgeable person in his or her eyes. I know, you are thinking, all of these brochures are great and the District and Department Officers have them, but I’m just a legionnaire, where would I get all that stuff? First, and most importantly, no one is just a legionnaire; the American Legion exists because of, and for, the blue hat members of the American Legion. Second, where do I get all those brochures? Ask your Post Adjutant, Post Commander or Post Membership Director. If they don’t have them, they can ask the Department Headquarters for them and Headquarters will send them to your Post.

Now its time to have YOUR new member initiated into the American Legion. Once the Initiation Ceremony is completed, your new member needs to receive their Membership Card, Membership Pin and Initiation Certificate.

Now you are asking how do I get the current members to re-new their membership? The answer is, see the above paragraph.

If each of you would please go out and recruit just one new member, Your Post would double in size, you would have twice as many friends in the American Legion, there would be more legionnaires to socialize with, more members to work the fund raisers and programs, the Post would be over 100% of its membership goal, the Post would receive a 100% membership streamer for their flag, and a certificate commerating the success, your District would double in size, the Department of Colorado would have over 50,000 members, the American Legion would have more leverage when we lobby for veterans benefits, and I would stop calling your District and Post Commanders asking them to work on new members, and we all could get onto the fun part of being a member of the world’s largest wartime veterans organization. All of these great things will happen just because each one of you recruits ONE new member into the American Legion.

Gar Williams

Membership Chairman