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Traditional veterans organizations are struggling to attract veterans from more recent conflicts. Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan would rather spend time with their families or on social networking websites than at the local VFW post. The World’s Katy Clark reports from Jacksonville, Florida on efforts to keep the VFW relevant.
Web extra: vets reminiscing about the VFW
Vietnam Veteran Harry Seiler of VFW Post 7909 in Jacksonville, Florida:
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Vietnam Veteran John Hamilton of VFW Post 7909 in Jacksonville, Florida:
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Navy Veteran Don Bult, district commander for the VFW in NorthEast Florida:
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Navy Veteran Dani Hernandez, commander of VFW Post 7909 in Jacksonville, Florida:
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MARCO WERMAN: When U.S. troops return home from Afghanistan, Iraq and other wars, they often seek out the company of other war veterans. In the past, many turned to organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars. But today’s returning servicemen and women are just as likely to turn to online social networking sites as they are the VFW. That got The World’s Katy Clark wondering how relevant groups like the VFW are to today’s veterans. She sent us this report from Jacksonville, Florida.
KATY CLARK: Ron Shupperts, considered a kid compared to the majority of the guys gathered at VFW Post 7909 in Jacksonville, and he’s not happy about it.
RON SHUPPERTS: I’d like to say our average age here is much younger than it is, but the average age here is around 72 years of age, which means there are a lot of World War II and a lot of Korean veterans still here. Not that some of us Vietnam vets are not pushing it. I, myself and 63, so I’m up there.
CLARK: There are some newly minted veterans here, but Shupperts says it’s been touch trying to turn a service organization like the VFW into something today’s veterans can relate to.
SHUPPERTS: We got to give them something to leave their home for, something they can bring their children to.
CLARK: The VFW was founded more than 100 years ago to fight for veterans’ rights. The group played a role in establishing the VA and in creating the GI bill after World War II. But for many, the VFW is mostly known as a place where older veterans get together to play pool and tell war stories, and that’s not enough anymore. Younger veterans expect posts to have wireless internet and an active we presence; many don’t yet. But it’s not all about technology. Vietnam vet Harry Seiler says the VFW needs to promote itself better if it’s going to survive.
HARRY SEILER: We’re like, I don’t know, like the best kept secret or something, I don’t know. We do so much for the community, not just veterans and their families, but active duty military and their families. If there’s an active duty military family that we know about, where their loved one is in Iraq and they can’t make the house payment or something, we can help them out, but a lot of people don’t know that, or they still have the mentality of a beer-drinking, story-telling place. Which is still a small part of it.
CLARK: Small part of it?
SEILER: Well.
CLARK: VFW posts in northeast Florida are doing alright for themselves, but the vibrancy here is increasingly rare in other parts of the country. It helps that Jacksonville is a big military town. Still, even this area failed to meet its recruitment goals for new members this year. Posts in urban and rural communities across the U.S. are closing because there aren’t enough combat veterans to keep them going. And VFW leaders worry that they’ll lose their voice in Washington to lobby for veterans issues if their numbers drop too much. In an effort to boost membership, the VFW has been reaching out, not just to younger veterans, but to female veterans. Yet women may prove an even tougher sell than veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s because posts generally aren’t used to having women as members. Karen Nigara says that was all too apparent the first time she visited her home post, 1689, in Jacksonville. That wasn’t long after she was discharged from the Army in 2006.
KAREN NIGARA: The VFW has the members and it has a ladies’ auxiliary. Ladies auxiliary is typically wives, daughters, sisters of veterans. As soon as I walk in and I say VFW, I’m a member, oh you’re a member of the ladies auxiliary? They meet over there. No. I’m a veteran, a combat veteran just like you, and I want to be active in the post.
CLARK: Nigara stuck around and eventually became post commander. She’s part of a growing number of women serving in leadership positions in the VFW in Florida and elsewhere. Nigara’s hopeful more women veterans will join the VFW in time, but she acknowledges there’s still a lot of work to be done at the local level first. For instance, Nigara would like to see her post offer child care to members when they have doctor’s appointments. She’d also like to build a playground on the property to make the VFW more family-friendly. But Nigara says they’re not there yet.
NIGARA: Bottom line, and I’m being very frank with you, bottom line a lot of people come here to drink and they don’t want kids running around.
CLARK: It’s a busy bingo night at VFW Post 8255 in Middleburg, Florida. The profits earned on bingo help the post fund many of its community outreach efforts. The commander at 8255 is one of the recent combat veterans the VFW covets. John Burgess served in Afghanistan and just turned 48. He says there’s one other thing keeping younger veterans away.
JOHN BURGESS: We’re still a smoking post. All the young guys don’t smoke. They wish we didn’t, but they, the older crowd that’s built this place ain’t ready to give that up yet.
CLARK: If the VFW is truly committed to recruiting younger vets, Burgess may have to risk alienating some of the older guard, if not by banning smoking altogether, then by moving it outside. The VFW is at a crossroads and members know it. Most don’t think the group will die off entirely. Younger veterans might gravitate to the internet first, but the VFW maintains there will always be a need for some face-to-face contact with people who know what it’s like to experience war up close. For The World, this is Katy Clark, Jacksonville, Florida.
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