Veterans see thinning ranks

John Lopez gets concerned when he sees local veterans groups losing older members and not gaining many new ones.

"Absolutely I'm worried," said the retired U.S. Navy chief petty officer, who is a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4848 in Chattanooga.

If they can't find ways to bring more veterans into the fold, such groups will continue to dwindle and their political power will diminish, Mr. Lopez said. Supporters say educational, health, burial and other benefits exist only because veterans groups pushed to create and then improve those benefits.

Post 4848's 552 members can get the attention of lawmakers, said Mr. Lopez, 47.

"When politicians look at the list and see how many members we have, they say, 'We need to go talk to these guys,'" he said. "If we had 15 members, do you think they'd come talk to us?"

But even Post 4848 is losing veterans, down 77 from last year, according to the national VFW Web site.

VFW membership nationwide has dropped from a peak of 2.5 million in 1992 to 1.5 million in 2009, according to a November report in USA Today. In the last two years, 459 VFW posts and 110 American Legion posts have closed across the country, according to the report.

But in the midst of an overall drop in veterans organizations, at least one new group has formed to focus on political action.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America was founded in 2004 with the mission to improve the lives of those soldiers, according to its Web site. The group's 2008 report showed 125,000 members.

The organization is primarily Internet-focused and pushes for improvements on veteran-related issues. It does not have local posts or halls such as VFW and American Legion posts.

IMAGE AND REALITY

Local post commanders see a host of reasons why numbers drop.

Many posts are filled with World War II veterans, but the bulk of them are now in their 80s and many are dying.

Vietnam veterans are making up some of those losses, but many don't join until they retire. And there's a large gap between the Vietnam-era veterans, who are now starting to retire, and today's troops, who are still in their 20s and 30s.

Commanders say they fight the perception that veterans groups are just old guys sitting at a bar smoking, drinking and telling war stories. The main mission of the groups, they say, is to help fellow veterans and keep history alive in their communities.

Cmdr. Bill Sandberg, 63, joined the VFW Chickamauga Post 3679 in Fort Oglethorpe after he retired in 2000. His post is one of a few in the area that raised membership in the last year. It added 21 members and now boasts 316 on its roster, according to the VFW database.

Lack of public support during the Vietnam War meant many posts didn't want Vietnam veterans to join, he said. And many Vietnam-era veterans distanced themselves from the war and went on with their lives.

"When we got back from 'Nam we didn't go to the (Veterans Administration)," he said.

But that meant that his generation endured decades of problems receiving VA assistance.

Now veterans groups encourage young vets to apply for benefits early and report health problems immediately.

Cmdr. Sandberg said simply talking to other veterans and telling them about the post and its mission can be all that's needed to get them to join.

"Sometimes word of mouth is the best thing," he said.

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

Brian Cottell, 32, joined the VFW online when he left the U.S. Army in June. When he and his wife moved to Lookout Mountain, Ga., he sought out the local post.

"The camaraderie in it feels like a family," he said. "They're a humble organization but, at the same time, they do a lot for the community."

Admission requirements vary. The American Legion takes those who have served in the Armed Forces, while VFW members must have deployed to a foreign combat zone. Members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart must have received the award.

Many groups raise money for scholarships, hold food drives and fundraisers and assist returning veterans with applying for benefits and with job searches, commanders said.

Cmdr. Lester Norton leads American Legion Post 95 in East Ridge, the second-largest post in Tennessee with 1,083 members. Numbers at the post have stayed near 1,000 for the last few years now, he said.

He credits the large number of social and charitable events hosted by the group, everything from barbecues to Christmas parties to visits to the local Tennessee Army National Guard units. Those visits help spread information to potential members, he said.

"It just takes a lot of communication to explain to them what the American Legion post is," he said.

But fundraisers and community events only go so far. While many group commanders said they have good relations with local Army National Guard groups, others say since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it's much harder to get on to bases to talk with troops who may need local veterans groups the most.

"It's hard to get in and talk to these guys," Mr. Lopez said. "At the local reserve center in Chattanooga, they'll let you come in but you can't speak to them unless they come to your table."

GENERATIONS DIFFER

Some groups suffer membership problems for other reasons. Because of the combat requirements of VFW membership, few with service in the 1980s or 1990s are qualified to join.

"If you were in the military from '78 to '90, there's nothing that really happened; the only thing you were fighting was boredom," Mr. Lopez said.

The generational gap is one of the major hurdles for groups to overcome, he said.

"The first day I walked into the VFW in Chattanooga, I talked with a landing craft driver at Normandy, a retired senior chief petty officer," Mr. Lopez recalled. "The first question he asks me after shaking hands, 'Shipmate, what do you think about women in the military?'

"I just started laughing because I don't think about it, there are women," he said. "We serve with a vast group of different race, religion and genders."

Robert Mayes, an Army veteran who served in World War II, is a member of the local Purple Heart group and the American Legion.

"It just makes you feel good to be a part of something like this," he said.

ON THE WEB

Veterans of Foreign Wars

* Traces its roots to 1899 when veterans of the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) founded local organizations to secure rights and benefits for their service. More information is at www.vfw.org.

American Legion

* Chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919. More information is at www.legion.org.

Source: VFW; American Legion