Posted on Aug 29, 2015
VFW Post closed due to fiscal mismanagement?
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It appears to be the case and it might be permanent too.
http://www.waaytv.com/appnews/vfw-post-closes-for-state-audit/article_f5f3257c-4dc7-11e5-a794-0bcd5817ccc9.html
http://www.waaytv.com/appnews/vfw-post-closes-for-state-audit/article_f5f3257c-4dc7-11e5-a794-0bcd5817ccc9.html
Posted in these groups: 
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
Huntsville
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Huntsville
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 14
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Here's a dose of reality for ya.....Why are we losing interest from our younger Veterans? Maybe because when you walk in most they smell like smoke, there is generally no Wi-Fi (not expensive to offer and a must have today), can we cover the paneling and paint the walls? Our younger group of Vets have almost all deployed to combat, go to a USO and see how they welcome our Vets, now let's replicate something similar so they we can cross generations and make it a place where we are all comfortable together....just a rant/recommendation - your thoughts?
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PO3 Steven Sherrill
CSM Michael J. Uhlig I am not a VFW member, but I am an American Legion Member. I have not been to a post yet, because I am concerned that it is going to be the exact environment that you described. There is definitely a generational gap, but RallPoint is a perfect example of how a generational gap can be bridged bringing older and younger veterans and service members together to share their experiences. Maybe they should look at the way they are trying to bridge these generational gaps bringing the older and younger members together. Until they do that, they are going to be a dying organization. That would be tragic. The AL and the VFW have been great organizations for too long to die a slow death like this.
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SGT (Join to see)
TSgt Joshua Copeland - You are correct. And old-timers, as much as I respect them, they refuse to change... haha, like the rest of us are so dynamic. But you are absolutely correct.
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MSG (Join to see)
My VFW building is actually in pretty good shape both interior and exterior. No wi0fi though (as far as I know). Being Idaho, smoking is not authorized inside. But, sadly, I am 40 and the youngest member in my VFW.
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Kathlean Keesler
If I may not be considered a troll...I am a smoker - I prefer to smoke outside and solo. Currently for the 1st time in my life I am surrounded by smokers, cigarette butts all over the grass, sidewalks and parking lot. (Federal gov't low income housing complex Morristown Tennessee. I am here to assist a friend, Veteran, in an up and coming surgery) POINT is SMOKING is nasty, more so when ya just see the faces across the room! WiFi is affordable, ashtrays OUT OF DOORS are affordable too. SURE hope things change with compromised solutions.
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I personally don't go because the ones I have been to are dark and smell of old alcohol and smoke. There is nothing to do there and conversations seem to be scewed to the it was better when's.
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Kathlean Keesler
How might we fix this? Is it age? Is it conversation? Is it the setting? What if the person VFW location "chair" and his or her volunteers set up a theme calendar? Presentations with Q&A, participation? HUMOR comedy dates - ....?
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I tried out two VFW's here locally. The first one was very anti women regardless of what you did or what awards you had. The second one was a little less mysoginistic so I went for awhile but I couldn't handle the cigarette smoke. I can respect the fact that some people smoke but do it outside. The first post is closed last time I drove by, which is sad because it's very close to several universities and they actually had WiFi.
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PO2 Kayla Modschiedler
Me too, I like hanging out with fellow veterans. I have a group of female vets and we kind of have our own VFW but we go shopping and do quilting lol
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MSgt Curtis Ellis
PO2 Kayla Modschiedler - I actually got heavily involved with our VFW when I first retired, and realized it's the members and volunteers that keep any VFW running... We've got some pretty decent members!
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PO2 Kayla Modschiedler
You are absolutely right MSgt, The college I go to is heavy female veterans with some males, I have been going to the post in the town where my university is because they are very involved and more family oriented.
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The VFW is likely going to die off anyway, mostly because of individual VFW posts attitudes towards Iraq and Afghanistan vets. It's a shame, but after 12 years and 3 different posts that were the same I walked away, I figured out I wasn't welcome.
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SSG(P) D. Wright Downs
They refused veterans years ago...the commander of one post was my friend's father. My friend had served with honor, ribbins with valor, 2 Purple Hearts. His father was down on him when the VFW buddies were in the Moose Club. The bartender finially spoke to them about keeping VFW business out of the Club. VN Veterans and all veterans were welcome at the Moose.
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The VFW in question has had issues for years. Membership was dropping in large part because new members just didn't seem to be welcomed. I went there several times and always felt like an interloper. As if I didn't matter because I wasn't a Viet Nam vet. Hopefully this audit can fix some of that and reopen their doors.
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TSgt Joshua Copeland
LTC (Join to see) I know exactly what you are talking about, been to a few VFW's that have felt more like a secret member's only Cabal for vietnam and prior vets to smoke and drink and hide from their wife's at then an actual veterans organization.
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LTC (Join to see)
MSgt Joshua Copeland, it's a shame. I have all the respect in the world for ALL our Veterans. But, VFWs like this one need to open up and embrace us, like we will embrace them, as Brothers/Sisters.
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SGT (Join to see)
I guess it all depends on which post you go to. I only go to a small one, maybe 10-15 members monthly, but when I first started attending the meetings, they welcomed me with open arms. The post I am with now paid my lifetime membership, and now I am the Junior Vice CMDR. Of course at 25 I am the youngest one there, but these older men hold no bias against me because of that, and we share stories and advice from one another like it should be.
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Suspended Profile
I'm not a VFW member, but my DAV chapter holds its meetings at the VFW post in Olympia. Ditto all the comments about the conditions in VFW halls...
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The VFW has been a strange organization over the years. It didn't want different veterans who had been in combat, then when it realized it would die out, it changed its tune. It really has had attitudes in different areas of the country. There have been those who were not comfortable around women veterans. Two of my brothers are members. I don't qualify. I remember the heartburn it gave my friends who came back from VN--Malox would not touch it. I remember too much. Organizations have to keep up with the what is going on or they lose out, waste money, lose money and are out of business. This is da ja vice all over again for the VFW...they have no historical memory?
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