American Legion membership equals strength, vice commander says

A strong American Legion is critical to securing and maintaining the benefits earned by military veterans, Wayne Satrom, the Legion's national vice commander for the Midwest region, said during a Nov. 20 membership drive visit to Legion Post 298 in Marion.

With 2.4 million members nationwide, down from its all-time high of 3 million in the mid-1980s, the Legion is not the dying organization some media voices make it out to be, said Satrom, a semi-retired farmer from Galesburg, N.D.

But “to evolve and continue being relevant, we need to get our younger vets to join,” to replace the World War II and Korean War veterans whose deaths are depleting the Legion's ranks, he said.

“We need to build membership to strengthen the voice for veterans,” he said.

Satrom said military personnel and veterans were among the first to suffer during the recent partial federal government shutdown.

Citing the temporary lapse in payment of the $100,000 gratuity to the families of service personnel killed on active duty and the spectacle of veterans being turned away from war memorials in Washington, Satrom said, “It's not right for military and veterans to be used as pawns in political battles.”

Satrom said he and most other Legion members enjoyed watching veterans in wheelchairs going through the barriers erected to stop them.

“These guys once charged uphill into enemy gunfire. Did they think their little stinking fences would keep them out?” he said.

The Legion's national priorities, he said, include reducing the backlog of veterans' disability claims and providing assistance to veterans facing high rates of homelessness, joblessness and suicide.

Satrom said the Legion is pleased that the Department of Veterans Affairs has substantially reduced the number of veterans facing long waits for disability compensation.

In Iowa, for example, 4,678 veterans were waiting on Nov. 12 – down from 6,714 at the beginning of this year, according to a recent report by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

“They are making progress, yes, but there is still so much work to do. They need to give the veterans the benefit of the doubt, rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all system,” Satrom said.

“For whatever reason, the Legion is not connecting with a lot of the veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, but they'll come around when they realize we are there to fight for their rights,” he said.