DAV VAN
- Call Kim Hemberry at Walla Walla V.A. 301-9462 to schedule a DAV Van ride appointment.
- The van goes to Walla Walla on Tuesday and Thursdays.
- If the scheduling does not coincide with your appointment, the van will still come and get you, and take you to Walla Walla for your appointment.
Chaplin / Ken Vail
Veterans are you enrolled?
Are you enrolled in the V.A. health care system? If you’re not, why not? You maybe in good health and do not need health care right now. Why wait until you become ill before looking into the V.A. Health care system. It only takes a phone call to get started call 1-888-687-8863 follow the taped directions you will be asked to Press # 3 on your telephone, do that when prompted. This will take you to the department who will evaluate you.
Thoughts on the vision of the American Legion Post 34
For the future health of the American Legion and this Post, it is critical to start listening to and observing the actions of the returning vets. My time spent doing this has shown a consistent attitude, service to their fellow vets is foremost with them. So the question is, why aren’t they flocking to the Legion? This is supposed to be the very tenant of our existence. The answer, for the most part is attitude. When they do show up they see little to no encouragement to stay. They are met with an attitude of sit down and shut up, we know best. Their spouses are coming from a culture of support among themselves and support for the deployed troops to a culture of me, me, me and me. Ten years of war and we have no programs to collect and send care packages; where’s the Auxiliary? Where is the outreach to the families of the deployed, from the Legion or the Auxiliary? Why aren’t we putting on feeds, providing daycare, helping with home repairs, doing welfare checkups? Why aren't we putting on mini job fairs at the Post for the returning vets? How about support for their service animals in the form food donations and shots? Helping with transportation and books for school, help with rent on the semesters they aren’t enrolled in school and the G.I. bill isn’t in play. These young vets are broke, why don’t we have a fund established to help them with their Legion dues? Why is it that one member of this Post is putting on a going-away feed, at his cost, for our National Guard unit that is about to be deployed; here in our own Post, and it is not a Post-sponsored function. SHAME ON US!
Probably the most important thing we can do is to start making the families of the current vets and the deployed, feel welcome. It’s important that we allow their children to utilize the Post by providing activities while parents relax and visit, instead of complaining about them. If the focus of our Post is providing fundraisers solely to continue to provide the type of atmosphere that caters only to a few of the older vets and a small handful of Aux. members that have a belief that they are entitled, at the expense and exclusion of the current, new vets and deployed troops and their families, we are destined to fail. These cultures of service are what these young vets and their families are dedicated to and live by. It’s unfortunate that not only, do they not see this culture in this Post, but any attempt to promote it is met with personal attacks, rumors and lies. It’s time to change. It’s time to return to the core mission of “service, not self; veterans devoted to mutual helpfulness.”
As I have stated before, the Legion Rider program is the only program at this Post where the Legionaries, Auxiliary and SALs work seamlessly together. Our success is evidence that we are not the oddities, but the role models for the Post. We need to continue this trend. We need to take the lead on getting this Post back to the core values of “service, not self; veterans devoted to mutual helpfulness.” It’s our responsibility to set the future vision of this Post, not wait for those that have lost their way. When you hear people complaining of the “Riders taking over,” stand up and be proud of it. It’s the death rattle of no vision, bad attitude and forgotten values.
Bruce Rick, Legionaire
Director , ALR 34
This article has been authorized for print by the Post 34 E-Board