POST 149 ADJUTANT | BILL STINTSMAN

Membership, membership, membership. For most of you reading this, this probably falls on deaf ears and reads like blah, blah, blah. But often times, reminders are what some of us need. We don’t intentionally fail to pay our association dues; we just get busy and forget to do it because it isn’t the top priority at that moment in time. But you paid your mortgage, rent, or car payment on time, why not your Legion dues? I know, I answered that already. Why do veteran service organizations that you joined willingly, and represent something profound or prophetic regarding something you did once upon a time in your life get pushed to the back burner? Why are veteran service organizations seeing a decline in renewals? Great questions that can’t seemingly be answered with legitimate reasons. Most of what the analytics say is the reasons are essentially excuses. Veterans want benefits owed to them for their service to our country. Veterans need medical attention for problems caused by, or related to, military service. Veterans lived on the poverty level for much of the 20th century in comparison to the rest of the free nation we defended, and only recently has compensation of pay and allowances of todays’ active-duty contingent been adjusted to get us above the poverty line. Active-duty and veterans alike see the benefits of membership in any and all veteran service organizations because of what we say to congress. Don’t let the needs and benefits owed to us, and your brothers and sisters-in-arms, slip away because you failed to renew your membership. Every member matters.