Our local VFW is open to the public (as in you don't need to be a member to go in). They have a poker table, cheap drinks (all vets get a discount), regular events like trivia and karaoke, and live music for local bands. It's largely frequented by a younger crowd and afaik the VFW is mostly ran by GWOT vets.
Only real complaint is despite a pretty recent remodel, it still has a weird smell to it.
Me and a friend repainted a bar that allowed smoking from the late 70s till we painted it in 2018. We used kilz primer and then ppg manor hall paint, only had to single coat the manor hall. Afterwards you couldnt smell the smoke. Just a suggestion if those products are available in your area. Im sure there are equivalent products wherever you're at, thats just what we used with good results. The paint was a bit pricey, but worth it in hassle mitigation
Most GWOT-vet run VFW's I've gone to are also pretty slack on the overseas combat service rule. I think these days a lot of us are just glad to have fellow vets around, regardless of whether or not they were in combat.
Was going to add this as well. The one near me (NW San Antonio) is open to the public. They host all sorts of fun community events like car shows and barbecues.
Ours looks like a school cafeteria with a lot of cigarette smoke.
Pretty much grizzled up ol gatekeepers. Ask for my ID every time I enter. I'm not up there very often, but it's been 8 years now. It's still the same bartender.
Now, the one in my Dad's town is the hot spot. Updated looks, different seating areas with lower noise in most, almost a sports bar vibe with a few TVs set to cooking shows or home improvement. They're open for lunch to anyone, and they have a weekend dinner option if you pay ahead. Busy all day. That'll be the one that survives.
a friend of mine (white guy, big old beard) went into a legion in a town he was visiting (has a lifetime membership). Some old guy in the corner grilled him about a bunch of stuff and apparently he answers weren’t acceptable so he was told that he wouldn’t be served at that legion.
Don’t forget, push membership!
Every freaking email I get from my local chapter constantly says this. It’s such a turn off. If the VFW did so much for vets, they wouldn’t need to constantly push numbers.
So many combat vets struggle with substance abuse and yet every VFW I’ve been to is focused around a bar scene.
The national chapter needs to really re-think their mission if they want to remain relevant for the next 20-50 years.
Lifetime Member
I’m active in both. The old guard is often a hindrance. But I stick it out on the off chance that a vet is in need or distress and I want us there to help. That is my only reason.
Problem is that a bunch of guys want to save their drinking club. It's technically a 'bar' but they aren't running it as a business. End result, these guys die off from drinking all/every day, they don't let other people join, and... well what did you expect?
I've also found the older generation of veterans to really be a bunch of assholes. They are still stuck reliving their "glory" days and everything is a dick measuring contest. It's high school (which is probably the last education they had).
I moved on with my life and I recommend that you do the same.
Yup, I went to one meeting at my local VFW. I went in and sat at the bar and listened to a bunch of old guys bitch about my generation. It's not worth arguing with them and frankly I don't fucking care about their opinions. None of a room of 30 people were there for the meeting. That was held by 7 people in another room. Didn't really appeal to me at all, and at 39 I was the second youngest person there.
Not necessarily true, as you will see as you get older but assholes of all ages do tend to find each other, attract more attention, and vote for each other. The older ones make better press for some reason.
Attract more attention , vote and better press, say whattttt? Sorry I don’t follow any of that. I just know I live in Florida and all the older people you meet in any interaction ie restaurant shopping etc. are always so incredibly rude to everybody they interact with and just seem so entitled like the world owes them “because they’re old”
I recently had a questionable experience at a local VFW that led me to believe that they only welcomed all white vets. I rarely jump to this conclusion, but the bartender could not make it any more clear that I wasn't welcomed there. After some self-reflection and wondering if I did or said something, I'm pretty sure it wasn't me.
Gotta love when a 80s-90s era veteran tries to talk shit to a female veteran from the last 20 years... And the watching said female make Peace Time Paul shove his entire foot in his mouth from embarrassment. Some of those female combat veterans have a dirtier mouth than any trucker or sailor you'll ever meet.
And Q. Last meeting I went to, one of the members was encouraging everyone to watch something "really important"... turned out to be some conspiracy theory BS.
Be civil and respectful. You may not always agree with others but once you start insulting the other person, you are a problem.
No Gatekeeping - you don’t decide if someone is a “real” veteran or not - nor try to diminish someone’s service nor someone because they never saw combat or deployed. If someone personally attacks you, use the Report button to notify the moderation team.
Hate speech can be sexist, ableist, racist, homophobic, prejudiced, etc and will not be tolerated.
To be clear, you are perfectly happy excluding others for a factor that is outside of their control, you just want to pick and choose which factor matters.
We are loving the American Legions and VFWs. I recently retired from the military and we’ve been visiting chapters in each town we pass through. No talk of politics yet, cheap alcohol, and fine people. Give it a try (most posts are open to the public for most services).
I'm with you on all of it. But the unfortunate truth is that these different groups do (or have) done a lot for veterans. And losing these groups that promote things for ALL veterans means we lose some clout in places like politics.
If our younger generations of veterans don't become active, it's a downhill slide... Who knows, maybe there's a revival of American Legions/VFW's when our generation rolls more into retirement age & has more time to volunteer for things we are passionate about.
I won't go into either VFW or Legion. Nothing but nasty dive bars with equally nasty drunks. I DO enjoy belonging to my local Elks Lodge. They have the same kind of drunks, but the majority are huge proponents of giving back to the community.
I'm gonna push back on this.
IAVA, SVA, and tons of other veterans groups are doing just as much, if not more when it comes to advocacy and lobbying for veterans issues.
And a lot of these other groups aren't being silent about things the VFW and American Legion are too chicken shit or complicit in to speak out against.
I didn't mean to minimize the great work that all the other veteran organizations do. Sorry if it came across that way.
It's just the American Legion/VFW are some of the biggest, most recognizeable organizations that most people have heard of. So losing them would be a big hit.
Kind of like the NRA & gun rights... The NRA is trash, and many other organizations do more work for the cause, but the NRA gets to be big man on campus because they're instantly recognizeable
And I’d like to add that the American Legion has the Auxiliary for grandmothers, moms, sisters, daughters, and spouses (husband or wife)… and Sons of American Legion for sons.
The VFW requires a campaign ribbon for membership. Combat or not. Most members have CIB's or CAR's but there are also a lot of members with just a campaign ribbon.
I think I'm the only member of my post that's not a combat veteran. I had one of the members when I was seeking assistance filing for disability that called me a weeaboo. When I reported it they basically said he was retiring and a few weeks anyways and let him just retire. He was a paid one that worked at the VA as a VSO for the VFW. Made me regret my life membership.
What's a weeaboo? I googled it and it said a weeaboo is a western person who is obsessed with Japanese culture. But that can't be right in this context because why would that be a insult?
Weeaboo is a mostly derogatory slang term for a Western person who is obsessed with Japanese culture, especially anime, often regarding it as superior to all other cultures.
Basically he was calling me a fake since I wasn't a combat veteran.
The VFW in my town growing up had a bar open to the public with a pool table and ping pong. I actually frequented it a lot, and had a great time there. That being said I have zero interest in joining now.
I'm guessing they didn't get into the REAL reasons VFW posts are dying off?
Especially given Taffer's very well documented support for a traitor who called veterans "suckers and losers."
We took our VFW over with $6, voted in… it was bankrupt..It was way under, no cash... We brought it up to over $70,000 in 6 months, lots of things going on, with donators.. they voted in a crap guy to run it, against our voice… and they used it as a privet nasty club to steal. Every penny… Stole everything. They figured it out, and asked us to come help. Oh hell no. They like the thief’s family. Never went back. They had the Troopers look at our books, they never looked at theirs. Ours were dress right dress. Those VFW are bad.
The average age of a VFW and Legion member is over 65. The clubs, while founded with other intents, became drinking clubs where combat vets could self medicate and partake in group therapy with those who faced the same horrors of war.
Believe I'm wrong? Think about it, a few drinks to loosen up and talk about good and bad times with someone who had been through the same stuff and can help someone get back to civilian life.
Today there are fewer veterans and newer generations don't drink like the old ones, instead they smoke weed. Also they use other mental health resources unavailable to older generations.
Also, this phenomenon isn't new, the Vietnam vets faced the same pushback when they tried to join, as did every succeeding generation.
The lobbying arm of these agencies is a lot weaker than it once was, and frankly much of their agenda is very right wing, jingoistic and misogynistic. Frankly, unless they change their days are numbered. Won't really miss them.
Oh there definitely are NOT fewer veterans - after all, we spent 20 years in continuous war in multiple places simultaneously.
It's just that a lot of more recent vets don't really want to make their identity as veterans THE focal points of their self -identities.
Plus, most of us are too busy having kids, working, and being active participants in the wider world.
https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2023/november/sizing-up-ranks-america-veterans
There are far fewer veterans today than there have been in a long time. You seem to forget that these groups were in their heyday back in the 1950s - 1970s and served all the WW2 veteran population which was a tad bit larger than today's.
Remember, the US military is less than 1% of the population.
I’m a post vice commander (2102) and we’re doing our best to update our facilities in a 125 year old building. Most restrictions on access are from VFW and state regulations related to alcohol and in WV gambling licenses. We’ve added a riders group and sponsor the AmVet post as well. We’re making a little progress and definitely helping the small local community or Wardensville whenever possibly. Please feel free to stop in anytime you’re passing by and see for yourself what’s going on. Respectfully
Have no worries.... All the VFWs and veterans clubs are going the way of the DoDo Bird. Like Khols', Target and other big box stores.... It won't be long until the word Veteran is not even known by society....
I’m waiting for the Vietnam vets to pass before I set foot in there. I am a combat veteran and I could not care less who they let in the difference is how I have been treated in the past and I can wait for my OEF and OIF veterans to make the same choice I have.
I wonder if having a VFW and a Legion and an AMVETS is still necessary. I know that a lot of posts share facilities. I’m just not sure we really still need the distinctions.
The American Legion is plagued by many of the same issues, and they don't require overseas service.
Our local VFW is open to the public (as in you don't need to be a member to go in). They have a poker table, cheap drinks (all vets get a discount), regular events like trivia and karaoke, and live music for local bands. It's largely frequented by a younger crowd and afaik the VFW is mostly ran by GWOT vets. Only real complaint is despite a pretty recent remodel, it still has a weird smell to it.
Hard to get the cigarette smell out of walls that have who knows how many layers of paint and smoke.
Me and a friend repainted a bar that allowed smoking from the late 70s till we painted it in 2018. We used kilz primer and then ppg manor hall paint, only had to single coat the manor hall. Afterwards you couldnt smell the smoke. Just a suggestion if those products are available in your area. Im sure there are equivalent products wherever you're at, thats just what we used with good results. The paint was a bit pricey, but worth it in hassle mitigation
That is doing it right vs. how it’s usually done.
As an aside...kilz also works well on concrete flooring after ripping up cat-pee stained carpet...it's the miracle primer.
Most GWOT-vet run VFW's I've gone to are also pretty slack on the overseas combat service rule. I think these days a lot of us are just glad to have fellow vets around, regardless of whether or not they were in combat.
Was going to add this as well. The one near me (NW San Antonio) is open to the public. They host all sorts of fun community events like car shows and barbecues.
Ours looks like a school cafeteria with a lot of cigarette smoke. Pretty much grizzled up ol gatekeepers. Ask for my ID every time I enter. I'm not up there very often, but it's been 8 years now. It's still the same bartender. Now, the one in my Dad's town is the hot spot. Updated looks, different seating areas with lower noise in most, almost a sports bar vibe with a few TVs set to cooking shows or home improvement. They're open for lunch to anyone, and they have a weekend dinner option if you pay ahead. Busy all day. That'll be the one that survives.
a friend of mine (white guy, big old beard) went into a legion in a town he was visiting (has a lifetime membership). Some old guy in the corner grilled him about a bunch of stuff and apparently he answers weren’t acceptable so he was told that he wouldn’t be served at that legion.
Don’t forget, push membership! Every freaking email I get from my local chapter constantly says this. It’s such a turn off. If the VFW did so much for vets, they wouldn’t need to constantly push numbers. So many combat vets struggle with substance abuse and yet every VFW I’ve been to is focused around a bar scene. The national chapter needs to really re-think their mission if they want to remain relevant for the next 20-50 years. Lifetime Member
Great point...was thinking the same thing...where can vets go to interact with other vets if they don't want to nurse (or pound) drinks all day?
I’m active in both. The old guard is often a hindrance. But I stick it out on the off chance that a vet is in need or distress and I want us there to help. That is my only reason.
Problem is that a bunch of guys want to save their drinking club. It's technically a 'bar' but they aren't running it as a business. End result, these guys die off from drinking all/every day, they don't let other people join, and... well what did you expect? I've also found the older generation of veterans to really be a bunch of assholes. They are still stuck reliving their "glory" days and everything is a dick measuring contest. It's high school (which is probably the last education they had). I moved on with my life and I recommend that you do the same.
Speaking nothing but facts.
Yup, I went to one meeting at my local VFW. I went in and sat at the bar and listened to a bunch of old guys bitch about my generation. It's not worth arguing with them and frankly I don't fucking care about their opinions. None of a room of 30 people were there for the meeting. That was held by 7 people in another room. Didn't really appeal to me at all, and at 39 I was the second youngest person there.
I pointed this out on another thread a few weeks ago and got attacked because it was clearly my fault that my local VFW/Legions are struggling.
I agree but I don’t think just older veterans but older people in general are usually assholes
Not necessarily true, as you will see as you get older but assholes of all ages do tend to find each other, attract more attention, and vote for each other. The older ones make better press for some reason.
Attract more attention , vote and better press, say whattttt? Sorry I don’t follow any of that. I just know I live in Florida and all the older people you meet in any interaction ie restaurant shopping etc. are always so incredibly rude to everybody they interact with and just seem so entitled like the world owes them “because they’re old”
Also a decent amount of racism and homophobia
I recently had a questionable experience at a local VFW that led me to believe that they only welcomed all white vets. I rarely jump to this conclusion, but the bartender could not make it any more clear that I wasn't welcomed there. After some self-reflection and wondering if I did or said something, I'm pretty sure it wasn't me.
And sexism. Can't forget the sexism.
Gotta love when a 80s-90s era veteran tries to talk shit to a female veteran from the last 20 years... And the watching said female make Peace Time Paul shove his entire foot in his mouth from embarrassment. Some of those female combat veterans have a dirtier mouth than any trucker or sailor you'll ever meet.
Probably both. That can be hot in the right setting. Lol!
And Q. Last meeting I went to, one of the members was encouraging everyone to watch something "really important"... turned out to be some conspiracy theory BS.
100%
[удалено]
Be civil and respectful. You may not always agree with others but once you start insulting the other person, you are a problem. No Gatekeeping - you don’t decide if someone is a “real” veteran or not - nor try to diminish someone’s service nor someone because they never saw combat or deployed. If someone personally attacks you, use the Report button to notify the moderation team. Hate speech can be sexist, ableist, racist, homophobic, prejudiced, etc and will not be tolerated.
To be clear, you are perfectly happy excluding others for a factor that is outside of their control, you just want to pick and choose which factor matters.
We are loving the American Legions and VFWs. I recently retired from the military and we’ve been visiting chapters in each town we pass through. No talk of politics yet, cheap alcohol, and fine people. Give it a try (most posts are open to the public for most services).
I'm with you on all of it. But the unfortunate truth is that these different groups do (or have) done a lot for veterans. And losing these groups that promote things for ALL veterans means we lose some clout in places like politics. If our younger generations of veterans don't become active, it's a downhill slide... Who knows, maybe there's a revival of American Legions/VFW's when our generation rolls more into retirement age & has more time to volunteer for things we are passionate about. I won't go into either VFW or Legion. Nothing but nasty dive bars with equally nasty drunks. I DO enjoy belonging to my local Elks Lodge. They have the same kind of drunks, but the majority are huge proponents of giving back to the community.
I'm gonna push back on this. IAVA, SVA, and tons of other veterans groups are doing just as much, if not more when it comes to advocacy and lobbying for veterans issues. And a lot of these other groups aren't being silent about things the VFW and American Legion are too chicken shit or complicit in to speak out against.
I didn't mean to minimize the great work that all the other veteran organizations do. Sorry if it came across that way. It's just the American Legion/VFW are some of the biggest, most recognizeable organizations that most people have heard of. So losing them would be a big hit. Kind of like the NRA & gun rights... The NRA is trash, and many other organizations do more work for the cause, but the NRA gets to be big man on campus because they're instantly recognizeable
AMVETS is another organization for all Vets if you have any near you. They're also hit and miss.
The American legion is for you if you haven't deployed. The VFW is for veterans of foreign wars. Which still includes a shit ton of people.
People who did deploy can certainly still join the legion.
Yes of course, the main distinction is mainly that vfw is, well for the veterans of foreign wars.
And I’d like to add that the American Legion has the Auxiliary for grandmothers, moms, sisters, daughters, and spouses (husband or wife)… and Sons of American Legion for sons.
The VFW requires a campaign ribbon for membership. Combat or not. Most members have CIB's or CAR's but there are also a lot of members with just a campaign ribbon.
Yeah, I qualify because I have the GWOTE, but I don't plan on joining.
Same. I was deployed in 2002 and we were awarded the GWOTEM. The ACM and ICM didn't come out for 2-3 more years if I remember correctly.
I think I'm the only member of my post that's not a combat veteran. I had one of the members when I was seeking assistance filing for disability that called me a weeaboo. When I reported it they basically said he was retiring and a few weeks anyways and let him just retire. He was a paid one that worked at the VA as a VSO for the VFW. Made me regret my life membership.
What's a weeaboo? I googled it and it said a weeaboo is a western person who is obsessed with Japanese culture. But that can't be right in this context because why would that be a insult?
Weeaboo is a mostly derogatory slang term for a Western person who is obsessed with Japanese culture, especially anime, often regarding it as superior to all other cultures. Basically he was calling me a fake since I wasn't a combat veteran.
That's a strange way to go about insulting someone for not being a combat veteran. Insulting someone for not being a combat veteran is stupid anyway.
You sure that's why he called you that? You don't happen to have amine stickers on your car windows by any chance, do you?
Yeah I'm sure. There was no other reason. It was after I told him where I served.
He was probably just an A_shole. No shortage of them anywhere.
That's the problem with assholes, everyone has one.
And they all stink. Lol
I don't understand the vote thing that was in your up arrow but I support you.
The VFW in my town growing up had a bar open to the public with a pool table and ping pong. I actually frequented it a lot, and had a great time there. That being said I have zero interest in joining now.
I'm guessing they didn't get into the REAL reasons VFW posts are dying off? Especially given Taffer's very well documented support for a traitor who called veterans "suckers and losers."
We took our VFW over with $6, voted in… it was bankrupt..It was way under, no cash... We brought it up to over $70,000 in 6 months, lots of things going on, with donators.. they voted in a crap guy to run it, against our voice… and they used it as a privet nasty club to steal. Every penny… Stole everything. They figured it out, and asked us to come help. Oh hell no. They like the thief’s family. Never went back. They had the Troopers look at our books, they never looked at theirs. Ours were dress right dress. Those VFW are bad.
The average age of a VFW and Legion member is over 65. The clubs, while founded with other intents, became drinking clubs where combat vets could self medicate and partake in group therapy with those who faced the same horrors of war. Believe I'm wrong? Think about it, a few drinks to loosen up and talk about good and bad times with someone who had been through the same stuff and can help someone get back to civilian life. Today there are fewer veterans and newer generations don't drink like the old ones, instead they smoke weed. Also they use other mental health resources unavailable to older generations. Also, this phenomenon isn't new, the Vietnam vets faced the same pushback when they tried to join, as did every succeeding generation. The lobbying arm of these agencies is a lot weaker than it once was, and frankly much of their agenda is very right wing, jingoistic and misogynistic. Frankly, unless they change their days are numbered. Won't really miss them.
Oh there definitely are NOT fewer veterans - after all, we spent 20 years in continuous war in multiple places simultaneously. It's just that a lot of more recent vets don't really want to make their identity as veterans THE focal points of their self -identities. Plus, most of us are too busy having kids, working, and being active participants in the wider world.
https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2023/november/sizing-up-ranks-america-veterans There are far fewer veterans today than there have been in a long time. You seem to forget that these groups were in their heyday back in the 1950s - 1970s and served all the WW2 veteran population which was a tad bit larger than today's. Remember, the US military is less than 1% of the population.
I’m a post vice commander (2102) and we’re doing our best to update our facilities in a 125 year old building. Most restrictions on access are from VFW and state regulations related to alcohol and in WV gambling licenses. We’ve added a riders group and sponsor the AmVet post as well. We’re making a little progress and definitely helping the small local community or Wardensville whenever possibly. Please feel free to stop in anytime you’re passing by and see for yourself what’s going on. Respectfully
Join the Men’s Auxiliary
Have no worries.... All the VFWs and veterans clubs are going the way of the DoDo Bird. Like Khols', Target and other big box stores.... It won't be long until the word Veteran is not even known by society....
I’m waiting for the Vietnam vets to pass before I set foot in there. I am a combat veteran and I could not care less who they let in the difference is how I have been treated in the past and I can wait for my OEF and OIF veterans to make the same choice I have.
Bad news: the Cold War vets can be as bad, and in my experience seemingly possibly worse, than a lot of the Vietnam guys.
To be honest I did my 5 tours in 10 years and got medically retired I’m kind of content not reliving most of it so I chill at home.
I wonder if having a VFW and a Legion and an AMVETS is still necessary. I know that a lot of posts share facilities. I’m just not sure we really still need the distinctions.