Veterans' Newsfeeds

LEARN HOW YOUR PLANNED GIFT CAN HELP THE AMERICAN LEGIONArtificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly and will have dramatic effects on society. While AI has potential benefits in many areas, including health care and education, there are also potential drawbacks. Haywood Talcove, chief executive of a major cybersecurity organization, cautions seniors that new AI capabilities are being used for romance scams, ransom efforts, and IRS or government collection scams.Talcove stated, "You have all of these people building this technology for good and they are working really, really hard. And you have another group working equally hard at applying their craft on the bad side." The bad actors use AI to enhance their scams and victimize seniors. Many scams have taken millions of dollars from seniors who did not protect themselves from romance scams, requests for ransom or false claims that they owe payments to the IRS.Romance Scams The new AI

1. “Be the One” pulls in to Victory Lane Driving the No. 10 American Legion Honda, Alex Palou with Chip Ganassi Racing won the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America on June 18. Palou overcame a bad wreck just before qualifications on Saturday to take the lead from Josef Newgarden on lap 49 Sunday and pull away, winning the 55-lap road course race by 4.5610 seconds.“It’s been an amazing weekend, great comeback, and another win for The American Legion ‘Be the One,’” Palou said in Victory Lane. “I cannot thank the team and the sponsors enough.”With the win, Palou picked up a $10,000 bonus that is split with Chip Ganassi Racing and his chosen charity, The American Legion, as part of the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge.  Stay tuned: The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on July 2. And learn more about the Legion’s

For the 2023 membership year, Legionnaires have recruited 76,673 new traditional members at the post level, beating American Legion National Commander Vincent J. “Jim” Troiola’s goal of 75,000.  “I’ve had no doubt that when a task is set forth before our Legionnaires, that they will succeed. And this growth in new traditional membership is proof,” Troiola said. “I am proud of the efforts by Legionnaires nationwide to ensure veterans have camaraderie and a place to continue their service. These 76,673 new Legionnaires now have a voice on Capitol Hill to ensure the best health care and benefits are afforded to veterans. They can help ‘Be the One’ to save the life of a veteran and end veteran suicide. They can help shape future leaders through our Americanism programs. And they can serve their community alongside their fellow brothers and sisters. “I know the recruiting efforts of our members for 2023

When Dean Erck returned home from The American Legion’s 103rd national convention in Milwaukee last August, he turned his focus to how he and his Legion post could answer National Commander Vincent J. “Jim” Troiola’s call to “Be the One.” “Just like the race car at the national level, (John B. Lyman American Legion Post 904 in Alexandria Bay, N.Y.) was going to draw eyes to the issue to try to destigmatize someone struggling asking for help,” said Erck, Post 904 adjutant. To answer the call to Be the One, Post 904 recently held a VA S.A.V.E. training class at the post home. The acronym stands for:S - Signs of suicidal thinking should be recognized.A - Ask the most important question of all, “Are you thinking of killing yourself?” V - Validate the veteran’s experience.E - Encourage treatment and expedite getting help.“The training reviews the scope of veteran suicide within

The day’s drizzly weather had moved on as softball supporters from around the area arrived at Sunny Vale Softball Complex in Wausau, Wis., on June 13, eager to see a bit of history.“It’s definitely a big talk of the town right now, which is great,” said Claire Coushman, an incoming senior at Wausau East High School and a member of the first Legion Softball team sponsored by the city’s Montgomery-Plant-Dudley American Legion Post 10.This year is the first season for the Department of Wisconsin’s Legion Softball program. But the program has been in the works for awhile.“Coming out of COVID, hearing all the (success) stories from North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, I thought it was maybe time we try (a Legion Softball program),” said Roger Mathison, the department’s state commissioner for Legion Baseball and Legion Softball.We’ve had a lot of success with the baseball (program),” Department Commander Julie Muhle said. “There

Brian Keaton Sr. served in the U.S. Army from 1993 to 2015 before being critically injured by a bomb while deployed to Iraq. His injuries forced him to spend more than three years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Around six years later Keaton started American Legion Post 62 in Moneta, Va., as a way to continue his service and show his community what veterans are capable of doing. His effort has been a success; the post already has nearly 120 members, with another 25 set to sign up later this summer. “This is a mission from God for me. I needed a good mission,” said Keaton, a vice commander with the post. “We’re trying to show our town we’re not broken. We’re back. We went to the greatest leadership school in the world: the United States military. And we’re here to be a light in our community

American Legion Post 129 in Pleasure Island, N.C., hosted its annual Flag Day event for youth ages 6-12 on June 14. The children recited the Pledge of Allegiance, learned the history of the flag and watched a flag-folding demonstration and retirement ceremony. The children also participated in painting their own flag on a small canvas. “The pavilion was full of young little artists doing their best to paint the American flag,” said Post 129 Commander Tiffany "TAB" Bryan. “You could see the pride they each had with their own piece of art.”After painting the flag, the children received a red, white and blue popsicle. “Hence the name ‘slurp and paint!,” Bryan said. “The sergeant at arms prepared the flag for proper burning while I read off the retiring procedures,” she added. “The children were in awe as the flag went up in flames and asked questions about the procedures and flag

Some 50,000 medically retired veterans would receive increased service-related payments under a bill advanced Wednesday for a House vote by the chamber’s Armed Services Committee.The Major Richard Star Act would allow veterans medically retired from the military for combat-related injuries before serving 20 years to receive full retirement pay and disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The measure was passed by the House Armed Services Committee by unanimous voice vote just before the committee took up the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, the annual bill that sets Congress' policy and spending priorities for the Pentagon.Under current law, veterans who are medically retired for service-related injuries before 20 years and received a less than 50% disability rating from the VA are forced to forfeit a portion of their benefits. The Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit advocacy group, estimated those dollar-for-dollar offsets between military retirement pay and VA disability

July 1 is the next “Be the One Days” – a resolution passed by the National Executive Committee during the American Legion’s Spring Meetings in May that calls on Legion Family members to gear up and bring awareness to the Legion’s Be the One veteran suicide prevention initiative on the first day of every month.Resolution 13 urges Legion Family members to wear a Be the One item on the first day of every month to show their commitment to reducing the stigma around mental health issues among veterans and servicemembers. The other goal is to start a conversation about what Be the One is and how to save the life of a veteran. Legion posts should also promote Be the One on the first day of every month.  Leading candidate for 2023-2024 Department of Arkansas Commander Patrick "Doc" Phillips and his wife Jammie showed their Be the One Days support on June 1 by taking a

Dear American Legion Family Members and Friends,During my travels around this great nation of ours, I have been awestruck by the outpouring of support for The American Legion Be the One initiative. American Legion posts have rallied to the campaign to reduce the rate of suicide among veterans and servicemembers. They have held symposiums and other awareness events, conducted hikes and walks, and reached out to their comrades who may be struggling. These are all wonderful ways to support Be the One by raising awareness.For posts that have not started yet, there are plenty of resources available at The American Legion’s dedicated web page for this campaign. Review and download resources here. Staff will continue to update this page and create additional materials. If there is something you don’t see available, email your idea to the Media & Communications staff.Another available resource is from our partners at the Department of

Matthew Paul was as in a building across the street from the World Trade Center while working for Verizon on Sept. 11, 2001. The now nearly 20-year member of Sons of The American Legion Squadron 13 in Bennington, Vt., remembers vividly what he witnessed. And those memories are why Paul worked diligently over the past two years to return to her family the cremains of a woman killed on that same day at the Pentagon. On June 16, Paul was on hand for a small, private ceremony at Kenneth H. Nash DC Post No. 8 in Washington D.C., where the cremains of Carolyn Halmon were returned to her husband, Vietnam War combat veteran Herman Halmon. The couple had been married nearly 30 years before Carolyn was killed while working as a budget analyst in the Office of the Secretary of the Army. Paul, who lives in Fairfield, Ct., knew what

Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors can now report incidents of sexual assault or sexual harassment at VA facilities by calling 1-800-MyVA411 (1-800-698-2411, option 9).   Whenever someone calls the hotline, they will be able to confidentially report incidents of sexual assault or harassment that occur at VA facilities. The call center will be ready to answer the phones 24/7, and follow-up health care and support will also be made available to those in need. This new capability is part of VA’s “no wrong door” reporting policy for sexual assault or sexual harassment. Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors are also encouraged to report incidents of sexual harassment or sexual assault as soon as they occur, including while they are still at the VA facility. These incidents can be reported directly to VA police, VA staff, or local law enforcement, and now

In a very personal and emotional testimony before a House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (HVAC) subcommittee, Tiffany Ellett shared her own experiences losing friends and loved ones to suicide, why it’s so critical to stem this tide in the veteran community and beyond, and how The American Legion is working toward that goal.Addressing HVAC’s Subcommittee on Health on June 21, The American Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Division director named four people close to her who have taken their own lives in the past three years, including two veterans. “Mental health and suicide do not just affect one community in one way,” Ellett said as she teared up. “This is a complex problem that needs a multifaced solution. We, as a society, need to do better.”Ellett shared 2021 statistics from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that show an estimated 12.3 million adults in the U.S. seriously considered

The American Legion Training Tuesday session June 27 will welcome Scott French, a veteran who found a unique path to healing through Diamond Dallas Page Yoga (DDPY).French will share his journey and insights on how physical fitness can be used to support mental health resilience. After suffering from a blown lumbar, fused spine and impending knee replacement, French was left physically and mentally broken. However, with the help of DDPY, he was able to regain control of his life and establish the DDPY Tiger Battalion, which encourages regular workouts to improve mental health.We hope his story will inspire you toward mental and physical resilience. Join us at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, June 27 at this link to hear from French on ways to improve your overall well-being.

Jackson E. McGill, like so many of his generation, did not talk much about it. His time as an Army Air Force radio operator and mechanic in the European Theater of World War II was largely a puzzle that members of his family have never fully put together, more than two decades after his death. A tangible piece of that puzzle arrived Monday, June 19, on what would have been the former staff sergeant’s 100th birthday. McGill’s dog tag, discovered in a garden in northern France some 30 years ago, was presented to the family in a ceremony near his grave at Maplewood Cemetery in Anderson, Ind. The repatriation attracted state officials, American Legion representatives and other veterans, as well as Indianapolis media. “I am a veteran myself,” said American Legion Department of France Vice Commander Valerie Prehoda, a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, after presenting the dog tag

Task Force Movement (TFM) Vice Chairman Dan Kunze is this week’s special guest on The American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast.Supported by the White House since its inception in April 2022, TFM works to connect veterans and the military community with jobs in the trucking sector and cybersecurity industry. TFM was formed to combat the supply-chain issues brought on by the pandemic. (More on Task Force Movement.)“The Biden-Harris administration was trying to solve the problems of jobs and the supply chain industry specific to trucking,” said Kunze, an officer in the Army Reserves. “COVID-19 proved to us how critical our supply chain was. It proved to us how critical our supply chain is. And it also proved to us how undervalued we were treating our folks who get our goods from one place to the other.”More than 500 veterans have been awarded free scholarships, and more than 130 employers participate in

1.   The United States and China may be back to talking at a high level, but their battle for global power and influence remains unchecked and mutual suspicion still runs deep. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken set low goals for his visit to Beijing this week, and he met them. About the most the rivals can hope for these days is to stop things getting much worse. Blinken pointed to difficult days ahead, while China’s foreign ministry warned the relationship was in a downward spiral.2.   The commander of the closest U.S. fighter base to North Korea received a final salute from his troops Tuesday as he relinquished his two-year post during a ceremony at Osan Air Base. Air Force Col. Joshua Wood transferred command of the 51st Fighter Wing to Col. William McKibban and departed for Georgia, where he will retire from military service to become a commercial pilot, wing spokeswoman 1st Lt.

There is no doubt who the hottest driver in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is right now. And his results have helped Chip Ganassi Racing’s (CGR) Alex Palou continue to elevate the public’s knowledge of The American Legion’s “Be the One” suicide-prevention initiative.Over his past four races – three of those in the No. 10 American Legion Honda – Palou has picked up three wins and a fourth-place finish. His most recent effort was an impressive victory Sunday in the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR. Palou overcame a bad wreck just before qualifications on Saturday to take the lead from Josef Newgarden on lap 49 Sunday and pull away, winning the 55-lap road course race by 4.5610 seconds.“What an amazing job by these guys and girls,” Palou said in Victory Lane while motioning to CGR’s No. 10 Honda crew. “It’s been an amazing weekend, great comeback, and

The U.S. House Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing Wednesday, June 21, regarding a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiative similar to The American Legion’s Be the One campaign.American Legion Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Director Tiffany Ellett will be among those testifying on a series of bills, including H.R. 1639, the VA Zero Suicide Demonstration Act of 2023. The legislation would direct the VA secretary to establish the Zero Suicide Initiative pilot program.The program instructs the VA secretary to implement a curriculum developed by the Zero Suicide Institute of the Education Development Center. It lays out a comprehensive 10-week program that includes training at the Zero Suicide Academy, mandates data collection for continuous quality improvement, and focuses on enhancing the skills of the staff dealing with patients at risk of suicide.The American Legion supports HR 1639 through Resolution 20, Suicide Prevention Program, approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC)

Greetings, Sons of The American Legion,The July 1 target date for Consolidated Squadron Report (CSR) recognition for squadrons and detachments at the 51st National Convention in Charlotte is fast approaching. The CSR is an important recognition of the work done within your detachments. We thank all of you for the hard work you and your squadrons have done and continue to do this year. We also want to recognize you all for your success supporting the programs of The American Legion. I am very interested in each squadron getting credit for what they are doing daily in their communities for the good of our veterans and their families. As of June 13, we have received and recorded 450 CSRs from our 5,874 Sons of The American Legion squadrons for a completion rate of 7.7%. Many detachments established a deadline of mid-June for 100 percent CSR reporting to the detachment, and

The American Legion Department of New Jersey held a Buddy Check/Be the One 1K Suicide Awareness Walk on June 7 during its department convention in Wildwood. Legion Family members walked along the Wildwoods Boardwalk that is lined with shops and visitors. The walk “was good, and we got the message across,” said Chuck Robbins, past New Jersey National Executive Committeeman. “We had good publicity and definitely adding Be the One to it this year made a huge difference.”The day before the walk, department members conducted two Buddy Checks – one was on Harry Weimar, who was a seven-time Wildwood Post 184 commander and just arrived home from the hospital for diabetes and heart issues. Department leadership visited Weimar at his house. “The whole neighborhood was there and his family. He was speechless and very appreciative,” Robbins said. Weimar had been instrumental over the years in helping with the department convention and assisting hurricane victims.

1.     Listen to the story of how unmanned warfare beganOn this week’s Tango Alpha Lima podcast episode, American Legion members Alec Bierbauer and Mark Cooter discuss their book, “Never Mind, We’ll Do It Ourselves,” the story behind the origins of the Predator drone program and the dawn of unmanned warfare.The book is a firsthand account told by an Air Force team leader and a CIA team leader that takes readers into the back offices and secret government hangars where the robotic revolution went from a mad scientist idea to a pivotal part of global air power. The story reveals the often-conflicting perspectives between the defense and intelligence communities and puts the reader inside places like the CIA’s counterterrorism center on the morning of 9/11. Through the eyes of the men and women who lived it, “readers will experience the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the evolution of a program from

Veterans will get a cost-of-living boost on their benefit payments next year equal to the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment now that President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill into law Wednesday requiring the raise.The Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2023 directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to boost compensation for service-disabled veterans and the families of fallen service members by providing a cost-of-living adjustment equal to the Social Security increase. Biden signed the bill at the White House after it was passed unanimously in the House on May 23 and the Senate on March 30.The law comes after veterans and Social Security recipients saw the largest COLA boost in decades last year, when the Social Security Administration and VA approved an 8.7% raise for this year due to high inflation rates last year.Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., applauded Biden’s signing the bill that he and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.,

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced June 16 that its police officers will begin to use in-car and body-worn cameras. All VA police officers will be using body-worn and in-car cameras by the end of 2023, beginning with police officers in VA's Desert Pacific Healthcare Network on June 20.The cameras will automatically record video and audio when an officer draws their issued firearm from their duty belt holster or when an officer activates the emergency lights in their police vehicle. Officers will also manually turn on their body cameras when conducting investigations and during enforcement encounters. In-car cameras will be turned on for traffic stops, calls for service and while transporting those in custody.VA has taken steps to ensure that the use of these cameras does not infringe upon the privacy of those who use their services or VA employees. VA police officers and privacy officers are undergoing extensive training to