The Post has grown this past year if you hadn’t noticed. We’ve added 23 new members which is over 10% of our membership of 201 members last year. Unfortunately, during that same period, we have lost members who have passed and some who simply disappeared so we stand at around 107% of last year’s membership. A number of the new members are Vietnam veterans like myself but we have a fair representation of veterans from every conflict from WWII to Afghanistan. How do we get new members? We have had a fair number of new members reach us through our website but I would say the largest percentage are friends and acquaintances to whom we have reached and invited them to join us. I know I have and it’s interesting that a majority were simply waiting to be asked. I hope you will all reach out to our fellow veterans that you know and extend an invitation to have them join us. As you all know, we don’t have any secret handshakes, code words, or other clever initiation secrets. All we ask is that the member be eligible by way of his or her service overseas and maintain allegiance to the United States of America. Pretty darn simple. So the next time someone says something that indicates they are an eligible veteran, extend an invitation to them to attend our next meeting. We will pick up their lunch tab. One other note for you “old timers” and that is reach out to the newer members and get to know them. We don’t have any cliques in our Post and most everyone just finds a seat at a table but at the next meeting look for an empty seat next to a new member. We can add new members but it’s up to all of us to make them feel welcomed.
