They want YOU, young veterans

Parents and grandparents enjoy a meal with friends while the kids, in a playroom nearby, build Lego structures on a homemade platform or play air hockey and foosball. When the weather gets warmer, club members will return to leisurely sitting outdoors, being serenaded in sweet harmonies of live music and sunshine. This is not Findlay Country Club. This is Amvets Post 21, at 423 Trenton Ave. Post Commander Chris Couchot and the other officers have established a beachhead in the war to reverse a local and nationwide decline of membership in veterans organizations. Veterans groups are having trouble recruiting younger veterans to their ranks, and Amvets is trying different approaches to reverse this trend. 'We need young leaders' "One of the things that is the downfall of most veterans organizations in general is, for the longest time, they revolved everything they did around" — Couchot paused — "the bar." Veterans organizations are seen by young vets as the domain of old folks interested only in drinking, playing cards and keeping their stranglehold on power in the club. True, the number of people in the military has declined in recent decades, meaning a shrinking pool of veterans to recruit. But the old guard at some clubs bears a level of responsibility for declining membership, said Couchot and Nichole Coleman, executive director of the Hancock County Veterans Service Office. At stake is more than leisure and recreation. Shrinking veterans groups can mean shrinking health care, education and disability benefits for veterans and their surviving family members, Coleman said. Veterans groups fund lobbyists who advocate for veterans before lawmakers and agencies in Washington and Columbus. It is important to have engaged, informed and committed veterans in Hancock County to ensure wise spending of county tax dollars for veterans and their families. Members of veterans organizations who are deemed worthy are appointed by local judges to serve on the Hancock County Veterans Service Commission board, Coleman said. "When we have veterans or surviving family members of veterans in our community who have a financial need, they come to our office," Coleman said. "We take the application. We present it to the Veterans Service Commission and then they authorize whatever is appropriate for us to pay on that person's behalf. "We need young leaders to step up in those veterans organizations and be active," she said. But if that young talent pool is going to be tapped, something needs to change. "Most all of them (veterans halls), they kind of fit the old dingy bar. You can tell you are in a military organization because they were all kind of built the same," Couchot said. "And they really haven't updated their building. ... They just really haven't invested back into their infrastructure to make it more inviting and they haven't really necessarily changed their ways to make it more of a family-friendly environment." Many younger veterans simply do not want to just sit in a bar and drink beer, said Couchot, 43, a veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. "They're establishing their family fresh out of the military," Couchot said. "They're trying to establish their professional life outside of the military." Not everyone who belongs to a veterans group does so to drink and tell war stories, Coleman said. Some meet friends at the clubs for lunch or just to chat. At least two of the local posts do not serve alcohol or food, she said. An Air Force veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm in the First Gulf War and in Bosnia in the 1990s, Coleman belongs to all of the local veterans organizations. Her membership with DAV (Disabled American Veterans) enables her to rent the organization's hall for family events at a discount. "I'm not going there to hang out with other veterans and drink," she said. "I'm going there to connect with other disabled veterans and to make sure that our voice is heard locally and nationally." Turning the page Veterans organizations are, however, battling other difficulties besides the bar perception. Fewer World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War era veterans are still alive. The numbers of troops in the military has been declining for decades, which means a declining pool of veterans. Veterans organizations also have a public relations problem. "The younger ones do not want to join a club," said Jodelle Tagliapietra, canteen manager for American Legion Post 3. "They think it's a bunch of 80-, 90-year-olds playing cards and stuff." American Legion, in Findlay, offers its members nine TVs, gambling machines, Keno and a jukebox, she said. Veterans groups have been criticized for a weak marketing strategy: sitting back and waiting for young veterans to walk into their halls and join. When young veterans did show up at the hall, they sometimes were not treated well. Couchot said he was welcomed when he went to the VFW, American Legion and DAV halls in Findlay, but many younger veterans have not been treated well at halls in other cities and states. "A lot of times, their first time going into a VFW, a Legion, an Amvets, they may not have been treated very well or received very well by members that were in there," Couchot said. "You get strange looks. Nobody welcomes you. Nobody comes up and talks to you." Coleman said the veterans groups have a problem that many organizations do, particularly those that rely heavily on volunteers. "Any time you have one generation that is kind of coming into a place where it's their turn to be leaders in a specific space, it is difficult for those who have been the sole leaders in that space for a long time to see someone come in and want to do it differently," she said. "They (older leaders) might have a hundred good reasons why they think it's not going to work that way. What I have seen is the younger veterans take what the older veterans are saying when they're saying, 'That's not going to work. We've done it that way. It didn't work. Here's why it didn't work.' (Younger veterans) take that as obviously strong pushback," Coleman said. "So they don't see the value in continuing to try to invest the time and the leadership skills in helping make some needed changes. "Like in anything that is run by volunteers, you usually have 10% of the people doing 90% of the work, and those 10% of the people right now are Vietnam-aged or Vietnam-era veterans. They're starting to get tired. They're starting to get exhausted." Yet despite their exhaustion, they are reluctant to let go of the reins, Coleman said. What the older veterans need to do is to find a way, or a process, to hand off authority to the next generation and to support and encourage the next generation. Then more young leaders will be willing to step up, she said. Connecting with a community Dissatisfaction with the old veterans organizations has given rise to newer competition: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is free to join and it's "pretty much virtual," Couchot said. "So what these veterans do is, they'll make a Facebook post that says, 'Hey, I'm going to be meeting at X. Whoever wants to come, meet me there. We'll be there on this day and this time,'" he said. "And they will show up." Many veterans do not want to pay dues for membership to a veterans organization, he said. "There's not really a good value proposition, outside of cheap beer and gambling, that veteran service organizations can really articulate what they do within the community," Couchot said. "All of the veteran service organizations do a lot for the community, the country and the state. They just don't explain it. They don't have a good elevator speech in order to attract those people." Coleman encourages veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to join Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America for its focus on their unique needs. But she also urges them to consider joining a local organization, which offers benefits other organizations cannot. "It gives them a way to connect with veterans in their own community," she said. "Almost every veteran I talk to — whether it be in work or at the grocery store — says the thing they miss the most about being in the military is that brotherhood, or that connection, with the people who you serve with. "You're not going to find that in your own community if the only veterans you are connecting with are outside of your community. So by being a member of your local organization, you have an opportunity to know and connect with veterans in your own community who have your back and you can have their back." There's still hope for traditional veterans organizations. A recent study found that it takes about 20 years before a veteran joins an veterans organization, said Bob Driftmyer, finance officer for Findlay Amvets. "They normally have a new family. They're busy with their work. They've got to raise their kids," he said. As the children get older, the veterans have more time. They start reminiscing about the old days and want to get more involved. "So it takes about 20 years," Driftmyer said. 'A fun place to come' Meanwhile, Amvets keeps working at its hospitality so younger veterans will want to join and feel welcome when they show up. "I think we have more things here at the Amvets for young people," said Bill Johns, judge advocate for Findlay Amvets. "We have actually remodeled to make it newer and look more like what they are looking for." Amvets has deployed an air purification system, and it also disinfects with an electrostatic sprayer daily to boost members' safety during the pandemic. Every Saturday, a different organization puts on a meal at Amvets. The lunch special changes daily. An app allows members to check the meal menu, as well as entertainment and event schedules. Biker outings are planned, Johns said. The bluegrass band that showed up on Thursdays before the pandemic will soon be returning. "The place would be packed with people just to sit and listen to bluegrass music," Couchot said. An outdoor bar has been finished and is ready for events like live music. Grassy areas on the grounds were replaced with concrete to allow more seating. "We're trying to make it a fun place to come," Couchot said. "Everything we can do to make it more inviting for people to come." Wilin: 419-427-80