Noteboom The Law Firm

A New Approach To Veterans’ Groups For A New Generation Of Veterans

Membership in veterans' groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion is waning across the nation. The younger generation of veterans, such as those from Iraq and Afghanistan are not joining those groups as the previous generations had.

In the last 10 years, the American Legion has closed approximately 2,000 posts. Of those Legion members still active, less than 8% are Gulf Wars veterans. Along the same lines, the VFW closed approximately 100 posts and is down 100,000 members in the last year alone. There are still veterans out there, so it may be a new generation requires a new approach.

The numbers reflect exactly what is happening - the posts nowadays consist of older veterans instead of the younger generations of veterans. There is no digital age among the membership ranks of the Legion and the VFW, and that age is where today's veterans live. Instead, there is an older generation of veterans who have spent years bonding with each other at a bar. The generational gap is too large to overcome for the vast majority of posts, thereby forcing them to fold.

Dryhootch of America (DoA) takes a different approach providing veterans an environment free of alcohol. Bringing veterans together in a supportive, non-enabling environment will hopefully give those veterans more incentive to join.

Substance abuse has become a huge issue among the younger generation of veterans. Self-medication tends to be tied to suicide, another major problem among the younger generation of veterans, along with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. Adding alcohol to that mix only exacerbates the issue. These new posts could provide an alternative for veterans of all wars.