Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
National Grassroots Conference
Good morning to all departments of the Western Region.
First I want to thank you for your dedicated work in membership. We continue to hold a competitive edge over our Southern Region brothers and sisters in terms of membership. We still have a ways to go to be the leader of the pack, but I sincerely believe the West is the Best, and will continue to support you. Please feel free to contact me if you should need anything at all.
I also want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May the new year bring you renewed passion for the world’s greatest and largest Veteran Service Organization.
Allow me to be a bit philosophical for the moment: it was taught to me that no matter of our success, we shall continue to learn and better ourselves in whatever our endeavors maybe. With that said, there is a wonderful upcoming opportunity for all of us to sharpen our skills and rejuvenate our minds.
This year’s National Grassroots Conference will be February 4-7, 2009 - Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club - St. Petersburg, FL. There are a range of topics you may find interesting. Such as:
- (Re)Building Your Grassroots Program
- How to Write Effective Messages
- Ethics & Transparency in Grassroots
- Finding & Training Your Key Contacts
- Speed Networking
- Web 2.0/Social Media Crash Course
- Grassroots and Diversity
- Effectively Involving Your Senior Management
- Integrating CSR and Grassroots Strategies
- Prioritizing Issues and Managing Demands
- Association Grassroots Management
- Grassroots Communication
- Embracing Social Media
As you can see, there is something for everyone there. I have always heard that volunteer management is difficult, and our most profound challenge is to motivate and utilize our dedicated workers effectively. I believe this conference will give you some ideas and help you with your work at the department level.
To view a complete agenda please go to http://pac.org/conferences/grassroots/agenda
You can also visit http://pac.org/conferences/grassroots/registration for registration information. Note: we are not a member of the Public Affairs Council and will have to pay the non-member registration fee if attending.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
First I want to thank you for your dedicated work in membership. We continue to hold a competitive edge over our Southern Region brothers and sisters in terms of membership. We still have a ways to go to be the leader of the pack, but I sincerely believe the West is the Best, and will continue to support you. Please feel free to contact me if you should need anything at all.
I also want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May the new year bring you renewed passion for the world’s greatest and largest Veteran Service Organization.
Allow me to be a bit philosophical for the moment: it was taught to me that no matter of our success, we shall continue to learn and better ourselves in whatever our endeavors maybe. With that said, there is a wonderful upcoming opportunity for all of us to sharpen our skills and rejuvenate our minds.
This year’s National Grassroots Conference will be February 4-7, 2009 - Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club - St. Petersburg, FL. There are a range of topics you may find interesting. Such as:
- (Re)Building Your Grassroots Program
- How to Write Effective Messages
- Ethics & Transparency in Grassroots
- Finding & Training Your Key Contacts
- Speed Networking
- Web 2.0/Social Media Crash Course
- Grassroots and Diversity
- Effectively Involving Your Senior Management
- Integrating CSR and Grassroots Strategies
- Prioritizing Issues and Managing Demands
- Association Grassroots Management
- Grassroots Communication
- Embracing Social Media
As you can see, there is something for everyone there. I have always heard that volunteer management is difficult, and our most profound challenge is to motivate and utilize our dedicated workers effectively. I believe this conference will give you some ideas and help you with your work at the department level.
To view a complete agenda please go to http://pac.org/conferences/grassroots/agenda
You can also visit http://pac.org/conferences/grassroots/registration for registration information. Note: we are not a member of the Public Affairs Council and will have to pay the non-member registration fee if attending.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Monday, December 15, 2008
Eligiblity question:
I received an email today regarding the eligibility of Lebanon and Grenada veterans. apparently there are some confusions... here is my reply, with some research, i think will benefit you in case you are being asked the same questions...
Here is the original message:
"Maybe I am looking in the wrong areas but when I look for eligibility for the Grenada area, it either don't show up or I see a statement such as "Congress has not enacted legislation that would make the periods covering the 1983-1984 Lebanon crisis or the invasions of Grenada and Panama wartime service.92". Can you link me to something or send me a congress act which declares this as a wartime? I guess I am one of them stubborn ones that just have to see it in writing somewhere. You attention to this is appreciated. ....And "Merry Christmas" to You and all your Staff!"
In effect, Lebanon and Grenada are not Congressionally declared wars. Since the Constitution of the United States divides the war powers of the federal government between the Executive and Legislative branches: the President is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces (Article II, section 2), while Congress has the power to make declarations of war, and to raise and support the armed forces (Article I, section 8). Over time, questions arose as to the extent of the President's authority to deploy U.S. armed forces into hostile situations abroad without a declaration of war or some other form of Congressional approval. Congress passed the War Powers Resolution of 1973 in the aftermath of the Vietnam War to address these concerns and provide a set of procedures for both the President and Congress to follow in situations where the introduction of U.S. forces abroad could lead to their involvement in armed conflict.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 is a United States federal law providing that the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or if the United States is already under attack or serious threat. The War Powers Resolution requires that the president notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war.
After Republican President Ronald W. Reagan dispatched U.S. Marines to Lebanon in 1982, he reported to Congress, along the lines mandated in the War Powers Act. With a Republican majority in the Senate but a substantial Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, Reagan's military initiative encountered considerable opposition in Congress, resulting in persistent challenges to the deployment of troops in Beirut. The congressional challenges, motivated primarily by narrowly partisan political considerations, weakened and undermined the Reagan Presidency's negotiating position with Syria and with the various warring political factions in Lebanon, thereby making the situation in which the Marines were involved a whole lot more dangerous than it would been in the absence of congressional challenges.
In late 1983, however, congressional leaders worked out a compromise authorizing the President to keep the Marines in Lebanon for a period of eighteen months. Approved by the two houses of Congress, the compromise was sent to the President for his signature.
In other military actions initiated by President Reagan, he proceeded without invoking the War Powers Act and, in general, acted as if his military initiatives did not require congressional authorization in advance. A notable example was the U.S. invasion of Grenada on October 25, 1983. Seeing a serious threat to American national interests in the southern Caribbean region, Regan had the National Security Council and Joint Chiefs of Staff draw up a plan for the U.S. military operation in Grenada, explained the situation to Democratic House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, and informed him of the presidential decision that had already been made, as regards what was to be done about the situation. Speaker O'Neill, top leader of the overwhelming Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, indicated that, if the Grenada mission turned sour, Congress would not accept responsibility for the fiasco, that responsibility for the disaster (and its attendant political costs) would be borne either by the President alone or by the President and the Republican Party. Accepting responsibility for the operation, Reagan sent U.S. military forces to Grenada, effecting liberation of the small island nation from the Marxist-Leninist (Communist), pro-Cuban dictatorship that had been established through a coup d'etat.
Shortly after the American invasion of Grenada had begun, all resistance was overcome, since the greater part of the Grenadan population welcomed the invading forces as liberators. A rapid sequence of events ensued: U.S. citizens were safely evacuated from the island, the Cuban agents and so called "construction workers" (in reality, heavily armed and well trained paramilitary personnel) were expelled, the despotic Marxist- Leninist regime was overthrown, and a political coalition committed to democratic elections and more favorably disposed toward American interests was allowed to assume governing authority. Faced with a fait accompli, the U.S. Congress, after the fact, applied the War Powers Act, declining to grant an extension to the 60-day time limit and, in effect, requiring U.S. military forces to be removed from Grenada no later than December 25, 1983. However, the U.S. troops did not leave Grenada until June, 1985.
Therefore, the mechanism was there to enact the War Powers Resolution to justify Lebanon and Grenada, President Regan, however, did not fulfill his executive duties in compliance with Congress to resolve the conflict.
The Department of VA at this time does not recognize Servicemembers of this conflict to be eligible for wartime benefits. Therefore, The American Legion in support of our fellow veterans and recognizing their sacrifices, at the 19th Convention, passed a resolution to recognize operations in these countries. Please visit http://www.legion.org/documents/resolutions/08n124.pdf for review of this resolution.
To conclude, please keep in mind that The American Legion, although federally chartered, is a grassroots organization guided by the collective wisdoms of our membership. While our dates of eligibility reflects Congressionally declared period of war, it is not strictly bounded by congressional actions. Our eligibility dates are solely determined by our membership, amended at times to reflect the need for service to our fellow veterans. Under these conditions, The American Legion has seen fit to expand our eligibility dates to those veterans thereby ensuring their protection under civil engagements.
Here is the original message:
"Maybe I am looking in the wrong areas but when I look for eligibility for the Grenada area, it either don't show up or I see a statement such as "Congress has not enacted legislation that would make the periods covering the 1983-1984 Lebanon crisis or the invasions of Grenada and Panama wartime service.92". Can you link me to something or send me a congress act which declares this as a wartime? I guess I am one of them stubborn ones that just have to see it in writing somewhere. You attention to this is appreciated. ....And "Merry Christmas" to You and all your Staff!"
In effect, Lebanon and Grenada are not Congressionally declared wars. Since the Constitution of the United States divides the war powers of the federal government between the Executive and Legislative branches: the President is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces (Article II, section 2), while Congress has the power to make declarations of war, and to raise and support the armed forces (Article I, section 8). Over time, questions arose as to the extent of the President's authority to deploy U.S. armed forces into hostile situations abroad without a declaration of war or some other form of Congressional approval. Congress passed the War Powers Resolution of 1973 in the aftermath of the Vietnam War to address these concerns and provide a set of procedures for both the President and Congress to follow in situations where the introduction of U.S. forces abroad could lead to their involvement in armed conflict.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 is a United States federal law providing that the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or if the United States is already under attack or serious threat. The War Powers Resolution requires that the president notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war.
After Republican President Ronald W. Reagan dispatched U.S. Marines to Lebanon in 1982, he reported to Congress, along the lines mandated in the War Powers Act. With a Republican majority in the Senate but a substantial Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, Reagan's military initiative encountered considerable opposition in Congress, resulting in persistent challenges to the deployment of troops in Beirut. The congressional challenges, motivated primarily by narrowly partisan political considerations, weakened and undermined the Reagan Presidency's negotiating position with Syria and with the various warring political factions in Lebanon, thereby making the situation in which the Marines were involved a whole lot more dangerous than it would been in the absence of congressional challenges.
In late 1983, however, congressional leaders worked out a compromise authorizing the President to keep the Marines in Lebanon for a period of eighteen months. Approved by the two houses of Congress, the compromise was sent to the President for his signature.
In other military actions initiated by President Reagan, he proceeded without invoking the War Powers Act and, in general, acted as if his military initiatives did not require congressional authorization in advance. A notable example was the U.S. invasion of Grenada on October 25, 1983. Seeing a serious threat to American national interests in the southern Caribbean region, Regan had the National Security Council and Joint Chiefs of Staff draw up a plan for the U.S. military operation in Grenada, explained the situation to Democratic House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, and informed him of the presidential decision that had already been made, as regards what was to be done about the situation. Speaker O'Neill, top leader of the overwhelming Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, indicated that, if the Grenada mission turned sour, Congress would not accept responsibility for the fiasco, that responsibility for the disaster (and its attendant political costs) would be borne either by the President alone or by the President and the Republican Party. Accepting responsibility for the operation, Reagan sent U.S. military forces to Grenada, effecting liberation of the small island nation from the Marxist-Leninist (Communist), pro-Cuban dictatorship that had been established through a coup d'etat.
Shortly after the American invasion of Grenada had begun, all resistance was overcome, since the greater part of the Grenadan population welcomed the invading forces as liberators. A rapid sequence of events ensued: U.S. citizens were safely evacuated from the island, the Cuban agents and so called "construction workers" (in reality, heavily armed and well trained paramilitary personnel) were expelled, the despotic Marxist- Leninist regime was overthrown, and a political coalition committed to democratic elections and more favorably disposed toward American interests was allowed to assume governing authority. Faced with a fait accompli, the U.S. Congress, after the fact, applied the War Powers Act, declining to grant an extension to the 60-day time limit and, in effect, requiring U.S. military forces to be removed from Grenada no later than December 25, 1983. However, the U.S. troops did not leave Grenada until June, 1985.
Therefore, the mechanism was there to enact the War Powers Resolution to justify Lebanon and Grenada, President Regan, however, did not fulfill his executive duties in compliance with Congress to resolve the conflict.
The Department of VA at this time does not recognize Servicemembers of this conflict to be eligible for wartime benefits. Therefore, The American Legion in support of our fellow veterans and recognizing their sacrifices, at the 19th Convention, passed a resolution to recognize operations in these countries. Please visit http://www.legion.org/documents/resolutions/08n124.pdf for review of this resolution.
To conclude, please keep in mind that The American Legion, although federally chartered, is a grassroots organization guided by the collective wisdoms of our membership. While our dates of eligibility reflects Congressionally declared period of war, it is not strictly bounded by congressional actions. Our eligibility dates are solely determined by our membership, amended at times to reflect the need for service to our fellow veterans. Under these conditions, The American Legion has seen fit to expand our eligibility dates to those veterans thereby ensuring their protection under civil engagements.
New GI Bill info
The American Legion's new GI Bill website now has an interactive function, a map of state by state benefits... you can click on teh map and see if there are any specific benefits you are entitled as a veteran other than the GI Bill.
click here to learn more
click here to learn more
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
ProCam (aka PlaceCam) review
Yesterday I sat in on The American Legion Department of Colorado’s regular Monday night ProCam (formally known as PlaceCam) meeting…
The meeting was hosted at 6:30 Mountain Time, 8:30 Eastern Standard Time.
Meeting was hosted by The American Legion Department of Colorado Commander, Gar Williams, from a remote location (hotel in KY). Participants included Past National Commander Tom Bock, Department Vice Commander Frank McCurdy, Department Adjutant Pat Smith, Robb Smith, Tony DuMosch, James Gates, James Park, Larry Decker…
Including myself, there are 10 users online for video conference… the meeting took off with some glitches, with this many users the video feeds acted funny… Larry wasn’t able to log on since he was located in a hotel with unstable internet connection, and when he is online, his video feed was frozen. Commander Gar also dialed-in from a hotel, but his connection seemed fine and he was able to conduct the meeting for the most part, until his video feed also crashed…
For those of us using a dedicated high speed connection, we had very little problems with the video… in fact, some of our videos were smooth and of solid quality…
Over all, it took us 30 minutes to just get set up for everyone to log on, and hold a steady connection… we eventually had to let Larry call from a cell phone, but he was able to relate his message…
It was refreshing to be able to attending a department meeting from the comfort of my home, however, observing many of the glitches and troubles with log-on, I believe ProCam (aka PlaceCam) still has a long way to go from being a solid product… I encourage you all to use it and give me feedback on how your experiences goes… you can download a copy of this and register for use at http://www.legion.networkcb.com/
To clarify the difference between the new VetCam and ProCam… VetCam is for every legionnaire to use and for all servicemembers and their families… it only allows (MAX) three users to interact at once… so you are only able to call two others… however, there is no download for VetCam and it has minimum user interface so there are no significant bugs at this moment we have noticed…
With ProCam, it is offered to post, district, and departments as a meeting tool… it is suppose to be able to carry more than 10 users all at once, but we have noticed that anything more than five or seven users, depending on your connection, things slow down quite a bit… also if everyone is not using a headphone, echo is a hug problem…
That’s it for now…
The meeting was hosted at 6:30 Mountain Time, 8:30 Eastern Standard Time.
Meeting was hosted by The American Legion Department of Colorado Commander, Gar Williams, from a remote location (hotel in KY). Participants included Past National Commander Tom Bock, Department Vice Commander Frank McCurdy, Department Adjutant Pat Smith, Robb Smith, Tony DuMosch, James Gates, James Park, Larry Decker…
Including myself, there are 10 users online for video conference… the meeting took off with some glitches, with this many users the video feeds acted funny… Larry wasn’t able to log on since he was located in a hotel with unstable internet connection, and when he is online, his video feed was frozen. Commander Gar also dialed-in from a hotel, but his connection seemed fine and he was able to conduct the meeting for the most part, until his video feed also crashed…
For those of us using a dedicated high speed connection, we had very little problems with the video… in fact, some of our videos were smooth and of solid quality…
Over all, it took us 30 minutes to just get set up for everyone to log on, and hold a steady connection… we eventually had to let Larry call from a cell phone, but he was able to relate his message…
It was refreshing to be able to attending a department meeting from the comfort of my home, however, observing many of the glitches and troubles with log-on, I believe ProCam (aka PlaceCam) still has a long way to go from being a solid product… I encourage you all to use it and give me feedback on how your experiences goes… you can download a copy of this and register for use at http://www.legion.networkcb.com/
To clarify the difference between the new VetCam and ProCam… VetCam is for every legionnaire to use and for all servicemembers and their families… it only allows (MAX) three users to interact at once… so you are only able to call two others… however, there is no download for VetCam and it has minimum user interface so there are no significant bugs at this moment we have noticed…
With ProCam, it is offered to post, district, and departments as a meeting tool… it is suppose to be able to carry more than 10 users all at once, but we have noticed that anything more than five or seven users, depending on your connection, things slow down quite a bit… also if everyone is not using a headphone, echo is a hug problem…
That’s it for now…
COMMUNICATION SURVEY
If you have a second, please take this survey... it's a communication audit conducted by the national headuqarters...
thank you
CLICK HERE
thank you
CLICK HERE
Web users' privacy and security
From Bill's last post, i feel that we should blog a little bit about some standard web user inforamtion to protect our user's privacy and security... i have also included some American Legion social networks in the blog, (you can click on the blue links to visit TAL myspace, facebook, and flickr accounts...)
Website security is critical to the protection of our members’ privacy. There are a lot of ‘bots’ out there doing massive crawls searching and tapping and extracting information from servers, remote hosts, proxies, etc., and using the information for future spam emails…
That is why when your post or department enter into the social networks, such as MySpace, Facebook, or Flickr (a photo sharing site), you may want to consider the following security measures:
- Do not input your actual birthday… with a name and birthday, I can find most of the relevant information on you from various search engines and list servers. With that information, I can socially engineer a situation to obtain your SSN… that’s bad since with these information, I can now apply a credit card in your name… so DO NOT use your real birthday!!!
- Do not input your address or actual phone numbers… there are a lot of crawl-bots on the web that identifies these information, and capture them and turn it over to a list server for direct solicitation purposes… unless you want to get mail and emails about Viagra, you do not want to put your contact information down… if you do please make sure it is set to private.
- You may want to consider setting up a free email just to handle all registration online… a email is free from hotmail.com or google.com
- If you are technological savvy, you can consider an OpenID as a source of your virtual identity… OpenID requires no personal information, but also keeps track of your credentials online so you do not have to sign up for a lot of random useless services… just google the word Open ID and you should be able to find out more…
Website security is critical to the protection of our members’ privacy. There are a lot of ‘bots’ out there doing massive crawls searching and tapping and extracting information from servers, remote hosts, proxies, etc., and using the information for future spam emails…
That is why when your post or department enter into the social networks, such as MySpace, Facebook, or Flickr (a photo sharing site), you may want to consider the following security measures:
- Do not input your actual birthday… with a name and birthday, I can find most of the relevant information on you from various search engines and list servers. With that information, I can socially engineer a situation to obtain your SSN… that’s bad since with these information, I can now apply a credit card in your name… so DO NOT use your real birthday!!!
- Do not input your address or actual phone numbers… there are a lot of crawl-bots on the web that identifies these information, and capture them and turn it over to a list server for direct solicitation purposes… unless you want to get mail and emails about Viagra, you do not want to put your contact information down… if you do please make sure it is set to private.
- You may want to consider setting up a free email just to handle all registration online… a email is free from hotmail.com or google.com
- If you are technological savvy, you can consider an OpenID as a source of your virtual identity… OpenID requires no personal information, but also keeps track of your credentials online so you do not have to sign up for a lot of random useless services… just google the word Open ID and you should be able to find out more…
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Review Traffic Statistics
Every week, I review the traffic statistics for our Department's Website. The traffic statistics are one tool for reviewing how well the site is serving the community. I study what pages people visit the most, which tells me what they want. It also means these pages need to hold the attention of the visitor, and bring them pack to the site.
I also look at the search engine results, to see what visitors want to find. It is a clue as to areas of improvement. For example, there a number searches for baseball. I also look at referrer statistics, as they tell me what pages are important to other sites. For example, our site has a number of links to our Highway Fatality Marker program.
The statistics tell a story. We just need to read the story. When reading the story, I also look for potential security problems. This morning I noticed something I had not seen before on our site. There were search patterns that were attempting to harvest email address.
Protecting the site and the data on the site is one of my hot buttons. As part of an on-line membership project, I have been building a MySQL database for contact information. This database is not accessible from a remote site. I am moving in the direction of dynamically generating all rosters and post information from this database. Consequently, none of the pages on the site will actually contain any contact information. All such information will be dynamically generated. Furthermore, it will take two or three clicks before the actual contact information appears.
Making our sites better and safer is a never ending task.
Bill Anderson
WebMaster
American Legion of Montana
I also look at the search engine results, to see what visitors want to find. It is a clue as to areas of improvement. For example, there a number searches for baseball. I also look at referrer statistics, as they tell me what pages are important to other sites. For example, our site has a number of links to our Highway Fatality Marker program.
The statistics tell a story. We just need to read the story. When reading the story, I also look for potential security problems. This morning I noticed something I had not seen before on our site. There were search patterns that were attempting to harvest email address.
Protecting the site and the data on the site is one of my hot buttons. As part of an on-line membership project, I have been building a MySQL database for contact information. This database is not accessible from a remote site. I am moving in the direction of dynamically generating all rosters and post information from this database. Consequently, none of the pages on the site will actually contain any contact information. All such information will be dynamically generated. Furthermore, it will take two or three clicks before the actual contact information appears.
Making our sites better and safer is a never ending task.
Bill Anderson
WebMaster
American Legion of Montana
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Major Themes from the NALC Survey
Recently The American Legion conducted a short survey... here are some of the answers...
What do you tell others when they ask you about your membership in The American Legion?
I am a member of “largest and best” organization for U.S. veterans of war time
I describe the many programs and interactions with the community
I am a part of an organizations for veterans, that helps other veterans and builds relationships with veterans
What do you value most about your membership in The American Legion?
Making a difference in the lives of veterans
Building comradeship with other members
Helping the community through Legion programs
What led you to join The American Legion in the first place?
Someone asked me to join
Sought a sense of fellowship and belonging
Family history
Wanted to give back to the veterans and community
Based upon your own experiences, what do members at the local, post level think or say about The American Legion?
They worry about the increasing age of membership, remember the “good old days”
They hold the organization in high regard
They value the contributions they make to the community and the support they provide for one another
They want more interaction and direction from the top
Based upon your own observations, what do others in the local community – non-members – think or say about The American Legion?
·The people who know about the Legion and its programs love it and appreciate all that they do
·The people who don’t know about the Legion believe it is a place for “old guys to drink”
·Many people don’t know the American Legion exists
Thinking of The American Legion’s vision for a strong America:
● Strong National Security
● Taking Care of Veterans
● Mentoring Youth
● Promoting Patriotism and Honor
How would you synthesize these four pillars of service into a single, simple paragraphthat explains the Legion’s reason for being? Assume you were writing this for a family member or friend to explain why you are a member of The American Legion.
·Several members described the American Legion as a family who supports each other and supports the four pillars.
·Several members mentioned the American Legion as a continued commitment and service to their country.
·Many members also listed their actions and activities which help fellow veterans, the youth, the community and the country.
Considering the future, what do you think are The American Legion’s three greatest opportunities for growth and recognition at the national level? At the local, post level?
Note: The major opportunities for national and local were often the same.
·Creating cyber posts
·Increasing advertising and public relations
·Increasing membership and membership involvement
·Reaching out to Vietnam veterans
If you have any additional questions please feel free to ask.
I am a member of “largest and best” organization for U.S. veterans of war time
I describe the many programs and interactions with the community
I am a part of an organizations for veterans, that helps other veterans and builds relationships with veterans
Making a difference in the lives of veterans
Building comradeship with other members
Helping the community through Legion programs
Someone asked me to join
Sought a sense of fellowship and belonging
Family history
Wanted to give back to the veterans and community
They worry about the increasing age of membership, remember the “good old days”
They hold the organization in high regard
They value the contributions they make to the community and the support they provide for one another
They want more interaction and direction from the top
·The people who know about the Legion and its programs love it and appreciate all that they do
·The people who don’t know about the Legion believe it is a place for “old guys to drink”
·Many people don’t know the American Legion exists
● Strong National Security
● Taking Care of Veterans
● Mentoring Youth
● Promoting Patriotism and Honor
·Several members described the American Legion as a family who supports each other and supports the four pillars.
·Several members mentioned the American Legion as a continued commitment and service to their country.
·Many members also listed their actions and activities which help fellow veterans, the youth, the community and the country.
·Creating cyber posts
·Increasing advertising and public relations
·Increasing membership and membership involvement
·Reaching out to Vietnam veterans
If you have any additional questions please feel free to ask.
Monday, November 24, 2008
There was a comment posted with regards to virtual posts... i thought that was a great point to discuss here so here are my two cents...
Virtual Post vs. Virtual Community
I recently became aware of many legionnaires, posts, districts, and departments wanting to test out the idea of a “virtual post”. Florida has actually put together one of these and you can visit one of them at http://post401.ning.com/
You can also visit the following virtual posts hosted on ning.com:
Colorado Department virtual community: http://colegion.ning.com/
DC Post 1 http://americanlegionpost1.ning.com/
And http://americanlegionpost133.ning.com/
There are a few things to remember when you are planning and executing a virtual post:
- It is not a virtual post alone. If you strictly focus your effort on reaching members online it will be difficult. If you combine your virtual tools with a visible community presence, your virtual post will be successful with a reinforced purpose from the grassroots activities your post carry… this is why we are encouraging these different virtual posts to carry visible initiatives to enhance their virtual outreach… DC post 1 has done poker games, bike rides, golf outings… this combined with their various user groups on ning, myspace, facebook, has help their membership to increase.
- Use your virtual post as a way to communicate and lead your members. This is a place where you can update your event calendars, let people know of post involvements in the community, solicit feedbacks, and drive discussions for your post… if your post lack a post home, you can also use the virtual tools to host meetings, contact your members etc…
- Be sure to keep your virtual post site updated frequently… if you post some information and leave it behind, no one will want to be part of it… here is a real life criticism for DC post 1: First impressions now that I’ve transferred in.
“24 hours later no welcome message, not even an automated welcome.
Looks like it was born September 2007 and died November 2007.
Last post in the forums was Nov 2007.
Last meeting was posted as being Dec 6th 2007. And I don’t have a clue how or where the meetings are held.
Post’s MySpace page was last logged into in May.
Total membership appears to be 23.
It’s almost like it doesn’t enjoy much support and is intentionally hidden as it has no mention on National website and isn’t even listed in the post directory. I’m waiting for responses to my e-mails and to see if I actually get a new membership card…stay tuned” --internet user
o From this you can see that even if you have a virtual post, communication is very important to get new members excited about your post…
to conclude, i recommend that you build a virtual post as a tool to help your actual post succeed... you have to build it with some tangable real life purpose.. Department of Colorado built their virtual post to anticipate the new GI Bill intatives and is attempting to combine virtual interactiosn with student veterans outreach.. that is only one of the many great ways to build and sustain a virtual presence for The American Legion
Virtual Post vs. Virtual Community
I recently became aware of many legionnaires, posts, districts, and departments wanting to test out the idea of a “virtual post”. Florida has actually put together one of these and you can visit one of them at http://post401.ning.com/
You can also visit the following virtual posts hosted on ning.com:
Colorado Department virtual community: http://colegion.ning.com/
DC Post 1 http://americanlegionpost1.ning.com/
And http://americanlegionpost133.ning.com/
There are a few things to remember when you are planning and executing a virtual post:
- It is not a virtual post alone. If you strictly focus your effort on reaching members online it will be difficult. If you combine your virtual tools with a visible community presence, your virtual post will be successful with a reinforced purpose from the grassroots activities your post carry… this is why we are encouraging these different virtual posts to carry visible initiatives to enhance their virtual outreach… DC post 1 has done poker games, bike rides, golf outings… this combined with their various user groups on ning, myspace, facebook, has help their membership to increase.
- Use your virtual post as a way to communicate and lead your members. This is a place where you can update your event calendars, let people know of post involvements in the community, solicit feedbacks, and drive discussions for your post… if your post lack a post home, you can also use the virtual tools to host meetings, contact your members etc…
- Be sure to keep your virtual post site updated frequently… if you post some information and leave it behind, no one will want to be part of it… here is a real life criticism for DC post 1: First impressions now that I’ve transferred in.
“24 hours later no welcome message, not even an automated welcome.
Looks like it was born September 2007 and died November 2007.
Last post in the forums was Nov 2007.
Last meeting was posted as being Dec 6th 2007. And I don’t have a clue how or where the meetings are held.
Post’s MySpace page was last logged into in May.
Total membership appears to be 23.
It’s almost like it doesn’t enjoy much support and is intentionally hidden as it has no mention on National website and isn’t even listed in the post directory. I’m waiting for responses to my e-mails and to see if I actually get a new membership card…stay tuned” --internet user
o From this you can see that even if you have a virtual post, communication is very important to get new members excited about your post…
to conclude, i recommend that you build a virtual post as a tool to help your actual post succeed... you have to build it with some tangable real life purpose.. Department of Colorado built their virtual post to anticipate the new GI Bill intatives and is attempting to combine virtual interactiosn with student veterans outreach.. that is only one of the many great ways to build and sustain a virtual presence for The American Legion
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Department Web Sites
Since assuming the duties of WebMaster for American Legion of Montana, I have visited the Web sites of every department. There are two things that stand out:
Bill Anderson
WebMaster
American Legion of Montana
- The number of departments that do not have a Web site. We talk about reaching a younger generation of veterans, yet, we don't communicate in their prefered media. Today's generations views the Internet in the same way that our generation viewed newspapers. It their primary source of information.
- In my tour of department Web sites, I noticed that many were static, and presented out-of-date information. In my view, this is like sitting in a Doctor's waiting room, looking at last year's Newsweek. Information changes, and the Web site needs to change to keep pace.
Bill Anderson
WebMaster
American Legion of Montana
Friday, November 21, 2008
setting the record...
In the last 24 hours of launching W.R.I.T.E.S. I have received some feedbacks from departments unsure if this is for just leadership or for the entire membership of the western regions.
I wanted to remind everyone thinking along that line that the purpose of TAL W.R.I.T.E.S is to open dialogues and have transparent communication between all levels of leadership and volunteers. The purpose is to empower our leaders, our members, our volunteers with knowledge about the organization and its current initiatives as well as relevant technologies that can make their jobs easier…
So I encourage you to let everyone know about this and invite them to contribute… who knows… maybe a good idea from Idaho can help California with some of its challenges or vice versa…
So be open, be honest, share, and help each other to be successful…
Thank you sincerely,
jin
I wanted to remind everyone thinking along that line that the purpose of TAL W.R.I.T.E.S is to open dialogues and have transparent communication between all levels of leadership and volunteers. The purpose is to empower our leaders, our members, our volunteers with knowledge about the organization and its current initiatives as well as relevant technologies that can make their jobs easier…
So I encourage you to let everyone know about this and invite them to contribute… who knows… maybe a good idea from Idaho can help California with some of its challenges or vice versa…
So be open, be honest, share, and help each other to be successful…
Thank you sincerely,
jin
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
DMS 99
There have been some questions regarding the test DMS members this year. As you know, the national headquarters is testing an inhouse DMS to cut cost. all new members solicited through this new DMS will be supressed from the department records. we are sending out the first welcome letter/email to encourage them to transfer to their local posts and bring a copy of their DD214 to verify their eligiblity. if they do not wish to transfer, then we keep them in the DMS99 HQpost and will try to retain them for one year. If you receive calls from individual indicating that they joined recently online or by mail, and you do not have records on them, then they are DMS99 members. Their memebrship card will say they belong to Post (your department code) 99... for example, if i joined online in California, then my card will say CA Post 5 99
let me know if you have any questions...
let me know if you have any questions...
New GI Bill
The American Legion launches the new GI Bill site: www.mygibill.org
this will help you with your student veteran outreaches
this will help you with your student veteran outreaches
TroopTube
www.trooptube.tv
this is a new site from Military One Source. it allows servicememebrs upload videos to share with others... you can create a free account and upload department videos for these servicememebrs to see. it is a free marketing opportunity.
this is a new site from Military One Source. it allows servicememebrs upload videos to share with others... you can create a free account and upload department videos for these servicememebrs to see. it is a free marketing opportunity.
VetCam for Legionnaires and Servicemembers
The American Legion launches VetCam, a free one-on-one video conferencing – to enable you to talk face-to-face with friends and family across town or overseas; one-on-one; or with several people at a time.
Members of The American Legion, as well as members of the United States Armed Forces (active duty, Reserve and National Guard), their families and friends, are welcome to use this complimentary technology to remain connected with those people most important to you.
Visit http://vetcam.ncbintl.com/ for more information.
Members of The American Legion, as well as members of the United States Armed Forces (active duty, Reserve and National Guard), their families and friends, are welcome to use this complimentary technology to remain connected with those people most important to you.
Visit http://vetcam.ncbintl.com/ for more information.
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