Some VFWs find success recruiting young vets

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Some VFWs find success recruiting young vets
By Kamala Lane - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 11, 2008 21:53:30 EST

ARLINGTON, Va. — Eleven years after he was recruited by the Army, Gabor Nap was courted by another time-honored organization: the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Over the past month, the 31-year-old Iraq War vet was invited to a brunch for recovering wounded veterans, attended a spaghetti social and dressed as the Phantom of the Opera for a Halloween party at the John Lyon VFW post in Arlington.

“They took me around to meet the other members, asked me where I was deployed and how I liked being in the military,” he said. “I liked the way I was greeted.”

Later this week, Nap’s recruiters will applaud as he is inducted into the chapter.

Across the country, the VFW’s ranks have thinned as veterans of World War II and the Korean War pass away. But some places, like the Arlington VFW Post, have managed to buck the trend. They have boosted the number of younger members by actively recruiting at bases, inviting wounded soldiers, and hosting cookouts and Halloween parties. Some acquire mailing lists of returning troops and arrange to meet them when they come home.

“If you don’t recruit, you die,” said Dave Meyers, a Marine and commander of the VFW post in Burke, in northern Virginia.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_vfw_veterans_111008/%2e