First, my Comrade and brother that is running also is someone that I consider a friend, a brother, and a good man. I believe he has the best intentions for the post. So although I'm sure that most would love to read some mud-slinging, it's just not my way.
When I was asked to run for Junior Vice Commander, I knew the motivations of some of the people that asked me were not about the Post, whether I would do the job, or even whether they liked me or not. But the motivations of those individuals wasn't taken under consideration of why I agreed to run and have the job. Why I ran had nothing to do with wanting a title. I have one at work. It's not all accolades and roses. In fact, it generally is never accolades or roses. Titles might define how others see you, but it's what you have inside that counts. I spent a month tap dancing on my decision after initially asked. Why? Because any title is only as good as the work that is done behind it. Work. Yes, this might be shocking, but a title in a volunteer organization means "work". We're elected to do a job to the best of our ability, and I needed to decide whether I would be willing, do my duty and do the work. The job of Junior Vice is focused on Volunteerism and Community Service. It means showing up and representing the Post at District and State meetings. It means supporting the membership in achieving the most Community Service possible. After deliberation, I decided I could do the job. I played no politics. I'm not about hobnobbing and never will be. As I type this, it looks like we will finish number 1 in our District for Community Service. It gives me great pride in our Post and our Organization as a whole to know how much we do.
In November, several people asked me to run for Post Commander. Each had their reasoning. Those people can attest to the fact that I took no eager beaver jump at the idea. It took me 4 months to decide, because honestly, Post Commander isn't a title. It means considering a lot of things first. Representing us at State and District meetings didn't give me any pause, because I'm already attending those things. How would I get all the Post Line Officers to attend? We get credit for our Line Officers attending, and most of the time only the Commander, Judge, Surgeon and myself attend. Perhaps buying breakfast every time. We'll see. Minor consideration.
The major consideration this year: How do we get people coming back into our Post? We had a mass exodus in the last couple of years. I've listened to all the arguments, and after just sitting and listening to each group, we need to repair the splinters that have been created. Two and a half years ago when I joined, the Post was fun. I became more and more involved because I enjoyed the members of our Post. I made friends with some wonderful people, but I observed how the divide and conquer has hurt not just our Post, but our family. We keep new and old members alike, we have more volunteers, and can achieve more when more of us are participating. The cliques and the finger pointing and trying to divide further has become the focal point and we are disregarding our mission. The mission is first to our military and our veterans, to our families, and last but not least, to our communities. We can bicker over who we don't like, who we want to chase out of the post, who's doing what wrong, and point fingers all day long. It's not working. A member threw a private party last year and told Comrades that he did it to prove that if we could "get rid of all the people we don't like, we could have a good time". That attitude is choking our Post to death. We are not here for only the Nam vets, the Riders or exclusively for the new veterans walking in the door. We are family, Comrades, and we should be here for all of us regardless of race, religion, sex or age. We earned the right to be here, each of us, and the focus should be on us being here regardless of our differences so that we can better serve each other and our community.
We also all know how much work needs to be done. We've talked the entire time that I've been a member about the parking lot. It keeps dwindling. It's like many of the things that we talk about. Talk, talk, talk. But we talk it to death, and never solidify plans to bring these goals to fruition. We need to move passed this desire to talk something to death and begin with some real actions. Last year we could have used a change of pace, something slower, more easier going. It didn't happen. It was a very close race, but we ended up where we are now. We all know we are due a change, we all know that a real change will take a LOT of work, and we all know that work is going to take time, energy and commitment from our leadership.
As I stated earlier, when asked I had to give it a lot of thought. I believe in our organization, our mission and our Post. I believe last year we could've used a more laid back person for Post Commander, but this year, I don't believe that is the answer. Timing is sometimes everything. This year, we need to set goals, we need to start making strong actions to show all of our veterans, all of our Comrades, that we are here for them--both the old guard and the new young men and women coming home. We need focus, not just on the patio--the patio is easy--we need focus on all the work. Our leadership will need to get this done--not for one or two cliques--but for ALL of us. Not just the Comrades that have been here for years, but for the each and everyone of us that has earned the right to be part of this organization. This will be no small feat. As I said when I was nominated, we shoot for the stars and if we hit the moon, we pat ourselves on the back and call it a good day. We need to shoot for the stars this year, and that's why I agreed to run and made the commitment to those that asked me to, our Post and our organization. This year, I do believe I'm our strongest candidate to get us there.
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