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Well, okay.

I lived in French Lick, Indiana and the VFW there was a bar.

The local VFW for me now here in Oregon is a bar. (I will say that I did go there once, but I had an old tattered flag that needed a proper disposal, and that was the only place I could get a hold of that would take it. Other than that, I would never go in one just because they no longer have a good image.)

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I am a VFW member and would agree that the lounge portion is, to many, just a place for cheap drinks. I am also a past commander of the Guard of Honor as well ( I resigned because I just couldn't keep doing all the burials and speeches at the funerals, too many of them had been very close friends - my hats off to all pastors). I also worked as an assistant service officer as well - helping veterans and their families deal with the VA, getting veterans off the street, etc. The VFW as an organization does a lot of things that have nothing to do with the lounge. Like many things in this world the resources of the VFW can be used for good as well as evil. Personally I do occasionally visit the lounge and when there I frequently use the opportunity to witness. In fact I loaned a video of "The Passion" to a friend from there (over a year ago) and have never gotten it back - he and his wife have "passed it along" to other friends of theirs that I do not know. I don't believe in "secret" organizations such as the masons but the VFW is nothing like that.
Perhaps why I will hold my ties there are due to the intense shared experiences of combat. Something few understand that have not endured it. I'll also add that the VFW paid my rent, car payment, and insurance bill this month (because of VA and medical issues I won't bore you with).

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I've never been to a VFW. But a trucking company I use to work for, a few of the drives would go to the VFW in a city close by many evening and drink until it closed down.

And all the people I have know who were member, rightly were members where they could get the drinks. I might add we are in dry counties, but the VFW is soaking wet.

I filed for service connected disability with the VA, none of those originations that say they will help were of no help to me, not the least bit, I did talk with them, but they did not seem to care. I want bore no one with the details of the birth defect found in my head & neck in 2001, which the Air Force doctor said all the trouble I had was tension headaches, and they still say that was all I had. My conscience is clear, I served my country, if they want to treat veterans as they do, so be it. So far, the only ones I know that got anything out of the VA lied, that I will not do.

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I certainly don't deny many are just bars. Ours is not though. In fact our lounge is only open from 2 pm to 8 pm Sunday-Thursday - on Fri and Sat it varies on whether or not they have an event going on. We rent out our hall for weddings, meetings, etc to raise funds so we don't "have to make money from the lounge". Our current quartermaster, a local police officer who does not drink at all, has steadily been growing a movement to close our lounge entirely.

Wayne

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Like I said, I actually don't know that much about a VFW, but I know what most people around here think it is, a hangout for drinking people.

We do not have one, but Hope, AR, which is about 22 miles east of us does, and that is the main activity that takes place there.

My small home town which I live about 6 miles west of has about 4700 to 4800 people.

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In northern Butler County, Pennsylvania on Sept. 21, 1997, after leaving church on that Sunday night, my parents were hit head on by a drunk driver. He was bar hopping because he lost his job. His last stop: the local VFW. My parents were killed instantly and so was the drunk driver. His blood alcohol was .30 (which was 3 times over the legal limit). Because of this, four of our children will never be able to hug their grandparents.

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Most of the VFW halls I've been in have had lounges in them, as well as meeting rooms. I've never been in the one in our town here, so I don't know about it, except that I do know they have a lot of drinking that goes on (a former neighbor was the bartender). There are a lot of members of the VFW around here, and they do a lot of things around patriotic holidays.

The VA, Jerry8, isn't tied into the VFW, though. My dad is a veteran of foreign wars, but never joined, and he gets most of his medical through the VA - he's one you can put down as being honest about his needs! He is on disability, also, from happenings while he was serving, and thankfullly, they are very kind to him at the VA hospital in Seattle.

We have another friend (and he's honest, too!) who is also a vet of foreign wars, but not in the VFW. He goes to the VA sometimes for things, and they help him sometimes, but not always. It really varies from state to state (Even though it's a federal program, not all states offer the same help - my dad needed help while on vacation in WV a few years back, and they couldn't help him because he resides in WA - red tape.)

My brother was just telling me the other day that he can't join the VFW (he doesn't want to) because he was in the Marines during the window when there were no wars. His unit was overseas (in Iraq, I think) just waiting for the word to go in and get the Iranian hostages when Reagan was elected and the Iranians freed the hostaes (just on the fact that Reagan was elected...they knew he wouldn't put up with their nonsense like Carter did!), so he got a medal for being on foreign soil, but that's it.

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I filed for service connected disability with the VA, none of those originations that say they will help were of no help to me, not the least bit, I did talk with them, but they did not seem to care. I want bore no one with the details of the birth defect found in my head & neck in 2001, which the Air Force doctor said all the trouble I had was tension headaches, and they still say that was all I had. My conscience is clear, I served my country, if they want to treat veterans as they do, so be it. So far, the only ones I know that got anything out of the VA lied, that I will not do.


I used AMVETS when I retired and they were outstanding in their service. I have had no problems with the VA and I have a relatively high VA disability rating. I know several other retirees who were helped by AMVETS :thumb
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In northern Butler County' date=' Pennsylvania on Sept. 21, 1997, after leaving church on that Sunday night, my parents were hit head on by a drunk driver. He was bar hopping because he lost his job. His last stop: the local VFW. My parents were killed instantly and so was the drunk driver. His blood alcohol was .30 (which was 3 times over the legal limit). Because of this, four of our children will never be able to hug their grandparents.[/quote']

There was a AMVETS in a town near here, but about all they did was play bingo, I knew several who would spend most of their money playing bingo at the place, and the head man of it the bingo department was a church of Christ member. Never understood why he would participate in bingoing. Oh, they always talked about their pull tabs, don't know much about that except you had a chance to win money, or to me it would be just plain gambling.

VFW, I could have joined the VFW, but I don't care about being part of such a group, I don't believe it would be beneficial to my witness as a child of God nor being one of His called.

Bro. Smith, Sorry about what happened to your parents, that is sad. I know of several good people who went to an early grave because of a drunk driver. I will not have one thing to do with nor support any originations who deals with any type of alcoholic beverages or any type of gambling. All of that stuff is from the devil.

A few years back and elderly lady, she claimed to love God. Every night the Eagles Club was open and bingo was going on she was setting there playing bingo. I asked her about going to church, she said, I don't ever feel good enough to go to church. The true answerer was her heart was in bingo, not God and His Son.
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I will not have one thing to do with nor support any originations who deals with any type of alcoholic beverages or any type of gambling. All of that stuff is from the devil.


I know this may open an attack on me but here I must beg to differ. Alcohol is not from the devil. In fact I can quote Scritpure where we are told to serve alcohol. It is the abuse and addiction that is sin. And to abuse or become addicted to any thing is just as wrong - whether it's cup of coffee, alcohol, or chocolate.

Wayne
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AMVETS here is just a few guys here who work out of an office helping vets fill out their paperwork. No lodges, clubs or anything like the VFW are ever promoted. Occasionally they send a truck around looking for old clothes as a fund raiser. They have never asked me to join, or to support with $$.

I checked their website and they do have local posts (which I guess would be like lodges). I never would have known about it, except having read it here.

Their paid staff is here:

http://www.aMVets.org/HTML/what_we_do/NSO.html

Maybe someone can help help you with your VA claim. The fellow who assisted me is on the page. His name is Denny Boller. Apparently, he has ben promoted!

Up here, they are the best at helping vets.

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