Sgt. James F. Carty, DSC - 10 May 2024

VFW Post 1545

This past weekend VFW District 3 held our annual convention at the Hilton Garden Inn in Clifton Park, NY. 

The dinner prior to the business meeting gave everyone who attended time to meet members from many Posts throughout the district and have a relaxed dinner and comradeship. 

At the business meeting the following day officers were formally elected. A good time for all of the members from 40 Posts who attended. 

The following is a message from our National Commander Duane Sarmiento. In part, he stated some important facts:

 On April 23, the Senate passed $95 billion in funding to support our allies in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, an aid package the House worked overtime to pass three days earlier.

Many who advocated for this support, to include the VFW, breathed a sigh of relief, as the United States reaffirmed its commitment as a world leader against tyranny.

Three weeks ago, I visited our allies in Taiwan and heard firsthand from both Taiwanese officials and VFW members about the importance of this support.

Time and again, we see Congress can mobilize in the eleventh hour to support urgent needs — whether it’s averting a self-inflicted government shutdown or waiting until the absolute last minute to reaffirm long-standing and noncontroversial commitments to our allies.

They even came together on unrelated legislation, sending a sell-or-be-banned ultimatum to the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, which they added to the aid package bill based on national security concerns.

We rarely see similar urgency to support veterans. The bean counters in Congress will try to smugly dismiss this correlation, obfuscating on how these are different funds for different purposes.

Frankly, Americans don’t care about the technical nuance of bureaucratic nonsense. They care about results.

While just about everyone in Congress publicly gives support, they privately balk at the purported price tag of a meager $1 billion per year.

Think about that. We have $95 billion to throw around whenever we need it, but when veterans ask for a small share to end a glaring injustice, suddenly we can’t scrape together enough nickels to get it done.

This is not about the money, it is about the gesture of support to our all-volunteer force, which is a national security imperative in the context of recent recruiting shortfalls.

It’s time for Washington to accept that this failure rests with decision-makers and the fundamental disconnect between Beltway insiders and the Americans who volunteer to serve on the front lines.

If Congress can get a bill passed that protects American interests aboard and cyberspace at home, then we expect them to show the same urgency to honoring its commitments to Americans who have defended this country by passing the Major Richard Star Act today.

Should you agree with our National Commander, please contact your congressperson. As just one veteran’s opinion, getting our still serving troops support and past combat veterans their benefits, this message shows one important fact, that “The VFW Does More for Veterans”.

Please keep our troops still serving  in your thoughts and prayers to keep them safe. God Bless America.

Marc Farmilette, PDC – Commander Post 1545