This month has been exciting, with the floods, storms and tornadoes. Perhaps we’ll get a couple of weeks of good weather!
Here is some news from Houston’s American Legion Post 41.
The regular annual elections for commander was held, I ran unopposed, Tyler Dehart, was nominated and elected as treasurer, Greg Bergland was nominated and elected as the new chaplain. We will take our new offices next month on June.
We rescheduled the Armed Forces Day event to Sept. 15 because of the forecasted bad weather. Also the damages to the fairgrounds were a major consideration.
We have obtained for the summer raffle prize, a new Husqvarna 372 XP chainsaw. It is equipped with a 20-inch bar and chain, plus accessories! The tickets are $1 each or six for $5. Members of the Legion have strips to sell, and they can also be purchased at the Legion Post on Wednesdays from 9 to 11 a.m. There will be a booth set up in front of Walmart soon to sell tickets. I don’t have the date yet, so look for it.
I want to point out again that that the national average of service member suicides is still at 22 persons a day. A bit of math shows this is over 8,000 people a year. A hotline number is 800-273-8255 (press 1). Please share this info with anyone you can, so these veterans may get the assistance they need.
I’ve read in headline news that the U.S. Navy is to increase its personnel by 28-percent! Also the Navy plans to expand the fleet to 350 ships. I’m sure the other branches will expand also.
From the FRA newsletter: New bills in the House that impact veterans include HR 1259 (the “VA Accountability Act”), and HR 1367, which would expand the authority of the secretary to hire and retain care givers. To inject a comment and personal opinion here, the VA really needs to do a serious house cleaning and remove deadbeat employees.
Also HR 1181, HR632 and S 283 (“Atomic Veterans”) to provide care for service people who were exposed to harmful radiation levels when assign to clean up of nuclear sites during the 1970s.
There is also a bill – HJ Res 61 – to protect the American flag from desecration. We can hope for stiff penalties for those who deface the flag.
Somehow, respect needs to be instilled to people has a whole. People who would willfully desecrate the national emblem should understand how they have received the liberties that they enjoy (in comparison to other nations that are much more oppressive).
The coffee bar at Post 41 is open Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 11-ish, and post officers and members are available for questions during this time (and you can purchase raffle tickets for the chainsaw).
We encourage everyone to stop by, the monthly meetings start at 5:30 p.m. the second Thursday of the month. I hope to see new and familiar faces over the next month.
Houston resident Keith Ford is a retired infantryman and an amateur writer whose work has appeared in publications around the world. Email kf4tap@yahoo.com.