We’re Back, and Looking for Your Stories in the New Year

With Congress still on recess, the work hasn’t stopped for the VFW’s office on Capitol Hill. This week, we returned from the New Years break and hit the ground running to promote the VFW’s legislative priority goals in anticipation of the second session of the 112th Congress.

With almost 470 representatives and senators up for reelection this November, now is the perfect time to reach out to them in their home districts and educate them on issues critical to the veterans’ community. With this in mind, the VFW’s Capitol Hill blog would like to hear from you as you interact with your elected officials to promote the VFW’s legislative priority goals, and to discuss military and veterans’ issues.

Whether you’re meeting face-to-face, attending events, hosting town hall meetings, or attending forums in your area, please send us your photos and information on these events, such as “who, what, when, where and why” for consideration to be published on the blog. We are not looking for photos from political rallies or campaign work; we are looking to highlight the work of the VFW to inform those serving in public office about veterans’ issues.

Our blog has the ability to reach more than 2 million members of the VFW, and thousands more veterans’ advocates, all of whom are interested in making a difference for veterans. However, our voice on Capitol Hill is only as strong as the voice of VFW advocates in Congressional districts across the country. We designed this blog to help share your stories, as well, making sure that we reach our members of Congress and ensure they make the right decisions when it comes to our service members, veterans and their families.

Thanks to the work of our advocates in 2011, we successfully passed comprehensive veterans’ employment legislation with the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, and protected key benefits like TRICARE for Life and presumptive service connected conditions. We also sent a stern message to Congress that we will protect military and veterans’ benefits at all costs with the roll-out of the “10 for 10” campaign. In 2012, we hope to build on these successes, and we hope you will join us in that mission.

To share your photos and stories, submit them electronically to vfwac@vfw.org, and continue to follow this blog, highlighting our day-to-day work protecting our service members, veterans and their loved ones.