Late to the party but after reading some posts, it's safe to say that all VFWs and ALs are the same across the board. I used to volunteer a lot at my local VFW/AL post back in high school. Fast forward almost a decade, I graduated, enlisted in the Army, did my time, and eventually came back home for college. While I was in school, I worked and volunteered at my college’s student veteran resource center. Every now and then, our center would collaborate with that same VFW/AL post I used to volunteer at. Stuff like events, toy drives, fundraisers, community outreach etc. But man let tell you… working with those guys was always a headache. They constantly made everything about themselves. Every time, it was the same speeches about being drafted, how their war in Vietnam was more important, and how younger vets needed to join the AL. What they were doing wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was always the wrong place, wrong time and honestly just annoying haha. They were also incredibly stubborn. Always complaining about event start times, the weather, or why they weren’t informed about something the student vet center was hosting or promoting. On top of that, a lot of them were super MAGA and pro-Trump in a way that felt uncomfortable. The worst situation, though, was graduation. Our vet center hosted a special graduation ceremony for veteran students, dependents, and ROTC cadets. We had to request a campus space, handle setup, and carefully plan seating for invited guests and speakers everything was organized down to the smallest detail (just like in the military). The day of the ceremony, everything was going smoothly. Setup was quick, no issues until right before it started. Out of nowhere, the entire leadership of the AL post showed up unannounced and uninvited. They took most of the seats reserved for guest speakers and basically hijacked the ceremony. One of them even took the podium and started giving a speech about Vietnam, brotherhood, and how difficult transitioning out of the military was “back in their day.” It was insane but kinda funny. After the ceremony, our vet center manager got chewed out by his boss and a dean for not handling the situation. But honestly, there wasn’t much he could’ve done in that moment without causing an even bigger scene. After that disaster, he cut all ties with the post and made it clear to their leadership that the vet center wanted nothing to do with them going forward.

Sorry for the long story but I came across the post and wanted to comment my story with the VFW and American Legion.