Members of the American Legion have many common bonds, and the Legion would like to hear from you about the nature of those common threads. A passion for community service, patriotic voices, and a bent toward caring about national security. From the trenches of France to the sands of Afghanistan we all have a common bond of having served our nation in time of need.
No one who served in the Military comes out unchanged, be it a two year hitch or a 20 year career.
The American Legion wants to know in 200 words or less how your service in the Armed Forces impacted your life. Was it the discipline,the teamwork, the mission oriented life, or simple fellowship that colored your life today.
Send you submissions to’ “myservice@legion.org” or snail mail to;
American Legion Magazine
PO Box 1055
Indianapolis,IN. 46206

We can also have some fun on this post by hearing from our readers about your Military experience. Would you want your children to serve in the Armed Forces?

Job Well Done

I say, God bless the work of VVA and its diligent band of advocates. Without these tireless men and women, the doors may well have never opened for like kind claims.
Institute of Medicine (IOM) releases Agent Orange research results

PRESS RELEASE
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2009

No. 09-24

Contact:
Mokie Porter
301-996-0901

VVA to VA: Don’t Wait for Us to Die: Grant Association to Agent Orange Exposure For Parkinson’s, Heart Disease, Hypertension

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – After reviewing scientific studies of the past few years, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has determined there is “limited or suggestive evidence” of an association between Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease with exposure to Agent Orange.

“We thank the IOM for their efforts and applaud them for their conclusions,” said John Rowan, National President of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). “Now, we urge the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to immediately make Vietnam veterans with either of these conditions eligible for disability compensation as well as health care, and we will petition him to do precisely this.

“We also urge the Secretary to reconsider hypertension, which the IOM, in its 2006 report concerning Vietnam veterans and Agent Orange, also found elevated evidence of an association,” Rowan said.

“We do believe that the IOM must focus on what we consider to be the very real association between a veteran’s exposure while serving in Southeast Asia and the birth defects, learning disabilities, and cancers, not only in his children but in his grandchildren as well,” Rowan said. “We continue to get far too many calls from the children of veterans who wonder if their father’s experiences in Vietnam-and along the demilitarized zone in Korea in 1968 and 1969-has any connection with their health issues and now those of their children.

“Let’s not wait until we die, and for our children to be forgotten,” Rowan said. “The time for real action is now.”