“This was a great opportunity to come to The Villages,” Dan Dellinger the National Commander of the American Legion said. “This is the largest American Legion post in our country, and they do a lot of good things for our veterans and the community. I was on the East Coast of Florida last January, from Fort Pierce up to Jacksonville, but didn’t get over to Central Florida. I took advantage of this break in my schedule to meet with the members here and attend to night ‘s installation of new officers.”
“The American Legion is above politics,” Dellinger asserted. “We just want Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to take good care of our veterans.” Dellinger met with the former Proctor & Gamble CEO, Robert McDonald, about an hour after he was introduced as the newly appointed head of the Veterans’ Administration. McDonald said he wants to work closely with the American Legion to be sure our veterans have the services they need.” Dellinger rephrased McDonald’s words, saying “to be sure our veterans have the healthcare they earned and deserve.”
While the current veterans care debacle, which occurred as a result of inadequate long-term planning, didn’t happen overnight, Dellinger believes there is hope on the horizon. There are veterans’ crisis centers at different hospitals to help with disabled claims and physician appointments, and American Legion leaders are actively involved with helping to right the wrongs. He continues to hope those in our Congress will be committed to this important cause and will put the veterans’ needs above partisanship.
When Dellinger recently met with President Obama and the former Veterans’ Administration head, Gen. Eric Shinseki, he brought five key points to the table for discussion. He pushed for resolution of the veterans’ claims backlog ; the 17-64 month delays on existing VA hospital/facilities construction projects; veterans’ care issues at four major hospitals, including one in Orlando, which are all behind schedule; conversion of VA medical records to electronic systems to speed up claims processing, and some defense issues. While Dellinger left the meeting feeling not much had been accomplished, he lauded Florida Congressman Jeff Miller and others on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs for working tirelessly to move these issues along.
According to the American Legion commander, only 17 out of 100 Senators are veterans of military service, and he would like to see the American people vote more veterans into our legislature. He also praised first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden’s initiative on behalf of homeless veterans. These efforts have gotten many veterans off the streets , and their ‘hire a vet’ programs have encourage businesses to employ returning veterans.
Speaking about the American Legion, Dellinger, who was named on Aug. 29, 2013 to a one-year term as national commander, said: ” The American Legion, and by extension, America, depends on its wartime veterans, united in great numbers under one banner.” He likes to say there are more American Legion posts than there are Starbucks or McDonalds. Summing up the current situation, Dellinger stated: “We face a disgraceful government failure — inadequate or inaccessible care at Veterans’ Administration medical facilities. We will not look the other way. Our large numbers — 2.3 million current members — will make a difference. Our elected leaders in Washington and the national media cannot ignore our collective voice. We have a great past. We have a great future. We believe in this organization. We will not go away — our membership will continue to grow.”
Dellinger hopes the American people will keep our military veterans in mind when they go to the polls in November. ” We can expect servicemen and women to die on the battlefield,” Dellinger said with conviction, “but we should not expect them to die waiting for healthcare at Veterans’ Administration hospitals and clinics.”
