AMVETS to step up recruitment of younger Veterans

AMVETS to step up recruitment of younger Veterans as it fights for mandatory funding of Veterans Healthcare. AMVETS will step up recruitment of younger veterans during the coming year in order to bolster the strength of the organization, as it continues to fight for mandatory funding for veterans healthcare and other improvements in the veterans benefit system, says incoming AMVETS National Commander. John P. “J.P.” Brown III. “We can strengthen our organization by more aggressively recruiting military veterans in the 20-to-40 age group,” says Brown, a four-year Navy veteran from Youngstown, Ohio, who was elected AMVETS national commander, during the organizations 63rd annual convention. AMVETS is one of the nations leading veterans service organizations and the largest national group of its kind that includes members of every branch of the military, including the National Guard and Reserve. It currently has 200,000 members. Last year, AMVETS helped veterans recover more than $11 million worth of earned healthcare and disability benefits, while the organizations legislative-affairs team pushed for mandatory funding of veterans healthcare and other improvements to streamline the veterans-benefit system, such as the electronic filing of medical records, addressing the claims backlog and ensuring educational benefits. AMVETS also made headlines last year by organizing the National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans, in which young veterans from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere outlined more than 100 ways to reform and improve the veterans benefit system. But while all of these efforts are worthwhile, Brown said it is important for the organization to step up its recruitment of younger veterans, both to maximize pressures on congress and other federal agencies for reforms and also to make the organization more family friendly. https://videos.whiteblox.com/gnb/secure/player.aspx?sid=35148