KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Tuesday, May 7, nearly 200 veterans’ service officers from the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. will converge on Valley Forge, Pa., to receive required continuing education in order to provide the best possible service to America’s wounded, ill and injured veterans. They will also recognize the VFW’s 100th year of support to service-connected disabled veterans.
“When World War I veterans began returning home in 1919, they encountered the same government neglect as VFW’s founders did two decades earlier,” explained VFW National Commander B.J. Lawrence. “At the VFW’s national convention in Providence, R.I., that year, this veterans service directorate, as well as a legislative advocacy directorate, were created so that our nation never again forces the families of wounded, ill or injured veterans to pay for their loved one’s rehabilitation,” he said. “One century later, VFW’s worldwide cadre of 2,100 accredited service officers helped more than 526,000 veterans to recoup $8.3 billion in earned disability compensation in 2018, which proves that the free and professional services the VFW continues to provide for America’s veterans is just as important now as they were then.”
The 100th anniversary celebration will take place Tuesday, as part of the four-day training conference, one of four the VFW sponsors annually. Attendees will train on VA and VFW computer systems, learn changes to VA regulations, such as the Appeals Modernization Act, as well as improve on their professional development and mentorship skills. The VFW will also unveil its new Online Learning Platform, developed with the expertise of the PsychArmor Institute. The goal of the platform is to ensure that the VFW can reach its advocates in real time with up-to-date training.
The VFW is one of only a handful of national nonprofit organizations recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs to represent, prepare and prosecute veterans’ benefit claims before the agency, with a presence on Capitol Hill and every VA Regional Office. As the VFW evolves in its training programs, the VFW National Veterans Service directorate looks forward to its next century of cutting through bureaucratic red tape for veterans.