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4/22/2025 - This year, the VFW is celebrating an incredible milestone ... 100 years ago at our National Encampment, our forefathers established the National Service Bureau known today as National Veterans Service to work with the government to ensure America’s veterans got the benefits they’ve earned and deserved. The VFW was the first veterans service organization to help veterans cut through the bureaucratic red tape. Literally. The term goes back to the beginning of the National...

6/4/2025 - As the largest organization of combat veterans, we understand the frustrations that can arise when transitioning out of the military or filing a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs. The claims process can be confusing and one that service members and veterans shouldn't try to navigate alone. That's why the VFW's National Veterans Service (NVS) was established to help all veterans, service members, their families and survivors. NVS consists of a nationwide netwo...

6/4/2025 - As you get ready to separate or retire from the military, make sure you are taking the necessary steps to prepare for your future. If you’re within 180 days of discharge, the VFW can help. VFW Pre-Discharge representatives guide military personnel through the VA claims process and can assist with the preparation and submission of forms and evidence to VA prior to separation from active duty. They can also answer questions about VA benefits and entitlements. Don't fall vi...

8/28/2014 - KANSAS CITY — The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is demanding the immediate release of U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who has now suffered 150 days in a Mexican jail. VFW National Commander John Stroud is asking not only for the support of the 1.9 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliaries, but for the entire military and veteran community to rally for one of their own. VFW is asking all American veterans to take action by flooding the White Ho...

5/26/2014 - This letter is in response to the open letter you made available for distribution late Friday, May, 23, 2014. First and foremost Senator, I will afford you the same amount of respect you demonstrated for the Veterans of Foreign Wars by the monumental cheap-shot and posturing you’ve engaged in by enlisting in an absolutely disgusting ambush style of politics. Without the courtesy or benefit of conversation or dialogue with me or the VFW Adjutant General regarding your d...

5/2/2014 - Kansas City, Mo. — The Veterans of Foreign Wars will not stand by while veterans seeking the health care they have earned and deserve languish. Deliberate and concerted efforts to neglect and ignore the needs of the critically ill cannot be labeled as anything less than criminal malfeasance. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ failure to monitor or audit the processes at its Phoenix facility, given the history of problems and complaints there, is an appalling example of ...

1/30/2014 - The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is applauding today’s roll out of a new consolidated complaint system to help the Department of Veterans Affairs and its partner agencies weed out fraud, waste and abuse among those organizations and educational institutions that serve student veterans. The new complaint system was a cornerstone of the VFW’s education reform priorities over the past two years, and is a joint effort between VA and the departments of Defens...

6/6/2014 - WASHINGTON (June 6, 2014) — The commander-in-chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States wrote President Obama today to urge his personal involvement to get Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi released from a Mexican jail. Text from the letter by William A. Thien is below, and a PDF copy is available here. Dear Mr. President: I write as the national commander of the 1.9 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and its Auxil...

7/6/2016 - WASHINGTON — The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States agrees with most of the 18 recommendations made by the Commission on Care in its final report that was released today on how to improve the care and services the Department of Veterans Affairs provides to eligible veterans. But the nation’s largest and oldest major war veterans organization is firmly against one recommendation that would create another layer of bureaucracy to manage the day-to-day operations ...

5/21/2009 - As I talk to some of my peers that are either still on active duty or recently separated from the Army and tell them I am volunteering at the VFW, they commonly respond by asking, “So what are you doing? Sitting around drinking beer?” This is still a common misconception that many young veterans who’ve served in Iraq and Afghanistan have of the organization. I was also one of them until I became an active member. At one point in the VFW’s history, it was one of the few...