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3/31/2026 - The VFW hosts several events throughout the year, all centered around improving the lives of veterans, service members, their families and our communities. Complete information on our two largest annual events can be accessed below, or download the VFW Planning Calendar for a quick rundown of all events.

3/31/2026 - 118th VFW National Convention New Orleans, La., “The Big Easy” was a wonderful host city for the 118th VFW National Convention, July 22-27, 2017. Thousands of VFW and Auxiliary members convened from all over the world at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, in one of the world's most fascinating cities. New Orleans is home to a truly unique melting pot of culture, food and music. From world-famous restaurants to hidden music clubs, as one of America's most culturally...

3/31/2026 - Ensuring women veterans receive veterans’ benefits and services that honor their brave military service is one of the VFW’s top priorities. Currently, women comprise 15 percent of the active-duty military and 18 percent of the Guard and Reserve. With the steady increase of women wearing our nation’s uniform and their increased role in military operations, it has never been more important that we ensure women veterans have a VA that is ready and able to care for them when...

1/5/2017 - This article was originally featured in the January 2017 issue of the VFW Auxiliary Magazine. Rhode Island is home to husband and wife VFW Auxiliary and VFW leadership team Stephen and GinaMarie Doherty. But this program year, there is something different about this state’s Department president and State commander. Stephen is the Auxiliary’s first-ever male Department president, a role he stepped into following the untimely passing of Rhode Island’s Department Presiden...

2/7/2017 - Addison Hartman is a lot like other 7-year-old girls. She likes playing with dolls, horses and Legos, loves climbing trees and singing and dancing. Most of all, Addison loves her dog, Radar. But the Irish Doodle is much more than the child’s pet. Radar is Addison’s service dog. Wherever Addison goes, so goes Radar, including to school at New Bloomfield Elementary School. He even sleeps next to her each night. With type 1 juvenile diabetes, Addison’s blood sugar has to be...

8/3/2017 - Drawing has been a part of Mike Rodriguez’s life since childhood, but a wound that ended his military career also put his illustrator tendencies on hold. Rodriguez, who served in Iraq from June to November 2004, with Bravo Co., 1st Bn., 8th Marines, as a rifleman, was wounded on Thanksgiving Day 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. He was shot, losing nerve feeling and fine-motor skills on his right side. His shoulder was dislocated, he said, and he nearly lost his right leg to compa...

8/3/2017 - Thanks to VFW’s Kahle Fund, nine Vietnam veterans who received Purple Hearts during the war returned to Vietnam in April for an all-expenses-paid excursion. The 10 days in-country included visits to Hanoi, Hue, Danang, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and points in between. Since 2005, 142 wounded Vietnam vets have returned to their former battlefields courtesy of the Ralph Charles Kahle Jr. Endowment Fund, which was established in 1999 following a $1.1 million bequest from Kah...

10/6/2017 - Ever wondered how many other veterans are seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress (PTS)? What kinds of treatments they’re trying? And if those treatments are helping? At PatientsLikeMe, we’re also interested in the experiences of veterans and wanted to learn more about this community. PatientsLikeMe is an organization that works to bring people together. It’s a network of more than half a million members living with chronic conditions and connecting with others to ...

4/14/2014 - Do you ever wonder what the VFW’s office on Capitol Hill does to help our veterans? In the last year alone, VFW’s advocacy efforts in Washington have improved consumer resources for college-bound veterans; preserved military quality-of-life programs like tuition assistance; repealed the back-door dealings to cut military retiree benefits; and reinstated a responsible Stolen Valor law. So why is the VFW’s voice so strong on Capitol Hill? It’s because the VFW enlists the h...

7/18/2013 - More than 10,000 members of the nation’s oldest and largest major combat veterans’ organization are rolling into the Blue Grass State this weekend to elect new leadership and to approve national resolutions that will guide its advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and its veteran and military support programs across the country. “Our organization is governed by its members and elected delegates to our annual convention,” said John E. Hamilton, the national commander of th...