Royal Canadian Legion / Topics & Posted Articles

All the old ones are gone or near gone! Most of the legion I go to , mostly reserves and a lot screwed over. It kinda reminds me of the mess it gives me a little time to have a few, laugh and remember the good ole days ! The WW1 vets were saying the same thing about the WW2 vets and the WW2 vets said the same about Korea and Cyprus etc! The thing is we veterans have to take these places back, there meant for us and we need a place to chill out and feel back in uniform. Our legion has helped a lot of widows , more than I can say, a lot goes on behind closed doors. Do I like the civilians , female, bring em in by the truck load! Male civilians, well whoses going to mix the drinks? Gotta have some of them. Sapper I feel for you and I know personally how when family is suffering and you can't do anything, been there, have a nephew who is severe autism and talk about discrimination, but the legion needs good veterans now more than ever.

WOW Sapper that sucks i'm sure there are young vet's that are still going through the same crap. would like to see the financials for the poppy fund that drive has to bring in a crap load of money. I'm sure there is sticky finger syndrome going on there.

What bug's me as he stated all the advocacy groups with their hands out for a piece of the pie including the legion. Is this pie being taken off the plates of disabled veterans, would like to know this how much are all these groups costing our budget. The waste is mind boggling and head spitting I bet.

yup sapp sounds like that good ol legion we know and love . no photo op no support .

propat

Legion is just a drinking club for the old boys from WWII or Korea. Even the ww2 guys with their E.G.O. medals(everybody gets one)that never left Canada look down upon the younger generation of vets. I was on my VAC disability, wife working fulltime, our 2.5 year old went into heart failure. The doctors said we had to get to Toronto Sick Kids immediately as heart failure was imminent. Flight one way from Kenora to Toronto-$1300 each. Hotel downtown TO $150/night. Asked legion poppy fund to help. They said no. I inquired about alternative funding programs for vets and they replied "you are no Veteran". I was more hurt than angry. Family kicked in for our fares, and we slept on the floor in the Surgical unit for 8 days. The staff gave us the extra meals from the patients. And popsicles too. Our son survived and is now 22. I have not renewed my membership for the past 20 years. I am just that f---ing mad. Let them die a slow death if they wish. I will not resuscitate.
Sobered Sapper Simmering Slowly

wow johnny that was really crappy of them but Ive here'd this stuff a few times . I actually remember quite a duzie a while back from someone here . it was in Halifax and the legion actually wanted to throw the vet out of his own church because he was handing out info about a rally or something in support of the SISIP lawsuit . might have been bigrex not sure . thing is they do have some real bad actors .

propat

propat - You took the words out of my mouth... I have a story that ended with me throwing my legion suit in the garbage can. Some of you may remember the Vandoo, retired Cpl Vet, with ptsd and other issues that went on a hunger strike in front of DVA HQ. At the time, I stayed with him for the entire 2 wks or more that it dragged on. During this time there was alot of Canadian press, and local press on the issue. And alot of Island Vets, as well as local folks supported his cause.
Except for the one place that you would think would show support, our local legion, which was about 2 blocks from where we where camped out. Not one rep from the Legion came by to show there support, or even put a piece in the paper backing the fight. It even went as far as one day a bus full of legion folks held a pde, a stones throw from us. They turned there backs to us. At the time all of us Vets where pissed at the Legion. And at the end of the hunger strike I broke ties, with those thoughtless F___s.. Thanks feel better now, breathe,, VVV...

we will get the PA pension some day and we will do it without their help or support as we did with the SISIP fight .

even though they don't want us to have the PA pension like they had when we get it they will all be patting themselves on the back .

F tards

propat

rant and an excuse with no apology .

propat

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1538799876419175&id=1501289610170202

Is this a rant or an apology.My legion is 4 km away i don't fit in being the only vet in the area no Nav here and no fedora's.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1538799876419175&id=1501289610170202

For those interested.

http://news.nationalpost.com/life/above-beyond/legion-extends-a-hand-to-veterans-communities?__lsa=78cb-ad3b

PETAWAWA, Ont. – A few dedicated volunteers in this army town are punching well above their weight, providing services to those who need it despite flagging numbers and dwindling resources.

Inside the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 517 and halls like it across the country, a beer, a game of darts and a few good stories are still the staples of an evening’s entertainment.

But beyond its doors, the Legion reaches deep into the community to provide services that extend well beyond the shrinking circle of old-time veterans for which it is most recognized.

Revenue producers like hall rentals, monthly breakfasts and Friday fish ’n chips help finance programs like a community band and a band school, while the Legion’s annual poppy campaign underwrites a host of activities and good works.

Besides veterans’ service, poppy revenues fund bursaries toward the education of veterans’ family members, including spouses. The Legion sponsors track-and-field and public speaking competitions among youth, as well.

“Each branch will be different depending on the dynamics of their community,” says Petawawa branch president Helene Hahn.

Veterans’ advocacy, aid and other services remain at the heart of Legion activities across Canada. But they’re especially relevant in towns like Petawawa, where a Canadian Forces base provides ready demand.

The base sprawls out from atop the main street and Local 517 is located right next door.

The Petawawa Legion holds regular barbecues for active-service personnel, where units can come and mix, regardless of rank.

It hosts support groups for sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and provides a range of community programs, including Meals On Wheels for seniors and an annual Christmas food drive.

The Petawawa branch has a veterans’ services officer, who looks after vets of all ages and stages, including new retirees who may need food vouchers or bill money to tide them over until they start collecting their pensions.

The national organization was a key player in bringing about better care for sufferers of PTSD, a continuing issue following Canada’s 13-year participation in the war in Afghanistan.

And it has raised the alarm over changes to the Veterans Charter, especially lump-sum disability payouts to retiring soldiers that now come in lieu of lifelong monthly cheques.

Homelessness has always been an issue among veterans, but in recent years it has been thrust into the limelight, largely thanks to Legion efforts.

Last year, Hahn got a call about two young men camped out on a nearby beach. They turned out to be Afghanistan veterans who’d left the military, taken their lump-sum payments, bought cars and partied until the money was gone.

Still without their regular pensions and no job prospects to speak of, the youthful veterans had nowhere to live and nothing to eat.

“We helped them out,” said Bob Howell, Hahn’s 1st vice-president and poppy fund chairman. “We got them back on their feet, steered them down the right path.”

The Legion’s flagship poppy fund remained consistently strong in Petawawa even as it sagged nationally, then took off after Canadian troops started dying in Afghanistan.

With those donations came huge Remembrance Day crowds at the National War Memorial in Ottawa each Nov. 11, the likes of which have not been seen in decades.

“If a veteran comes to us – even if they’re not a Legion member, that doesn’t matter – they’ll still get help from that poppy fund,” says Hahn.

“We’ve had people who are travelling through whose car broke down, they had nothing, and they needed something to help them through, food or whatever, we helped them.”

Poppy money has even helped buy medical equipment for area hospitals.

Legion operations, however, do not benefit from poppy fund donations. The bills get paid from dues, food and liquor sales, along with other sources.

Nationally, the Legion struggles with an aging core membership, rising costs and appeals for new members.

National membership is about 300,000, down from its 1984 peak of more than 602,000. The Petawawa branch has just 343 members, and many of those are associates, or non-veterans.

Volunteerism – at the heart of virtually all Legion activities – is on the decline everywhere. Hydro bills are soaring. And in Petawawa there’s a mortgage to pay and maintenance to be done.

“We fight to keep going,” says Howell, 67, who retired in 2008 after 43 years in the army. “It’s not a regular business like a restaurant or a commercial hall.

“We’re always trying to make money to survive.”

Liquor sales have dropped precipitously. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario used to advertise “One For the Road.” These days at the Legion, it’s one and go home.

Inside the building, there’s a kitchen and a main hall with tables covered in white tablecloths.

Downstairs is the lounge, with a bar, a big-screen TV and the requisite dartboards. The walls are covered in pictures and a cabinet displays memorabilia and trophies from 517’s glory years – euchre, curling, golf, softball and, yes, darts.

“Now everybody wants to play video games,” laments Howell, a gruff Robert Duvall lookalike whose deployments included Germany and Cyprus after he joined in 1965.

Hanging on the barroom wall is a photograph of the uniformed McConnell brothers, circa 1945: Lorne, known as Slim, James (Jimmy), Alexander (Alex), Sydney (Syd), Clifford (Cliff), Edward (Ed) and Redginald (Reg).

They all served in different units and they all came back. The last of them, Cliff, died in July, a month after receiving his 65th anniversary pin from the Legion.

It’s the mounting concerns for the living that are the focus of many of Hahn’s efforts. She was a navy medic for 27-plus years and more than 60% of those who served with her hospital unit in Rwanda – many of them new recruits at the time – now suffer from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hahn, the daughter of two Second World War vets, “pretty much grew up in the Legion” in North Bay, Ont.

She’s spent much of her adult life caring for others. At 50, she already has her 30-year Legion pin and remains committed to the organization and the people it serves.

Says Hahn: “The Legion has been reinventing itself for probably 50 years, because if you don’t change the demographic you’re not going to keep the people coming in.”

Angry veterans launch 'Anything But Conservative' campaign

A group of angry Maritime veterans have launched an election campaign of their own, encouraging Canadians to vote ABC – Anything But Conservative – in the upcoming federal election.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was followed by a chorus of ‘boos’ from protesters, including veterans, as he left a campaign stop in Fredericton Monday.
It was a similar scene in Nova Scotia, where veterans rallied for change and more support for returning soldiers.
PHOTOS
Anything But Conservative campaign
While Stephen Harper met with veterans in New Brunswick, where he promised to boost the number of military reservists if re-elected, veteran Ron Clarke and his group launched the ‘Anybody But Conservative’ campaign in Sydney.
“They send them over in harm’s way to Afghanistan, Africa, all these other places, and when they come back they have no more use for them,” says veteran Clarence Dawe.
While Harper met with veterans in New Brunswick, where he promised to boost the number of military reservists if re-elected, veteran Ron Clarke and his group launched the ‘Anybody But Conservative’ campaign in Sydney.
“What we want is for the public to take note that the Conservative government has treated the veterans like crap,” says Clarke.
His group plans to launch their own television ads, lawn signs, mailouts and a Facebook page.
“What we have now is a dictatorship. If you don’t follow the party line, you are thrown under the bus,” says veteran Mel Bermingham. “As we’ve seen in the past, numerous politicians have been thrown under the bus. Us veterans are not going to be thrown under the bus.”
The campaign is in part due to the closure of nine Veterans Affairs offices, including one in Sydney. Clarke says the closure is just one of many issues facing veterans as a result of the decisions by the current federal government.

“What’s important to vets is that we get a fair shake from the government. We’re not getting that,” he says. “We need to see the sacred obligation reinstated into the Veterans Charter.”
The federal government did offer support for veterans in May, when Veterans Affairs Minister Erin O’Toole announced the hiring of four new case managers to take care of Veterans Affairs in Sydney. But Clarke believes that’s just a campaign strategy.
“Why would you personally think he would offer us four case workers? Because there’s an election coming up. He wants to buy votes back from the vets. That’s not going to happen.”
Veterans say there will be rallies held across the country and Clarke plans on hitting the road to enforce their campaign, especially in areas where Veterans Affairs offices were closed.

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/angry-veterans-launch-anything-but-conservative-campaign-1.2522054

I think for me anyway at this point it really doesn't matter how many Veterans gets to sit in any event that is held by the Conservatives , they can make their own list of invites , what are we missing - we know what they have done for the Veterans , an we know what they did not do for the Veterans , we know where they stand , so at this stage I don't see anything of great announcements coming from them.

What I would like to see is the Liberals , an the NDP start having public discussions about Veterans , if they want our vote they have to come out publicly an tell us what they will do for us an how they will go about doing it , specifics of course.
I realize it's still early an perhaps at least I hope we here from them before OCT 19th.

With regards to the election in general an the Conservatives It's starting to look like their in a bit of trouble with regards to their campaign ,  every event that Harper has brought forward , the Duffy trial reflects away from his announcements.
Canadians are watching , and he Mr. Harper refuses to answer the reporters on Duffy questions that are questions asked outside of what's before the courts , not real sure if this will continue right up until the election , but the reporters are doing an excellent job in what they are doing in allowing the public to see for themselves how their questions never get answered.

True Rex....perception can be a powerful tool......

Perhaps he invited elderly veterans knowing full well 99% if not all of them do not use computers little own social media...screening would have been done.

Anyone on this site attend this private function or know of someone who did?

Riddick