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2nd Vice Commander

March 2023

February was a fast one. Congratulations to our recent Legion College graduates. Also, congrats to our Oratorical winners. Job well done. So many activities are running simultaneously! We’re rocking right along! With everything going on at once, this brings me to the topic of my article this month. … Post nominations of officers.

This is the beginning of our nominations for elections coming up. Every year recently, it seems to be the trend to form what appears to be “factions” within posts by getting behind this person or that person. I’m not referring to simply supporting a person for Commander or another office. I’m referring to absolute division within posts. This gets way out of hand in some places… creating an “Us versus Them” attitude. This is troubling to me because we should be here for the right reasons. We should be focusing on the four pillars of The American Legion. We should remember the Preamble of The American Legion and take it to heart. There are ten sentences in our Preamble. We should know them. It’s more than merely a ritual at a meeting. It’s our mission statement. Let’s welcome new points of view! I’ve seen friendships affected because of elections. I call this time of year “Silly Season” … tactics such as bringing your opponent up on charges thinking this would make them ineligible to run for office… NOT TRUE. And other types of shenanigans. People, I love our organization. I love each and every one of you. Let’s focus on our mission of helping our veterans, children, families, communities, state, and nation.

I don’t want this month’s article to seem like a rant. It’s not. We have a lot of ground to cover, and for the most part, we’re doing well. I’m asking that we keep focused on our mission. Let’s work on keeping the Social side of our house separate from our Legion FAMILY side of the house. We all have a vital role to play in our grand scheme of things. Every member is important. Remember also that we’re volunteers, and every one of us are ambassadors for the American Legion. How we conduct ourselves plays an important role in our mission and our growth. I’ll close with our last statement in our Preamble:

“To Consecrate and sanctify our Comradeship by our Devotion to Mutual Helpfulness “

I am looking forward to seeing you in my travels. Keep It Real… Peace

Keep it Real!

Chris Hamrick
2nd Vice Commander
2ndvice@legionmail.org