The national commander of the American Legion visited with Jefferson City veterans Thursday night, wanting to hear more from them about what issues affecting veterans need to be addressed on the national level.
Brett Reistad visited the Roscoe Enloe American Legion Post 5 on Tanner Bridge Road. He was elected national commander in August in Minneapolis during the organization's 100th national convention and has been a member of the nation's largest veterans organization since 1981.
Reistad said so far in his travels around the country, most of the questions are related to veterans health care issues, but many times, he said they are able to get those members the help they need through their local posts.
Reistad did say one of his top initiatives is to work to increase membership in the Legion.
"Back in 1992-1993, the American Legion had 3.2 million members, and now we're down just short of 2 million members," he said. "We lost most of our Greatest Generation who were strong supporters of our organization and other veterans, service and religious organizations. To expect that we are going to be able to bring in young veterans into our posts to replace those numbers is not a real practical consideration. Most of them are coming out of the service and are starting careers and raising families. In due time, they'll join, but we need to be original in our approach to make them want to come in."
The Legion is made up of several groups, the Sons of the American Legion, the American Legion Auxiliary and the American Legion Riders.
The Roscoe Enloe Post has 1,349 members, and Post Commander Jim Rosenberg noted Post 5 has the largest chapter of the American Legion Riders and Legion Auxiliary in Missouri.
"The post itself is the second largest in the state," Rosenberg said. "Given our geographic location, being smaller than Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield, that speaks volumes for the members we have here."
One of the Legion's top priorities is receiving a full accounting of all POWs and troops missing in action, and Reistad said that's not just for Vietnam and East Asia but for all locations around the world where Americans fought battles.
"We're still looking to seek missing World War II and Korean War veterans as well," he said. "We're in support of the POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the work they do to recover remains. In fact, I'll be traveling to Hawaii in December to meet with them."
Reistad was an active duty U.S. Army infantryman from 1974-78; he served with the Presidential Salute Battery of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (the Old Guard) at historic Fort Myer, Virginia. He participated in the inaugural ceremony for President Jimmy Carter and other high-profile ceremonies.
"We've got 13 more months to go before our centennial period ends so we're going to get out and promote our organization and teach our history so hopefully, as a result of that, we'll hopefully get some more members," Reistad said.