Q&A
Demographic challenges in VSO membership and leadership
0:39:46
ยท
70 sec
Council Member Robert Holden and Commissioner James Hendon discuss the demographic challenges faced by Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) in terms of membership and leadership.
- Holden notes that some VSOs have been more successful than others in attracting younger members
- The council member suggests that veterans may become more involved with VSOs as they get older, possibly in their 40s
- Hendon points out that many VSOs are currently led by Vietnam-era veterans, with an average age of 78
- The commissioner highlights the demographic shift due to the end of the draft, resulting in a smaller military and veteran community
- Hendon expresses concern that providing cure period extensions may not address the underlying issue of aging membership and lack of younger veterans' involvement
Robert Holden
0:39:46
Yeah.
0:39:47
And some VSOs have been more successful than others.
0:39:49
And we know that that's an issue.
0:39:51
But I think, generally, as the veterans get a little older, at least the younger ones as they age, maybe into their 40s, then they become part of the VSLs.
0:40:02
We've seen that the younger ones maybe are busy with their families or lives or jobs, and it's there's very little time.
0:40:08
But I wanna push back
James Hendon
0:40:09
a little bit.
0:40:10
I don't know if anyone else can testify or speak to this.
0:40:11
I think what's going on is we've got, older, like, Vietnam era generation that is in the driver's seat at many of these VSOs.
0:40:19
And the media nature of Vietnam veteran right now is 78.
0:40:22
And so we've got a lot of older folks.
0:40:24
We have an older leadership crew and there's not.
0:40:26
You don't have something behind that crew.
0:40:28
And there's some demographic reasons for that, but you should have young veterans not getting into it.
0:40:32
Demographically, we had so many folks back when we were when you had the draft.
0:40:36
So you had a larger military.
0:40:37
So it's a larger veteran community that is older.
0:40:39
And so that's a whole other piece as far as we skew older as a community so there are fewer vets.
0:40:43
But then you compound that with this self identification piece with folks not self identifying, with folks not getting involved in things, and it leads to where we are.
0:40:51
So my worry is we provide the cure period extension, but the problem just gets kicked out of
George Singleton
0:40:56
the world.
Robert Holden
0:40:57
And it gets worse.