Operation Proud Son

The quintessential thank you that a Son can bestow upon his parent or forefather for their service in the Armed Forces is a membership in the Sons of The American Legion! Some of us are fortunate to have the parent that made us eligible for the Sons to still be with us. I am one such Son. I am blessed to still have my father with me. He served honorably in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was there when the Chinese decided that it was time to make their grand entrance into the War. For those who know their history, you know that my father was at the Chosin Reservoir. He understands what it means to be in a constant state of cold where his tank engine was the only source of warmth for miles around. He has seen a friend, a comrade in arms, make the ultimate sacrifice. He understands the true price of freedom. For 55 years, he has continued to serve his Country through The American Legion and for the last 20 years, he has represented The American Legion and ensured that no veteran is left behind at the Atlanta VAMC. His service to OUR country allows me to stand here today to serve you. You have bestowed upon me a Great Honor by electing me as National Commander but it cannot rival the title he has given to me, A Proud Son of a Priceless Veteran. “Thank you for your service, Sir.”

Treat the Sons As A Business
Under Operation Proud Son, we will treat the National Organization of the Sons of The American Legion as if we were a business. I want to incorporate certain facets of the business world into the way we operate. A business' main focus is on sales and profits. So I ask you if we are to treat the Sons of the American Legion as a business, what would be our sales? MEMBERSHIP! And what would our profits be? How our membership makes our communities, our States and our Nation a better place in which to live and to raise the next generation of Proud Americans!

Marketing: Molded in Excellence, Embodied by Tradition
I am a graduate of The Citadel, The Class of 1990. Some of you may be familiar with Pat Conroy and the Lords of Discipline, a book where Conroy shared his trials and tribulations as a cadet. He talked about this elite group known as the “10” who ran the school from within. While the “10” did not exist during my years, there was a group known as the Junior Sword Drill who was a select group who fashioned themselves as the best of the best of the best in their class. Their motto: Molded in Excellence, Embodied by Tradition. We, too, are molded is excellence and embodied by tradition and are the best of the best. . The Sons were created in the image of our creator, The American Legion. We are embodied by the traditions of The American Legion and have adopted their purposes and policies. Under this marketing campaign, we will grow our membership. By becoming a member of the Sons, you have chosen not to forget your parent’s service to this great country but to instead honor it. You’re eligibility to be a part of the world’s greatest veteran service organization was earned by another. These veterans, our heroes, have molded for us a great organization to carry out the traditions that are a part of us and make this country better. You cannot enter by simply filling an application and paying the dues. As a Son, you are a part of something very special and part of a bigger cause. Americans are looking and wanting and needing something to believe in and to be a part of. To me there is nothing more American than to be a member of the Sons. Everywhere you turn, people believe in the Great Men and Women who bravely serve our Country and want to support them. We, the American Legion family, offer the means to do so. The American Legion has reaffirmed its commitment to our Nation’s soldier by signing the Armed Forces Community Covenant. We state that our hometowns, the communities where we live, will support the troops and their families. People see our good deeds and want to be a part of it. In addition, the positive PR that our National Commander of The American Legion has created these past few months with victories for veterans in Washington has created for us an opportunity to grow and bring in new members. While we sell the prospective member using this marketing strategy, we can also use it with our parent organization. Despite our growth over the years, I am still asked by Legion family members from around the country what are the Sons and what do they do. There still exists a mystique to the Sons and a vague understanding of what we are about. The names in our organizational structure are different; Department vs. Detachment, Post vs. Squadron, but our purposes and policies are the same. We need to support their efforts. A large part of the Sons growth in Georgia is because of how we changed our focus. It used to be that the Detachment Commander picked his own Commander’s project. We changed that and now every year our Commander’s project is the same as the Legion Commander’s project which is to raise $100,000 each year to support the VA hospitals and State Veteran homes that Georgia’s veterans receive care from. We never attended the Saturday night banquets at Conferences and Conventions. As Detachment Commander, I bought a seat and simply attended the Convention banquet to pay my respect to the Department Commander and President. It was not that we weren’t included it was more that we excluded ourselves. Now, the Sons buy tables at the banquets and the Detachment leadership is included in the program. We have to show that we support their programs and functions. Planning other activities and focusing our fundraising efforts on other things does not build a foundation of support and growth. We need to demonstrate our commitment to them and I assure that they will in turn support us. Georgia is an example of just that. We need to embrace what our Parent Organization embraces and they will embrace us. By not focusing on what we were established to do and not being an active participant in the Legion family, it is difficult to influence those in Legion leadership to support us. By not being present at functions those that are not familiar with the Sons will not be exposed to the Sons and will not understand how a Post can be positively impacted. On different occasions, I have been asked what it takes to become National Commander. The answer for me is actually quite simple, a complete reverence for God and an unquestioning and unfailing love of Country. For love of country, I think of when I was a little boy, my dad took me to Atlanta Brave baseball games. For $1.50, we could sit behind the plate, upper deck, and watch the all time home run king, Hank Aaron, hammer the ball out the park. I learned that we stood at the beginning of every game as we paid tribute to our country at the playing of the National Anthem. So when my friends and I would play a baseball game in my backyard we would stand and sing the National Anthem before the game. Naturally, I thought it was only right that the National Anthem would end with the Home of the Brave given where I lived. So when the Cincinnati Reds would play the Los Angeles Dodgers in my backyard, I naturally assumed the last line was ….and the Home of the Dodgers! Forgive me, I was 5! Over the years, I learned the true meaning of the Home of the Brave; The Home of the Brave Men and Women who have served this great Country, the Brave Men and Women who currently serve this great Country and the brave Men and Women who will serve this great Country. The American Legion has reinforced that belief and allowed me to pay tribute to the Brave in my community, state and Nation. My complete reverence for God was reinforced by the events on September 5th, 1987. On that day, I was involved in a car accident. According to some, I should not have survived. Only by the grace of God, do I stand before you today. After the accident, the Doctors told my parents that I would be lucky if I held down a full time job. Again, the experts were wrong. I learned how to walk again; I was able to take off my eye patch as the vision in my right eye returned to normal, I slowly returned to a normal life and ultimately was able to return to The Citadel a year later. I made up that lost year and graduated with honors with my class. The assessment of the experienced doctors was one of limited Hope. However, medicine is not an exact science and cannot account for certain God given intangibles that can change a bleak situation into one of hope and encouragement. It is upon this foundation of God and Country; we will go forth into the 2009-2010 administrative year of the Sons with two visions.

Our First Vision Is The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation.
Since 1994, the Sons have made the statement to The American Legion family that we will take care of this program by consistently being the TOP contributor to the Foundation. As you heard this weekend, our contributions to CWF do not go unrecognized. We receive accolades for what we do. This is our marquee program. Three short years ago, we hit the $3 million donation mark, this year we passed the $4 million donation mark. 20 years who would have thought we would hit the $1 million donation mark much less the $2 million mark. This year, we will ask you to do it again. To be the top contributor for the 17th consecutive year and make this the top C&Y project throughout all Detachments for 2010. We have set a goal of $500,000. We have sought pledges from Detachments. To date, we have received pledges of $483,000. That $1 donation to the Foundation pays off in three ways. Having been elected National Commander in Louisville, KY, horse racing country, I will use the horse racing lingo of Win, Place, and Show to illustrate. First, we help to make this a better America for our Youth. (Huge Win!) Second, we keep the Sons on top and show our commitment to The American Legion family by continually funding the Foundation. (We, the Sons, place our selves in a place of prominence.) Last, we promote The American Legion. After all, it is The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation. (We show America that our Nation’s youth is one of the pillars The American Legion is founded upon.) Every year a record number of worthy causes apply to have their dream for making America better fulfilled with the help of The American Legion. As you can see, that $1 bet on tomorrow pays off quite handsomely.

Our Second Vision is Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service (VAVS)
Where we excel at CWF, we fall short on this one. Every time we gather we say we are proud possessors of a priceless heritage. In my opinion, we do not live up to our pledge when we consider VAVS. Throughout the United States, we have 194 VA facilities that have a Voluntary Service office in place with a Chief of Voluntary Services. The Sons have a representative in 40 of these facilities. These 40 reps are a good start. It takes 30 reps to have a voice and a vote on the National Advisory Committee to the National VAVS. As part of this committee, the Sons along with other organizations can make recommendations to Washington D.C. on how are veterans can be better served. This National position is important but we are missing the boat on the local level in the other 154 VA facilities. We need to be represented in these facilities so we can report back to our leadership in the Detachment and our members can be informed as to what is taking place in their local facilities, what issues are the facilities currently facing and what do they need to make things better. When we come to the VA report, we need to hear from our Reps on the current status. Our members need to hear what is going on in the Greater Los Angeles VAMC, Iron Mountain, and my personal favorite, Canandaigua, NY. I am asking each Detachment to establish a Detachment VAVS Coordinator tasked with the responsibility of filling these slots and educating the members on new acronyms like VISN (Veteran Integrated Service Network) and which VISN Region they are located in. The days of No report must cease immediately. With that as our framework our strategic plan with be called Operation Proud Son. Our ultimate objective will be to meet the target of 350,000 members!

Market Saturation
At the beginning of August, I traveled with the Department of Georgia leadership to Indianapolis, Indiana to The American Legion Membership workshop. During this time, the National Organization and each Department discuss membership goals for the coming year. One of the factors discussed is the market saturation/penetration percentage. They compare Legion membership to the overall eligible veteran population. One of the things that we will focus in Operation Proud Son is our own market penetration. That is, the number of Squadron Charters to Post Charters within each Detachment. As of the June 30, 2009 report, there are 5,747 Squadron Charters compared to 14,151 Post Charters or a Market penetration percentage of 40.61%. As an aside, it is interesting to note that when I first started to focus on this percentage that the Legion had 13,977 Posts Chartered. This is an increase of 174 Posts. Often we hear The American Legion is not growing but rather contracting. Here is a clear example that this is not true. With the Sons represented in only 40% of all Posts, we have a tremendous growth opportunity to take advantage of. We not only need to market ourselves to new members in existing Squadrons but also to Posts that need a Squadron in order to complete their Legion family. Our first objective in Operation Proud Son will be the “10 for 10 Phase”. Each Detachment Commander along with his officers will identify 10 Posts in their state that are good targets to start a Squadron during the membership year 2010. With almost 60% of all American Legion Posts missing a Squadron, this task should be easily achieved by all Detachments. The American Legion has already created the infrastructure. The Sons simply need to take advantage of the opportunity and capitalize on what we have. If you are familiar with a Post that would benefit with the addition of a Squadron, please bring this to the attention of your Detachment. Any time you can increase the American Legion family, you have made America a better place.

A Son That Shines
Another concept from the business world that we need to incorporate into our organization is the employee of the month. We talk of the blue cappers, many of you that read the National Update, that are the ones that make things happen. Then, what is the best way to show our appreciation? Recognize those blue cappers for their good deeds by designating them as a “Son that Shines” Each Detachment will select a Son that shines brightest. While the employee of the month in a business may get a front row parking spot or an added bonus to the paycheck, neither of which we can offer, the blue capper will be recognized among their peers for what they do in the National Update and serve as Shining examples of Molded in Excellence and Embodied by Tradition. Will you be recognized as the Son that shines in your Detachment? In my campaign travels, I came across 3 such individuals that would be worthy candidates to be recognized as such. Don Nelson from Michigan for 32 years of service to his VA hospital, Dave Perry from New York who travels on his own dime to Washington DC every year for The American Legion Legislative Conference to make sure the Sons in his Squadron are represented and Robert Danielson from Wisconsin who drives over an hour to a neighboring state to serve as the VAVS representative at that VA hospital. It is this type of sincere service that merits the title, A Son That Shines!

The Triple Nickel, “555”, the Award Phase of Operation Proud Son
In the business world, when certain targets are achieved; either sales increase, expenses are reduced, or no accidents occur during the month, bonuses are added to the paycheck to reflect these accomplishments and the company has happy employees. We, too, want to reward those Detachments for their efforts and say “Job Well Done”. At the recently concluded Fall National Executive Committee meeting, the NEC approved the establishment of a membership incentive program that will be ongoing program known as the “Triple Nickel”. We are going to ask that each Detachment charter five new Squadrons, get 105% of the prior year membership, and achieve an 85% retention rate. It is believed that if a Detachment achieves these three “5s”, they have achieved goals worthy of recognition. In keeping with the theme, we will award the Detachment with an Emblem Sales certificate for $555.

If God Be With You Who Be Against You
In closing, I will share my belief that the successes that The American Legion has experienced these past 91 years, the American Legion Auxiliary for 90 years and the Sons for the last 77, is not because of chance or good luck; but, instead, when you think about how our parent organization starts off every meeting with “For God and Country”, you understand why and how. When God be with you, who be against you. We gather together for the right reasons and the right causes and accordingly achieve all that is good. As we begin this Year, you, the Sons will continue these successes and we will strive to keep God #1, to Keep Veterans #1 and Keep America #1 in the Hearts and Minds of our fellow Americans. It is only impossible until it is not. With God on our side, we know all things are Possible! God Bless!

Mark Arneson
National Commander
Sons of The American Legion