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VFW posts branching out to increase their ranks

Some of the military service groups now welcome women to the post. They've also added men's auxiliaries.

By BETH N. GRAY
Published April 26, 2006

HERNANDO BEACH - Veterans of Foreign Wars officials nationwide have been near to nibbling fingernails, worrying how they would thrive - even survive - as many of their World War II comrades faded away.

Picking up on a national and Florida initiative launched in 2002, Hernando and Pasco counties are gathering in young and previously ineligible members. They are welcoming female veterans to their post ranks and organizing men's auxiliaries.

Tina Tysinger, 35, and her husband, Todd, 31, are enthusiastic about both opportunities at Hernando Beach VFW Post 9236.

In the early 1990s, Tina joined the Air Force for a four-year stint, assigned to military intelligence in Turkey in the buildup to the Persian Gulf War. When the war materialized, she was an airman first class stationed at what was known as the Tip of the Sword, the most advanced outpost.

She didn't need a pressure-cooker locale to tap into a different mind-set. Tina explained that military life includes an emotional component that civilian life doesn't: fast friendships, reliance on others you hardly know, acceptance that those who support you and those you support will respond responsibly.

When Tina was rotated home, she said, "you miss the camaraderie, the friendship, the bonds you've made. That's what I wanted."

So, she walked through the doors at a VFW elsewhere in Florida to seek membership. She was told she would have to join the women's auxiliary.

"No," she told the officer, "you don't understand. I'm a veteran." He replied that Tina didn't understand: Women joined the auxiliary. Tina stalked out with the intention of never darkening a VFW door again.

When she and Todd moved to Hernando Beach eight months ago, Tina recalls, "we heard we should give these (VFW) guys a chance, (that) they were a great bunch of guys - civic-minded."

The Tysingers did. "I'm really happy that I joined," said Tina, who is on the ballot for senior vice commander of the post - not the women's auxiliary.

And Todd, being a spouse of a veteran of foreign wars, is eligible to join the new men's auxiliary. He's penned his name on the list for the auxiliary and is officer material, according to post commander Claude Gregorie.

The men's auxiliary roster, posted less than two months ago, currently carries about 10 names. Twenty-five must sign up before the group can be chartered by the state VFW. The post membership must vote on accepting each individual.

Eligible in addition to spouses of veterans, said Gregorie, are daughters, sisters, brothers, sons, grandsons, fathers, grandfathers, widows and widowers of foreign war vets. They must supply copies of their relative's discharge papers as part of the application.

VFW Post 8681 on the Pasco side of County Line Road, with 406 regular members, is ahead of Hernando's new organizing thrust. Its men's auxiliary, chartered in January, has 80 qualified members.

"Most of these people weren't eligible for the VFW but their fathers or brothers had been in the service," said quartermaster Isador "Skip" Cigala.

The two men's auxiliaries are among nearly 80 with 6,000 members that have been launched statewide, said Robin Thompson, who handles paperwork for the charter requests out of the state VFW headquarters in Ocala.

Her boss, state quartermaster Benny Bachand, said the initiative began as a national issue and requires a bylaw change by state headquarters. About 20 states have adopted the bylaw.

"We have ladies auxiliaries," Bachand said, "but we have so many female vets (now, and) there wasn't something for their spouses. It was finding a medium for women and their spouses to be part of a whole family of VFW."

[Last modified April 26, 2006, 01:22:18]