VFW Commander: Veterans Day time for local vets to reciprocate support of community

By Mike Kemery

Who and what is a veteran? Simply said, a veteran is a person that has experience. At least that is what the dictionary says. So a veteran could be a teacher, a law enforcement officer, a firefighter, a store manager or just about anyone who has been on the job long enough to be experienced.

The week of Nov. 8-14 is Veteran Awareness Week and it deals with the military veteran. The highlight will be on Nov. 11 – Veterans Day. All through the week many tributes will be conducted by our schools, businesses and veterans groups, and they will be in the form of flag-raisings, free breakfasts or dinners, patriotic speeches and parades.

It is a special time for those who served. It is an honor. But where are all the military veterans in Maricopa? In actuality, they are everywhere in the community but, for the most part, nowhere in the community.

Pinal County has over 38,000 veterans. Of those, Maricopa has over 4,500. There are only three Congressionally Chartered Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) within our city, and they are the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the American Legion (Am Legion) and the Blue Star Mothers of America. Combined they can only account for a few hundred of these veterans.

There are new groups forming in Maricopa such as VETIT. There are other groups in the area but not located in Maricopa such as the Marine Corps League, Disabled American Veterans and the Vietnam Veterans of America, to name a few. But again, and even with all the groups numbers, still only a few hundred can be accounted for. The new citywide census expects the veterans’ numbers to grow.

But who and where are these missing thousands?

It would be great to see large crowds of veterans at all the events this year. It would also be great to have these veterans as members to give strength in number to combat many of the problems that plague the veteran community.

It would strengthen the local veteran-supported programs such as the Voice of Democracy and Patriot Pen Essay contests in the Middle Schools and High School, the Boy’s and Girl’s State programs, the Public Servant Recognition programs for Law Enforcement, Firefighters, and Emergency Medical Technicians, and the Teacher of the Year.

The citizens of Maricopa, City Hall headed by Mayor Christian Price, and the Police Department led by Chief Steve Stahl have always supported the veterans and would like to do more. This is great, but veterans need to take care of our veteran community as well. I challenge all veterans, and all citizens, to be at the flag-raising on Nov. 11 at 8 a.m. at the Maricopa Veterans Center. It would be great to have a parking problem and, as Chief Stahl would say, “that would be a good thing.”

Mike Kemery is commander of VFW Post 12043.