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VeTerAnS


                                                                  500,000 veterans in permanent jobs and 200,000 more
                                                                  in temporary positions
                                                                   ƒ Successfully lobbied Congress to protect veterans
                                                                  benefits, VA hospitals, training programs and services
                                                                  on the federal budget chopping block over the decades
                                                                   ƒ Developed programs and advanced research into what
                                                                  became post-traumatic stress disorder as early as 1921,
                                                                  when it was mischaracterized as “shell shock”
                                                                   ƒ Produced studies that led to official diagnosis of PTSD
                                                                  in 1980 and proved that service-connected exposure
                                                                  to Agent Orange and atomic radiation caused diseases
                                                                  that demanded government accountability
              ƒ Formed a network of service officers in 1919 that now
             exceeds 3,500 to help disabled veterans, free of charge,     ƒ Achieved Veterans Preference Hiring for federal jobs
             file for government benefits
                                                                   ƒ Drafted, presented, promoted and pushed to passage
              ƒ Successfully campaigned to put all veterans services   the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, the original
             under one federal authority, the Veterans Bureau in   GI Bill that transformed U.S. economy and culture in the
             1921, predecessor to the Veterans Administration in   second half of the 20th century
             1930 and the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989
                                                                   ƒ Worked to improve the GI Bill for post-9/11 veterans,
              ƒ Assisted millions of veterans in pursuit of rewarding   including the 2017 Harry W. Colmery Veterans
             careers; by June 1922 had already placed more than   Educational Assistance Act, the “Forever GI Bill”

           nATionAL SecUriTY



              ƒ Lobbied persistently for a better-funded and more
             efficient national system of defense

              ƒ Called for the establishment of a separate service
             branch for aeronautics as early as 1919, which helped
             give birth to the U.S. Air Force in 1947
              ƒ Pushed Congress for “universal military training” for
             decades, culminating in the Reserve Forces Act of 1955
              ƒ Conducted thousands of troop-support programs,
             including deployment ceremonies, welcome-home
             events and provision of needed items in theater
              ƒ Established and staffed thousands of local first-
             response units and civil patrols during World War II  Comfort Warriors in 2008; has distributed millions of
                                                                  dollars of goods, games, books, music, recreational
              ƒ Provided financial and volunteer aid for military
                                                                  equipment and event passes for troops and their
             parents through American Legion Temporary Financial
                                                                  families
             Assistance and Family Support Network programs
             established during the Gulf War                       ƒ Provided emergency grants for members of the U.S.
                                                                  Coast Guard who had pay delays due to the January
              ƒ Began The American Legion Blood Donor Program
                                                                  2019 federal government shutdown
             in 1942, and became the largest organizational blood
             donor to the Red Cross in the nation                  ƒ Fought to protect military retirement benefits and
                                                                  TRICARE insurance
              ƒ Re-established the Blue Star Banner program to
             recognize military families with deployed loved ones     ƒ Stood as a national leader in the recovery and
             after 9/11                                           repatriation of all U.S. POWs and MIAs
              ƒ Launched a program to provide comfort items for U.S.     ƒ Passed and reaffirmed national resolutions, beginning
             military personnel recovering from wounds in DoD     in 2005, supporting the troops and their mission in the
             hospitals or transition units, ultimately named Operation   global war on terrorism
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