Thank you for your attendance to our first Department Executive Meeting. Welcome to our old and our new Committee Chairs that were ratified at Department. Thank you for acceptance to the positions that have been asked to Board or Chair the Department Committees.
In every organization we are given in the beginning what our goals, themes, and values should be. The American Legion does that Nationally for us through the 4 Pillars and the various Legion programs we can select to choose from to provide those programs or services. How ever it does not tell us how to accomplish those goals….It seems that they just happen.
It has been mentioned and suggested to me by an NEC member and other older Legion Members that we should do a Department Project
John Thompson: Sent me an article form Time Magazine that I would like to propose as a Quarterly project for Department. Our intent is to do at least one Service Project in each of the Areas over the year. Each Area Commander will provide to Department a name, day, and Service Project to help a Veteran in need of service through the advice and choice from the Districts Cdrs. This Department Project will:
· Provide Service to our comrades
· Provide community awareness of Service and support to our Veterans
· Crate enough media attention that The American Legion is involved and we are not a dying organization but a vibrant group of men and women that are still serving our communities and our country through service and not through the reputation or laurels of our predecessors.
Our Department Theme is “Pride in Ownership” Pride in Ownership begins with Department. When we come to DEC Meetings we will see that the rooms are prepared, agendas are prepared, minutes and reports will be written from our committee chairs to save time and the written reports can be followed up on and accomplished in your behalf. Time is a valuable commodity and we will try in every way to honor your time. Follow up can and will be done by e-mail or personal phone calls. Pride in ownership is taking care of our Member first, our local Posts, Districts Areas and Department. Owning them with leadership to activates, events, community support and presenting consolidated Reports. Having Pride in what we have accomplished
A responsibility we want to promote is support to our Auxiliaries.
That is why we have invited them to be in the planning process. We cannot say we support them if we only mouth it and not allow hearing from them in the planning process and the follow through plan and be incorporated into our yearly planning, scheduling and calendaring. Even though it is to early in some cases for them to give a complete report we should have a tight lock down plan for our programs and budgets for the year by next Quarterly DEC meeting. Line items need to be planned for in the budget to support your scholarships, plaques, and monetary awards.
Along with The American Legion Department Committee Chairs It is important to have the Auxiliaries to put forth their desires in DEC meetings to allow us to know what they are doing, how they intend to do what they plan and how are they are to fund the projects, activities and programs. We too need to support them by coordinating, calendaring and scheduling what we need to attend or ask another Department leaders to substitute Department attendance in our absence.
I was invited to sit and listen to the Sons of The American Legion during their Convention at Weber State. My question to them was if I became Commander of Department how could we as a Department support you?
The advice and feed back given to me to report to the DEC was:
· Ask the Squadrons to please send in their Consolidated Reports. As a Department we need to support them and ask our Post commanders to help us collect this information and use it in our reports to State and National.
· Help us get the word to the Posts that we, the SAL, are here to support them
· The Sons of The American Legion help train. (They were at Boys State to help train and they can do so much more if we ask them).
· The comment from the National Sons executive Officer asked “What are we doing to train our prodigy?: If the Sons are 18 years old they can help serve on your Firing Squads. Many posts are doing 2-3 funerals a day have them help on Honor Guards. They can Color Guard, Post Colors, Carry Colors in Parades and stand guard at Caskets during ceremonies. They can be your Buglers for the Taps. They can help teach the respect for the Flag.
· We are stopping SAL growth by skipping generations and not allowing or asking our descendants to join because we are over looking those who have not served. We should be asking. “Have you a parent or grandparent who has served?”
I have been told that there are Post Commanders that do not want SAL and nothing will change until that Commander dies. I am asking you as a Department Executive Committee to help us see that attitude changes and that we do not allow this to happen with in our Department, Areas, Districts and Posts.
The SAL is not going to take over the American Legion but is going to be one of the links to helping us grow, promote new ideas, programs and ways to accomplish and support what we started. SAL is the link to success until the next wave of generational combat soldiers see the importance of what we are and what we do to take the reigns of our long time honored commanders today and relieve us of our duties. That will not happen unless we forget our wars, our branches, our rank, our leadership positions and our personal pride to see that this organization is bigger than anyone of us and we need each other and we need our Sons and daughters to be ready for that day of relief. This is a Family Organization where we can build Family values in service with action.
As Department Commander for 2013 – 2014, a team member to the DEC, I personally want to thank you for all you do. “The Blue Hat is where it is at” and I will continue to provide my time, availability and support in “Pride in Ownership” to you, The American Legion, and my personal honor to continue to earn my right to own and carry my American Legion Membership card.
For God and Country,
Randy D. Edwards
Commander 2013-2014
Department of Utah
The American Legion of Utah
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